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Every so often a book appears to outshine the rest. ...This is the first book I have seen to satisfy desires for a truly universal history of both NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics...It is...a sumptuous and beautifully produced volume written with knowledge, sensitivity and a great sense of history as only an author with inside familiarity can. Seldom does a book provide so pleasurable a reading experience...If you read just one book on the history of NASA make it this one. You will not be disappointed. --David Baker, Jane's Space Directory
One of the most impressive dimensions of this beautifully designed book is the masterful way it matches images to the story of the text. ... I enthusiastically endorse this book as a meaningful way to appreciate the origins, development, and impact of NASA on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. --Von Hardesty, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA
Michael Gorn's Illustrated History is sure to elicit emotion from its readers. ... it is filled with the triumphs and tragedies that define the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s conquest of the heavens. --Sky & Telescope
One of the most impressive dimensions of this beautifully designed book is the masterful way it matches images to the story of the text. ... I enthusiastically endorse this book as a meaningful way to appreciate the origins, development, and impact of NASA on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. --Von Hardesty, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA
Michael Gorn's Illustrated History is sure to elicit emotion from its readers. ... it is filled with the triumphs and tragedies that define the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s conquest of the heavens. --Sky & Telescope
Product Description
This groundbreaking book, published to mark the 50th anniversary of NASA, tells the exciting story of space exploration from the twentieth century to the present, focusing as much on the personalities involved as on the technological advances that made space exploration possible. Authoritatively written by space historian Michael Gorn, with a foreword by Dr Buzz Aldrin, NASA: The Complete Illustrated History tells of the exhilarating climate of discovery that has always existed inside NASA (and its precursor, NACA), while over 500 stunning photographs bring the heroic and inspiring story to life.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Michael Gorn offers the educated reader and specialist alike an engaging historical account of NASA and the space age. NASA: The Complete Illustrated History is written a lively way, never avoiding complex technical themes, but unfailingly making these same themes highly accessible to the lay person. The reader learns that NASA became an extraordinary bureaucratic entity--to be remembered as the highly motivated federal agency that fulfilled John F. Kennedy's epic promise to land men on the Moon and assure their safe return before the decade of the 1960s ended. Richly illustrated, the book is a welcome addition to the historical literature on space exploration. Gorn paints the history of NASA on a broad canvas, introducing the reader to the pivotal pre-Sputnik incarnation of the organization, when NASA was known as NACA and played a creative role on the cutting edge of aviation design. Gorn's vivid narrative tells this story as a prelude to the dramatic era of space exploration in the turbulent decade of the 1960s. This comprehensive approach gives the book unique character, allowing the reader to comprehend the entire sweep of aerospace history. No less important, Gorn is attentive to the role of key personalities, some known and others lesser known to the general public. One of the most impressive dimensions of this beautifully designed book is the masterful way it matches images to the story line of the text. The most stunnning illustrations are the color images showcasing the Apollo and Shuttle flights: the reader acquires a keen appreciation for the technical sophistication of rocketry and the sheer size/drama of space flight. I enthusiastically endorse this book as a meaningful way to gain an appreciation of the origins, development, and impact of NASA on the twentieth century.
Von Hardesty
National Air and Space Museum
Washington, D.C.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Michael Gorn has produced an attractive, readable, and accessible history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration which is current up to the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Like many previous NASA general histories, Gorn discusses NASA's roots in the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Unlike most of those other histories, Gorn actually devotes a considerable amount of his book to NACA, discussing how the US Federal Government first got involved in aerospace research as well as the personalities such as Hugh Dryden who started out in NACA but came to have huge influence in NASA.
Gorn then discusses the dawn of the space age and the Cold War realities that drove America to form NASA and push for manned space exploration. Gorn details all the major manned programs, but except for Apollo 11, he provides only brief details on most missions.
Likewise, Gorn also discusses NASA's unmanned programs, but again, only in brief detail. Gorn does not discuss too much of the bureaucracy of NASA or its Administrators except in relation to the projects of their time.
Though there are more comprehensive histories of the American civil space program, most are more technical and dense for the average reader. They also do not have the wealth of interesting photographs that this book does. On this basis, I definitely recommend this book to those with even a passing interest in the space program.
C. Husing
USAF HQ Space and Missile Systems Center History Office 1997-1998
Gorn then discusses the dawn of the space age and the Cold War realities that drove America to form NASA and push for manned space exploration. Gorn details all the major manned programs, but except for Apollo 11, he provides only brief details on most missions.
Likewise, Gorn also discusses NASA's unmanned programs, but again, only in brief detail. Gorn does not discuss too much of the bureaucracy of NASA or its Administrators except in relation to the projects of their time.
Though there are more comprehensive histories of the American civil space program, most are more technical and dense for the average reader. They also do not have the wealth of interesting photographs that this book does. On this basis, I definitely recommend this book to those with even a passing interest in the space program.
C. Husing
USAF HQ Space and Missile Systems Center History Office 1997-1998
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having been to the kennedy space centre,this brought it all back to me on what these brave men went through.A very good book to read,and very interesting.
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