Book Description Spaceship Handbook's subject is the historical development of the Spaceship during the 20th Century. Arranged in three Sections, "The Theoreticians," "The Entertainers," and "The Real Stuff," it presents an amazing collection of 75 designs and their stories - from Tsiolkovsky and Oberth's engineering papers, through the golden age of movie science fiction, up to the present day's Lockheed "VentureStar" and Rotary Rocket "Roton." Spaceflight historian Hagerty delves into the background story behind each design, examining the motivations of the designers in the context of the times in which they lived. The book's selection of these historically important Spaceships has a twist; none of these Spacecraft ever flew! However, from the information presented, we can see their importance to the development of Spaceships that did fly, and also on the world we live in. Each entry has a wealth of background information. For example, in the "The Theoreticians" section, we see illustrator Chesley Bonestell's wonderful artwork that appeared in Willy Ley's Conquest of Space, a book that accurately predicted space flight years ahead of its time. Plate XLI from this book, shows the Arizona Meteor Crater superimposed over Manhattan Island (with the crater centered roughly on Times Square). Today, it bears a disconcerting similarity to the September 11th terrorist attacks. However, Bonestell's illustration was done over 50 years ago to show the danger of Earth-crossing asteroids. In "The Entertainers," section, the 1930's comic strips and movie serials of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon get their just due. Not only did they affect a whole generation of future NASA engineers, the influence of streamlined design began with these ships. The baby boomer crowd will find that Captain Video, Space Patrol, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, and others from 1950's live TV space opera shows are included. Also from that era, George Pal's great science fiction films "Destination Moon," "Wh
Jack Hagerty - Jack started out a career in aerospace working for General Electric Space Division, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, and Tracor Aerospace before deciding that aerospace is more enjoyable as a hobby rather than a profession. He now works as a mechanical design consultant to the semiconductor and medical equipment industries.
Jack has been passionate about model rocketry since 1966 when he sent away for an Estes catalog from an ad in the back of Boy’s Life magazine. He is one of the founders of the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry (LUNAR), section #534.
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Jon Rogers – As a boy, Jon fell in love with Rockets and Space travel from the novels of Heinlein, Asimov and Stine; by pouring over the Sunday comic strip adventures of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, and by watching TV’s Space Patrol, Capt. Video, and Tom Corbett-Space Cadet! Joining the army, Jon became a Nike Missile Control Man during the Cold War. Surviving that, he helped test the LM and Apollo Communication Antennas and, becoming an engineer, making microelectronic circuits for NASA to be used on the Space Shuttle and many satellites. After completing his Systems Engineering degree, he currently manages important programs for the electronics industry.
