Product Description

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88624 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 540 pages

Review
...an absolute must. Any model builder worth his salt could spend several years without coming up for air. -- Scaleworld WEBSITE REVIEW, March 2002

...an absolute must. Any model builder worth his salt could spend several years without coming up for air. --Scaleworld WEBSITE REVIEW, March 2002

A fan's delight. It satisfies Space Opera fans who have waited for a well-written and researched book on the genre. -- Solar Guard Website REVIEW

Although aimed primarily at the modeler, this book will be a hit with history buffs and science fiction fans. -- Aerospace Specialty Products REVIEW

Highly recommended to enthusiasts of science fiction movies and TV shows...a near exhaustive resource. Two thumbs up from me! -- Extreme Rocketry Magazine, April 2002

Not enough can be said in praise of "Spaceship Handbook". This amazing tome is every armchair rocketeer's book of dreams. -- Filmfax #89, Feb/Mar 2002

Not enough can be said in praise of "Spaceship Handbook". This amazing tome is every armchair rocketeer's book of dreams. --Filmfax #89, Feb/Mar 2002

Spaceship Handbook is an amazing collection [that]was well worth the wait. -- Sport Rocketry, Jan/Feb 2002

This encyclopedic tome is written with an eye toward modeling. Jon Rogers' fabulous technical illustrations make the modeler's task easier. -- Toy Shop Magazine, February 22, 2002

This encyclopedic tome is written with an eye toward modeling. Jon Rogers' fabulous technical illustrations make the modeler's task easier. --Toy Shop Magazine, February 22, 2002

What strikes me is the precision of both written text and technical drawings. This book is a fascinating study. -- Underman's 2001 WEBSITE REVIEW

From the Author
The late G. Harry Stine related the following in an address to the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) at their 39th Annual Meet in Tucson, Arizona in 1997: “People are always asking me what they can do to pay me back for everything I’ve done for them over the years. I tell them what Robert Heinlein told me years ago, ‘Don’t pay me back, pay forward to the next generation.’” His suggestion to “Pay Forward” has since become the unofficial motto of the NAR.

This book was a labor of love for me for more than four years. It is the book I always wanted to buy, but no one, apparently, wanted to write, so I decided to do it myself. I am thrilled at the response from hobbyists and aerospace professionals alike, but even more, I am delighted that it can serve as my payment to future generations.

From the Inside Flap
When the 20th Century dawned, the spaceship was a fantasy. By the time it closed, it was a commodity. See how one of humanity’s oldest dreams became astounding reality.

The driving force behind this evolution was imagination: The imagination of scientists and engineers, the imagination of authors and artists, the imagination of movie and TV producers. Despite hordes of detractors, their collective vision lifted us off of this planet in these ships of the imagination which led directly to our making our first actual teetering steps into the cosmos.

Spaceflight historian and rocket enthusiast Jack Hagerty chronicles the evolution of the spaceship during the century by examining 75 of them; some serious, some whimsical, some terrifying, and all fascinating. Jack delves into the background of each design, examining the motivations of and influences on the designers. Each ship is described and analyzed in detail. Each entry includes a data drawing by Jon Rogers sufficient for hobbyists and/or craftsmen to build a version of their own.

“Spaceship Handbook is a delight to own, to read from beginning to end, and to return to frequently in search of favorite nuggets. It gives spaceflight practitioners and enthusiasts alike an instant classic.” – Frederick I. Ordway III, Aerospace historian, science advisor for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

“The Holy Grail / of all things / Star Flight dreams / and Spaceship Wings / are made of!” – Curtis J. Hepworth, noted Buck Rogers authority and collector.

“This is such a treat for all the people who have been looking forward to it the past four years. How lucky are we to be able to buy a book like this. The fact it exists is miracle enough!” – Alex Seltsikas, Thunderbird fan extraordinaire and international Radio Controlled Rocket Glider competitor.

Customer Reviews

Massive review of imaginary and might-have-been spaceships
I should state up front that I know the one of the authors. He's the president of my old model rocketry club. That said, I'll try to do a fair review.

To start: Add a star if you build model spaceships, static or flying!

The _Spaceship Handbook_ is a huge book. It's college-textbook sized, and densely packed with text and illustrations. The formatting and editing are spotty in parts, but the author includes a mail-in form where readers can list typos and errors. None of these problems detract at all from the usefulness and entertainment value of the book.

As the title suggests, this is a book about spaceships. Some are the pipedreams of early pioneers such as Hermann Oberth and Tsiolkovsy. Others are based on magazine articles, TV documentaries, and books of the "glory days" of the classic spaceship, the 1950s. A large and fascinating section explores the almost forgotten genre of 1950s television space operas, such as Captain Video and Rocky Jones. There are also ships from movies and comic strips, as well as "might have beens" (the Air Force MOL space station, the Dyna-Soar) that in some cases were months from being flown.

There are plenty of photographs, and lots of wonderfully rendered scale drawings. I found the authors' comments on how they overcame gaps and inconsistencies in the presentation of the ships interesting. (Hagerty used a micrometer to determine the width of the fins on Tin-Tin's moon rocket.)

The _Spaceship Handbook_ includes a fair amount of material about turning the spaceships described into flying models. It isn't intrusive, however, so SF fans and historians with no plans to build models won't feel cheated. Indeed, rocketeers looking for straightforward plans using standard parts won't find them here. However, the pictures of modeler's wonderful projects might inspire you to break out your drafting gear and wood lathe.

As a sort of bonus, The _Spaceship Handbook_ includes as an appendix a large essay by Jon Rogers on atomic-powered spaceships. It's actually a good general survey on interplanetary travel and rocket science. The pros and cons of various systems (ion drives, fission and fusion rockets, Orion drive) are descibed, although not in as much detail as I'd like. I think this appendix deserves to be fleshed out a bit and printed as its own book!

To sum up: There's plenty here for modellers, SF fans, space fans, and historians of the Space Age. Highly recommended.

Worth the money
This is a remarkable book! If you are looking for details on real and fictitious spacecraft, this is the source you need. It somehow rivals with Ron Millers "Dream Machines" although it does not cover that extensive time horizon and has a different scope. Model builders will find useful information and drawings (although sometimes not very detailed) of many spacecraft. The appendix covers a nice review on spacecraft propulsion with good explanations of basic concepts, like the rocket formula.
Something to criticize? Well: The subtitle should read "POPULAR Rocket and Spacecraft Designs of the 20th Century", because the authors have focused their effort only on collecting material from English language sources. Don't expect to find much information on sci-fi products from abroad, unless they made their way into US media. Nevertheless, this book is worth every single Dollar it costs.

Indispensible for spaceship fans!
It doesn't matter if you are a model-builder or not--I'm not--this book is indispensible for anyone even halfway interested in the spaceship as a cultural phenomenon--and I am. It covers the history of imaginative spacecraft from the early years of the 20th century up to the present, depicting spaceships from films, literature and even comic books. It is brilliantly and evocatively written, with hundreds of superbly reproduced illustrations--most of them in color. In fact, given the extraordinarily high quality of the book's production, I'm astonished it costs as little as it does--the publisher could easily have charge half again as much or more. A must-have for modelers, film fans, SF afficionadoes and aerospace buffs.