Product Description
An insider's history of the heart of America's space program from its earliest days.

NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center set the stage for the American adventure in space. Sprawled across 140,000 acres on Florida's Atlantic coast, the center has hosted the succession of rocket launches that have rewritten our knowledge of aeronautics and our very understanding of the nature of the universe.

Chosen because of its perfect location, with the wide Atlantic providing a buffer, Kennedy Space Center is now a major tourist attraction appealing to visitors of all ages.

This spaceport has served as the departure gate for every American space flight mission and the launching point of hundreds of other advanced scientific spacecraft. Kennedy Space Center will continue to make history as NASA embarks on new adventures in space exploration.

The book includes detailed information on:- The earliest development of rockets in the United States and Germany- The development of rockets and their launch facilities- The missile race and U.S.- Soviet rivalry to be first in space- The great Apollo program and the race to the moon- The shuttle program, the Space Station and the Hubble Telescope- The future of space exploration.

Clearly written, meticulously researched and packed with more than 150 spectacular images, Kennedy Space Center is the only complete history of this important site. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Disappointing
In addition to errors of fact, this book contains a poor selection of photographs.There are limited views of the equipment and structures on the site, such as launch pads, gantries, and blockhouses, and nocompreshensive annotated maps showing the evolution and layout of the Space Center are provided.Many of the photographs are not even of the Kennedy Space Center or directly related activities and are more suitable for a brief overview of limited aspects of the manned space program.There are very few actual launch photos, and many of the significant unmanned and manned launch vehicles are omitted entirely.Military missiles are severely unrepresented; although, they formed the basis of much of the testing done there and were the precursors for many space boosters.The only significant coverage in this area is that of the V-2; however, it is overdone given that the V-2 was a minor player in the U. S. space program and was overshadowed by many other rockets, including Redstone, Atlas, Thor, and Titan.

This is not a good book on the topic and is severely hampered by the poor and unrepresentative choice of photographs.I would not recommend it for either its content or visual value.

Great book
Easy to read and understand.It gives a comprehensive story of the Kennedy Space Center as well as the various missions NASA has undertaken.I understand now the different types of rockets and the history leading up to the Apollo 11 successful moon walk.This book was a page-turner.I could not put it down and read it all in one weekend.

An Interesting read but too many errors
Like David Shomper I too was involved in many of the events chronicled in David West
Reynolds's book and feel qualified to comment. While the book makes for an interesting read or
as a coffee table decoration (great photos) it had a disappointingly large number of errors that a
good technical review should have caught. I started writing them down but lost impetus as I progressed through the book and I'm sure I missed more. I did not duplicate David Shomper's comments except to expand on one of them. Hopefully, if I list those I did notice the author can incorporate changes in any subsequent editions.

Page 33 The Saturn V second stage was manufactured by North American Aviation, later North American Rockwell, at Seal Beach, California - not by Douglas.

Page 35 Photo - is not inside the VAB. It is on Pad 37.

Page 62 The lighthouse on the Cape was built in 1868 and moved to its current location in 1894. The 1847 lighthouse was torn down to provide the foundation for the new lighthouse.

Page 72 Photo - not sure where this photo was taken but it is definitely not at the Cape in 1953

Page 77 The author appears confused about the Redstone/Jupiter nomenclature, which is understandable - Von Braun's people used misleading names to facilitate range launch priorities at the Cape in the late 50's.

Basically the Redstone missile was a MRBM with a range of some 200 miles while the Jupiter missile was an IRBM with a range of nearly 2000 miles.

However when two solid upper stages were added to an extended length Redstone it was named the Jupiter C (the `C' standing for `composite reentry test vehicle). A modified Jupiter C with a fourth stage was named the Juno I. The Juno I naming occurred officially after the first Explorer launch so that its launch vehicle is usually incorrectly called a Jupiter C (or partially correct as a modified Jupiter C) in books and articles when it was, in reality, a Juno I.

When a larger booster was required the same three solid upper stages were added to a Jupiter first stage and it was named the Juno II. It was used for several subsequent space probes.

With all that understood the following corrections apply:

Jupiter C was not more powerful than the Thor and could not send a one-ton warhead 1850 miles down range. I believe the author was referring to the Jupiter IRBM.

Pad 26 was built for the Jupiter IRBM program not Jupiter C, which was basically still a Redstone, although the latter in its Redstone and Juno I versions were launched from Pad 26A.

The new name for the Explorer modified Jupiter C launch vehicle was Juno I, not Juno and not to be confused with the bigger more powerful Juno II.

Page 82 The Redstone launch vehicle used alcohol as its fuel, not kerosene.

Page 86 The Mercury Atlas 3 flight flew in April 1961, not May, and was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer after it failed to program. It was not in the clouds at the time - I was watching it from the roof of Hangar J.

Page 89 The blockhouse at Pad 14 did not have a second storey - the only Atlas blockhouse to have a second storey was at Pad 36 (Atlas - Centaur)

Page 131 Photo. There are no S-1B's in the picture - just S-1C's.

Page 137 Kerosene was only one of he fuels for the Saturn V - no mention is made of the massive liquid hydrogen tank that was required for the second and third stages.

Page 140 A typical failing of many write-ups on the Apollo program is to totally omit any mention of the ACE (automatic checkout Equipment) stations in the MSOB. It was from these control rooms that all spacecraft checkout, monitor and launch support for both the CSM and the LM were conducted. These stations were just yards from the astronaut quarters on the third floor. The only spacecraft representative in the LCC was a coordination link between the ACE Station and the LV test director.

Page 144 After previous sections that glorified Martin and Grumman the third paragraph on this page is totally unnecessary and demeaning of North American, a company that shouldered some of the major challenges of the Apollo program. The author should read "Angle of Attack", the story of Harrison Storms, to understand some of the immense issues involved and exactly what role NASA played in the design deficiencies that contributed to the Apollo 1 fire and S II design. The contribution of North American and its thousands of dedicated workers to the Apollo program deserves better than the snide comments in this paragraph.

Page 147 While the immensity of the sound and fury of a Saturn V launch is impressive 3 miles away I never felt any heat transfer across that distance and I watched several.

Page 148 Photo - The Saturn V did not launch Apollo 7. The photo is of the S IVB, the second stage of the Apollo 7 Saturn 1B launch vehicle. The fact that the panels on the spacecraft LM adaptor (or SLA in NASA terminology) are open but still attached show that it was Apollo 7, the only manned flight that the SLA panels were not disconnected and released. It should also be added that the SLA was attached to the Instrument Unit (or IU) built by IBM. This was a vitally important part of the stack and has been totally omitted in the book. It contained all the flight control electronics for the Saturn 1B and V vehicles. The IU was mounted atop the S IVB and was the last and uppermost constituent part of the booster.


Page 150 Another shot at North American. The Apollo 13 tank failure was more than a communication error and shouldn't be cavalierly placed at North American's doorstep.

Page 157 Since the Columbia accident NASA has always had a "rescue" shuttle in the flow.

Page 172 Photo caption - the Navaho shown is the only configuration that ever flew, the G 26, which used two Rocketdyne engines on its booster rocket, not three. It was definitely NOT the forerunner of the Redstone, which first flew three years earlier. However the Navaho Rocketdyne engines, using lox and kerosene, went on to form the basis for the engines that subsequently powered the Jupiter, Thor, Atlas and Saturn.

Page 174 The company North American Aviation became North American Rockwell in 1967 and finally Rockwell International in early 1973. To say that in the mid 70's "NAA was struggling to build the spacecraft" is incorrect both in the company name and the struggling aspect. Based on this and other comments I don't think the author had much respect for the company that built the X-15, the Apollo spacecraft, the Saturn S II and the shuttle orbiter! Maybe he had bad sources.

Page 181 The convoy does not off-load fuels and toxins on the runway.

Page 183 The windblown white sand at the White Sands Space Harbor should be more correctly identified as gypsum, not sand.

Page 186 Orbiter Processing Facility 3, or Hangar 3 as the author calls it, was originally built by the USAF at Vandenberg AFB. It was excessed after Challenger when the planned USAF shuttle flights from the west coast were cancelled and moved to KSC.

Page 186 Residual hypergolic propellants are not drained from their systems to safe the vehicle unless specific access or repair warrants draining. Residuals remain on board throughout the flow.

Page 194 Gaseous hydrogen and oxygen clouds do not spontaneously ignite when mixed.

Page 196 The sound suppression water flow commences at T-16 seconds, not 6.6 secs., and reaches peak flow of 900,00 gpm at T +9 seconds. It is exhausted in about 25 seconds.

The mission-by-mission coverage leaves out nothing.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center is the gateway to the stars for U.S. space efforts, and there's no better person to explore its history than an author who is an expert on space and space exploration. It's the only complete history of the Center and provides armchair readers with a complete tour of Center history, operations, and launch efforts. The mission-by-mission coverage leaves out nothing.

Another bad space history book
This book is typical of many current glossy coffee-table books about space:

-- the title is misleading as only a small part of the book is actually about KSC or even the Cape Canaveral area in general

-- it is riddled with errors, and not just wrong dates and technical points, but fundamental misconceptions about the political and military background of many space projects.

-- it tries to cram a general history of space flight into too small a format and leaves out a lot.

-- there are no maps or diagrams, only pretty pictures.

If you want hard information about the Cape, get "Go For Launch!" instead of this worthless book. ... Read more

Product Description
The redesign and revitalization of traditional urban centers is the cutting edge of contemporary urban planning, as evidenced by the intense public and professional attention to the rebuilding of city cores from Berlin to New York City's "Ground Zero." Spanish and Latin American cities have never received the recognition they deserve in the urban revitalization debate, yet they offer a very relevant model for this "return to the center." These cultures have consistently embraced the notion of a city whose identity is grounded in its organic public spaces: plazas, promenades, commercial streets, and parks that invite pedestrian traffic and support a rich civic life. This groundbreaking book explores Spanish, Mexican, and Mexican-American border cities to learn what these urban areas can teach us about effectively using central public spaces to foster civic interaction, neighborhood identity, and a sense of place. Herzog weaves the book around case studies of Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; Mexico City and Querétaro, Mexico; and the Tijuana-San Diego border metropolis. He examines how each of these urban areas was formed and grew through time, with attention to the design lessons of key public spaces. The book offers original and incisive discussions that challenge current urban thinking about politics and public space, globalization, and the future of privatized communities, from gated suburbs to cyberspace. Herzog argues that well-designed, human-scaled city centers are still vitally necessary for maintaining community and civic life. Applicable to urban renewal projects around the globe, Herzog's book will be important reading for planners, architects, designers, and all citizens interested in creating more livable cities. ... Read more

Product Description
Unlike traditional art works, installation art has no autonomous existence. It is usually created at the exhibition site, and its essence is spectator participation. Installation art originated as a radical art form presented only at alternative art spaces; its assimilation into mainstream museums and galleries is a relatively recent phenomenon. The move of installation art from the margin to the center of the art world has had far-reaching effects on the works created and on museum practice.

This is the first book-length study of installation art. Julie Reiss concentrates on some of the central figures in its emergence, including artists, critics, and curators. Her primary focus is installations created in New York City--which has a particularly rich history of installation art--beginning in the late 1950s. She takes us from Allan Kaprow's 1950s' environments to examples from minimalism, performance art, and process art to establish installation art1s autonomy as well as its relationship to other movements.

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in the effects of exhibition space, curatorial practice, and institutional context on the spectator. The history of installation art--of all art forms, one of the most defiant of formalist tenets--sheds considerable light on the issues raised by this shift of critical focus from isolated art works to art experienced in a particular context. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Enjoyable read that get's into the artist mind
As a VR installation artist, I really found the historical "personality" of this book enjoyable - the frustrations of the setups and how the artist interacted with the galleries.The book is very approachable, just like the art work it reflects ... and I'm sure anyone that walks into this book will come out of the experience in a different space.From a art theory viewpoint, an artists often does things that are based on the past, but doesn't realize it(for example I often used the word "Installation", but didn't know the history of the word's usage and how the transition occured).I found the book well ballanced between readable/theory/technical/enjoyment.

Installation Art's New York Roots
This book is the first stop for anybody serious about examining the history of Installation art in New York from its beginnings in the late 1950s to the early 1990s.The book provides insightful research and analysis based on multiple points of view: the artist, the curators, and the critics.Intelligent and carefully written, this book is a pleasure for art historians and anybody with an interest in contemporary art.

A crucial subject matter to contemporary art exposed at last
What is the place of art in contemporary/post-modern scenario, in the age of globalization and 'institutionalism' of art production we live in? This question has become one of the crucial subject matters to great artists andtheorical authors of our time, and Mrs. Reiss appears to have the correctapproach on this well-discussed aspect of contemporary art, specially fromthe early 70's. ... Read more

Product Description
This complete manual guides you through every step of leasing a space in any shopping center.Learn how the shopping center business works, how to find the best location, and how to get the best rent deal.

Find out how to:

§ Negotiate successfully with leasing agents

§ Exploit specialty leasing opportunities:carts, kiosks and temporary leases

§ Understand your total rent and negotiate a better rent deal

§ Reduce your Overage Rent or Percentage Rent

§ Understand your Common Area Maintenance (CAM) fees and see how to reduce those expensive costs

§ Avoid those hidden and expensive lease charges

§ Get those special lease clauses to protect your business investment in the future

§ Improve your chances at success with better lease terms and lower rent

Draw on the authorÂ’s 20 years of experience to improve the terms of your shopping center lease. This book brings you valid and proven methods of getting better lease terms, whether you are a first-timer renting your first space, or an experienced retailer seeking ways to reduce your rent expenses on your next lease.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Very useful for newbie leasees
Very well laid out, great tips. I think it saved me thousands of dollars in rent alone.For instance, I though increases in rent when new major tenants were added was par for the course.Not so, explains Barry.Everything is negotiable.
I look forward to the next edition. I'm sure it'll have a ton more tips.I recommend this book to any person looking into a lease in a mall.

Well worth it
Clear and concise, this book will walk you through the shopping center leasing process. There's so much stuff I never would have thought of myself, I'm glad Mr. Fleisher is around to give advice. Buy this book!

Informative and Well Written
If you are considering leasing a space in a shopping center, this book is for you.

If you already lease a space in a shopping center, this book is for you.

The information is extremely valuable and you will better understand the contracting process and will discover new ways to cut your costs. A must have!

Best single-source quick read
Whether you're a lessor or lessee of commercial space, this well-written book is the single best source I've found for quickly understanding most of what it takes to create a mutually-beneficial shopping center lease.Best of all, the author explains an owner's obligation to carefully choose a mix of lessees to create a synergistic marketplace, supportive of every lessee.My own center's lessees will be more successful because I've read this book.

Jack Stout -- developer

Great book for anyone looking to lease space in a mall
Great book for anyone looking to lease space in a mall, very detailed. Very good examples of good and bad lease clauses. ... Read more

Product Description

Praise for the hardcover edition:

"Extremely practical and enjoyable."
-- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[Will be] devoured by history or space enthusiasts from eight to eighty."
-- VOYA

"The foreword grabbed me, and by the prologue I was hooked."
-- The Science Teacher

NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center set the stage for the American adventure into space and went on to host a succession of rocket launches that have helped to form our understanding of the nature of the universe.

The Kennedy Space Center is a major tourist attraction in Florida, but most of its doors remain locked to the public. This abundantly illustrated book is an insider's history of the heart of America's space program, including detailed information on:

• The earliest development of rockets in the United States and Germany
  
• The development of rockets and their launch facilities
  
• The missile race and the U.S.-Soviet rivalry to be first in space
  
• The great Apollo program and the race to the moon
  
• The shuttle program, the Space Station and the Hubble Telescope
  
• The future of space exploration

Kennedy Space Center is clearly written, meticulously researched and packed with more than 150 spectacular images -- the one and only complete history of this important site.

Product Description

Gates and fences, sidewalks and driveways, alleys and parking lots -- these ordinary features have an important architectural impact, influencing how a building relates to the spaces around it. As geographer Larry R. Ford argues, architectural histories and guidebooks tell us surprisingly little about the character of American cities because they concentrate on buildings taken out of context, buildings divorced from space. In The Spaces between Buildings, Ford focuses on the neglected "nooks and crannies" between structures, supplementing his analysis with three photographic essays.

Long before Ford knew anything about geography or architecture, he was a connoisseur of front porches, alleys, and loading docks. As a kid in Columbus, Ohio, he knew where to find coal chutes to play in, which rooftops and fire escapes were ideally suited for watching parades, and which stoops were perfect for waiting for a bus. To him the spaces between buildings seemed wonderfully integrated and connected. The Spaces between Buildings is the result of Ford's preoccupation with the relationship of buildings to one another and how their means of access and boundaries organize the areas around us.

As Ford observes, a city with friendly, permeable facades and a great variety of street-level doors is more conducive to civic life than a city characterized by fortresslike structures with blank walls and invisible doors. Life on the street is defined and guided by the nature of the surrounding buildings. Similarly, a residential neighborhood with front porches, small lawns or gardens, and houses with lots of windows and architectural details presents a more walkable and gregarious setting than a neighborhood where public space is surrounded by walls, three-car garage doors, blank facades, and concrete driveways.

Ford begins by looking at the growth of four urban places, each representing a historical era as much as a geographic location: the Islamic medina; the city shaped by the Spanish renaissance; the nineteenth-century North American city; and the twentieth-century American city. His first essay also discusses the evolution of the free-standing structure as a basic urban building type and the problems encountered in beautifying the often work-a-day back and side yards that have helped to create the image of the untidy American city. The second essay examines the urban trend toward viewing lawns, gardens, hedges, and trees as an essential adjunct to architecture. The final essay focuses on pedestrian and vehicular spaces. Here the author includes the landscape of the garage, sidewalks, streets, and alleys.

In its exploration of how spaces become places, The Spaces between Buildings invites readers to see anew the spaces they encounter every day and often take for granted.

Customer Reviews (1)

Easy read introduction into american urban landscapes
This is really a nice book. It reads very well and gives a good introduction over major landscape elements in urban and suburban. It also includes background information about the historical development of these landscape elements. That makes it quite easy to understand the urban and suburban landscape in the U.S.. It is one of these books that you read and think "aah, that's why...". A good and cheap present for landscape architects and students (nice paper, layout and format, too). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

America's Hangar
Never received the product.Ordered 11/21 08.Received e mail stating book had been damaged andthey could get me a copy from another source.I elected that choice and still have not received the book.Don't recommend ordering books from Amazon.comagain. ... Read more

Product Description
"A valuable addition to studies of NASA field centers."--Stephen P. Waring, University of Alabama, Huntsville, and author of Power to Explore: The History of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center 1960-1990

"Important to specialists in space history, as it points out the distinctions between R&D and operations, and how this affects the institutional and organizational issues in space-related institutions. However, it is also good for a general audience due to the author's lively style."--Stephen B. Johnson, University of North Dakota and author of The Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs

"A good characterization of the history of KSC . . . well written and easy to read."--L. D. Solid, retired vice president and general manager of Rockwell International's Space Systems Division, Florida Operations

This first comprehensive history of the Kennedy Space Center, NASA's famous launch facility located at Cape Canaveral, Florida, reveals the vital but largely unknown work that takes place before the rocket is lit. Though the famous Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pads dominate the flat Florida landscape at Cape Canaveral and attract 1.5 million people each year to its visitor complex, few members of the public are privy to what goes on there beyond the final outcome of the flaring rocket as it lifts into space. With unprecedented access to a wide variety of sources, including the KSC archives, other NASA centers, the National Archives, and individual and group interviews and collections, Lipartito and Butler explore how the methods and technology for preparing, testing, and launching spacecraft have evolved over the last 45 years. Their story includes the Mercury and Gemini missions, the Apollo lunar program, the Space Shuttle, scientific missions and robotic spacecraft, and the International Space Station, as well as the tragic accidents of Challenger and Columbia. Throughout, the authors reveal the unique culture of the people who work at KSC and make Kennedy distinct from other parts of NASA.

As Lipartito and Butler show, big NASA projects, notably the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, had much to learn on the ground before they made it to space. Long before a spacecraft started its ascent, crucial work had been done, work that combined the muscular and mundane with the high tech and applied the vital skills and knowledge of the men and women of KSC to the design of vehicles and missions. The authors challenge notions that successful innovation was simply the result of good design alone and argue that, with large technical systems, real world experience actually made the difference between bold projects that failed and innovations that stayed within budget and produced consistent results. The authors pay particular attention to "operational knowledge" developed by KSC--the insights that came from using and operating complex technology. This work makes it abundantly clear that the processes performed by ground operations are absolutely vital to success. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Enhanced for the reader's appreciation with the inclusion of 97 illustrations, copies notes, an essay on sources, and an index
It was President John F. Kennedy who inspired a nation to invest and strive towards leaving planet Earth and setting foot upon the Moon. The process was undertaken by NASA whose launch facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was to be renamed the Kennedy Space Center after the man most responsible for directing the federal government to achieve such a historical and momentous task. Co-authored by Kenneth Lipartito (Professor History, Florida International University) and Orville R. Butler (Associate history in the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics), "A History Of The Kennedy Space Center" is an informed and informative history of the center, including the methods and technologies developed for preparing, testing, and launching spacecraft over the past 45 years of the center's operation. A 496-page compendium of detailed information, "A History Of The Kennedy Space Center" is enhanced for the reader's appreciation with the inclusion of 97 illustrations, copies notes, an essay on sources, and a comprehensive index. No personal, community, or academic library American Space and Astronautics history collection can be considered complete or comprehensive without the inclusion of "A History Of The Kennedy Space Center"!

Too Ambitious
Although a fairly well-written book, there are some glaring weaknesses, some of which have already been discussed.There are also a number of factual errors, most glaringly by mis-stating the number of flights in Project Mercury as seven (it was six).Although the exploration of internal and external NASA politics is useful, it is far too expansive for a place in a general history of this nature.Ultimately, this was an ambitions project that got sidetracked, with less than thrilling results.A decent political history, but not recommended for the average space buff.

This is a joke!
The other reviewer is right,it is "A" history. If you want to learn History of the Kennedy Space Center, save your money, buy something else.

Clarifications and Omissions


If you are interested in the politics between KSC and the Headquarters and other NASA Centers during the Shuttle Program, this book provides a good insight.If you are interested in understanding how the KSC operated and made a success of several prior programs and the early Shuttle Program, this is not the book.This bookportends to be "A"" history of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).However, it is really the politics of the Shuttle Program during the initial planning and after its arrival at KSC in 1979. It document this history to a degree.However, due to some very serious omissions of content, it is not an overall history of KSC.Some of these omissions are: (1) The Gemini Program which was assigned to KSC in 1965 and the effect that it had on the follow-on programs such as Apollo and Shuttle wasmentioned only in passing; (2) expendable Launch Vehicles that were launched from the Cape Canerval Air Force Station thatsupported the unmanned science are barely mentioned, (3)the European Space Agency's (ESA)Spacelab comes in with little history although KSC contributed a considerable amount of engineering and operational experience to the ESA; (4) during the Shuttle facility development period, the Design Engineering Directorate under Ray Clark provided the primary KSC technical support to ground systems development, design, and installation but very little is said of the tremendous effort required to accomplish that task: (5) the contribution of the Shuttle Project Office and its leader, Dr. Robert Gray or "Mr KSC", to the external interfaces is not mentioned.. This office managed not only the development and construction of all of the Shuttle facilities at KSC, but also drove the design of the flight hardware / ground system interfaces through extensive involvement with the very cooperative Shuttle Program Office in Houston from 1971 until delivery of the flight hardware to KSC; "Bob" Gray was the driving force at KSC throughout the entire Shuttle development; and (6) the Spacecraft Operations Directorate, and its leader, John Williams, that planned and conducted the checkout and preparation for the Gemini and Apollo Spacecraft Missions and early Shuttle Planning is not mentioned. To not mention these individuals if like writing about the Battle of Chancellorsville and not mention Stonewall Jackson.These are grievous errors of omission in a history.

During the Apollo era, there were two distinct programs, the Launch vehicle or Saturn, and the spacecraft, Apollo, which consisted of the Service Module, the Command Module and the Lunar Module at the KSC.This is the origin of the two different philosophies discussed in the book.Too often in the text, no differentiation is made between the two programs and the associated personnel nor a concise description of the differences, if any.

In addition, there are several errors.The Mercury Program had no association with KSC, it was a project of the Space Task Force and the Manned Space Center, later, the Johnson Space Center (JSC)).It was during these programs that the KSC Spacecraft method of doing business was developed and used on Gemini, Apollo, and early Shuttle.The method is not described but has many negative commends directed toward it.Had it been understood by the authors, it would have cleared up or eliminated a considerable amount of text in the following chapters.

In the Introduction, the book defines the geographical and organizational differences between the NASAKSC, which is really the upper end of Merritt Island, and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is normally referred to as the "Cape" but says they are used interchangeably.Only people that are not associated with KSC make that assumption.To often in the text, the "Cape" means "KSC".

The term "Hands On" is used throughout the book and gives the impression that NASA personnel were in deed turning the wrenches, screwing the screws, and operating the ground equipment.Nothing could be further from the truth except maybe for the early days when the launch function was an arm of the Army.In general, KSC has always had a contractor performing the tasks with NASA providing detailed requirements and oversight.Other terms are used, like Ship and Shoot, but are not defined other than the title.

The book implies that there was considerable German influence on all programs at KSC. That is not the case.It may have influenced the Saturn launch vehicle to a degree but the spacecraft programs were all influenced by the rules established by the Space Task Group and the efforts of the personnel trained at the American missile manufacturers.I worked there twenty years and the only German that I knew was Gunter Wendt (Author: The Unbroken Chain ), a contractor.

Too much is made of the conflict with the other NASA Centers.KSC participated in the various Design Reviews as the Shutter was developed.The comments were evaluated on their merits.Undoubtably, many proposed operational changes were rejected by the design centers, not by a desire to be uncooperative, but under the constraints of time, weight, and money.To make an issue of these differences is to ignore the facts and present only "sour grapes".As the loss of two orbiters illustrates, there was not enough money or time to do the real important things that needed fixing, let alone the items that make it easier to process the equipment.

The "Ship and Shoot" concept has always been an accounting dodge, like the "160 hour turnaround" and was intended to reduce the costs in the outer years of the funding proposal.Most rational engineers were/are "non-believers " and never expected "Ship and Shoot" to be incorporated into the Shuttle Program or any other significant program.The risks are too great.However, had the Gemini Program been discussed, it would show it to be partial example of this proposal as the integrated vehicle required only integrated testing at the launch site prior to flight. Components were not tested individually before being mated to the launch vehicle

In the section devoted to making the Shuttle work like a commercial jet, the people that are quoted aren't the ones that are signing the Discrepancy Reports (DR) that assure that the vehicle is safe for flight.That is the job of the System Engineers, Contractor and NASA, and there used to be only two signatures, not a dozen,to accept the responsibility. There may be more today but the two mentioned represent the majority opinion.To quote "Easy to use, is easy to say".

If you are looking for a political history of the Orbiter, other Shuttle items, Space Station at KSC, this is a good reference.However if you are looking for a complete history of KSC, you will have to find it in other documents.

The Story of Spaceflight Operations--"Where the Rubber Meets the Road"
"A History of the Kennedy Space Center" is a very good book about the evolution of spaceflight launch operations at "the Cape"--a largely unknown, undocumented and unappreciated aspect of the exciting space missions that make the headlines.

There are many excellent books in print about the design, manufacture and flight of unmanned and manned NASA spacecraft. Many of them are stories about building and testing the hardware, filled with engineering details and scientific minutia sure to satisfy the most fanatic technophile. "A History of the Kennedy Space Center" is different. Its subject is limited to the operations that take place at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) from the time an aerospace contractor delivers a space vehicle to the Cape until it is launched, weeks, months or (in some cases) years later. This is the story of the "wrench turners" and "pad rats" who toil unsung behind the scenes to prepare spacecraft for launch, and of the various types of organizations that NASA has tried over the years--mostly unsuccessfully--to make the pre-flight process faster, simpler, cheaper and safer.

During the Apollo era, former German ex-V-2 engineers held most supervisory positions at the Cape. They brought with them from Peenemunde a "hands-on" engineering tradition with very tight working relationships between the hardware designers and testers, and between factory and field personnel. As the Apollo program showed (notwithstanding the Apollo 1 launch pad fire), this approach was right for the lunar program, and was a major factor in America's defeat of the Soviet Union in the "moon race." However, in later years, the experienced Germans retired, and the "hands-on" tradition faded as less-experienced managers decided they could manage better without getting their hands dirty. Tensions between designers at the factories and launch preparation teams at KSC increased. The designers thought they knew best, and did not welcome critical feedback from the blue-collar launch pad "techs" who had the nerve to suggest better ways to design hardware from an "operations" perspective. This attitude--among other things, of course--contributed to the losses of Space Shuttles "Challenger" and "Columbia." Exacerbating the problem was Washington's relentless drive to privatize spaceflight operations, a "shoot yourself in the foot" strategy that turned NASA employees into contract managers rather than knowledgeable engineers, with predictable consequences.

The authors show convincingly that the Cape is really "where the rubber meets the road," and that it is the dedicated work of the "wrench turners" there that makes much of the difference between a successful space mission and a failure. NASA would be well-advised to heed the lessons of the past as related in "A History of the Kennedy Space Center" as it grapples with today's problems of an aging Shuttle fleet, an International Space Station in search of a mission and the burgeoning international competition for space launch services.

Well-written, comprehensive and authoritative, "A History of the Kennedy Space Center" deserves a place on every space buff's bookshelf. ... Read more

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There is no competition since this is the first book in the English language on cosmonaut selection and training

Offers a unique and original discussion on how Russia prepares its cosmonauts for spaceflight.

Contains original interviews and photographs with first-hand information obtained by the authors on visits to Star City

Customer Reviews (4)

Cosmic Detective Work
The detailed insights in this landmark description of Russia's manned space team provide plenty of hints about just how hard it was for the authors to extract all of this information over many years. The three authors and their associates ran an international free-lance 'research team' that crumb by crumb, rumor by rumor, fact by fact assembled a coherent story BEHIND the official stories of 'space heroes'. Instead, we have something infinitely better -- cosmonauts (and would-be cosmonauts) as genuine human beings, struggling with challenges never before faced in human history (and with some challenges as old as humanity), trusting these foreign visitors enough to open their hearts (and their scrapbooks) to them. Some tales are glorious, some tragic, some unfair, some comic. But thanks to this book, and the people who created it, the world has access to the human face of 'manned space flight' in Russia. AND -- by the way, many Westerners will be using this book not merely for idle curiosity, or the 'thrill of the fact hunt', but for actual preparation to follow in the footsteps charted here, and to go to 'Star City', to take part in cosmonaut training, and even -- some of you readers -- actually fly into space alongside Russian cosmonauts. This book will give an enormous 'leg up' on that process -- so buy it now, or buy it and give it to a friend considering such a project. And always keep in mind that new information is being gathered, evaluated, and issued by these and other 'space sleuths'.

Jim Oberg
[...]

Master work on the Soviet/Russian space programme
Until the publication of this book, there could have been few people in the world who were as well-informed on the Soviet/Russian space programme and their headquarters in Star City as the three authors of this superb book: and that includes many of the Russian participants of the programme themselves.
Between the three of them, authors Hall, Vis and Shayler have visited Star City almost thirty times stretching back to the very first days of Glasnost. During their visits, the authors were given access to parts of Star City previously unseen by outsiders and they befriended many cosmonauts and key space programme workers. This book is the result of these friendships, their unparalleled access and their diligent research.
Hall, Vis and Shayler are long-time observors of the Soviet/Russian space programme and have written and contributed to many of the key books published on the subject over the past decade as well as numerous magazine articles. For the first time ever, this book gathers much of their research and efforts into one volume.
For anyone interested in the Russian space programme, this is the definitive overview. The level of detail is staggering, yet it is presented in a highly-readable and understandable manner. The book is copiously illustrated with dozens of photographs, the majority of which are published for the first time and many of which show places, events or individuals never before seen. The book contains tables of information of interest to novice and veteran space programme observors alike, and is filled with fascinating anecdotes and footnotes never before reported.

This book is a must-have for anyone interested in the Soviet/Russian space programme and can not be recommended highly enough!

The definitive guide to Soviet spaceflight
This book is probably the best book ever written on the subject. One can feel the history of Soviet spaceflight almost as walking in Star City, through methodically researched account of the cosmonaut training center. First hand experience and rich archival materials that was available to the author makes this volume the definitive book for years to come.

The transition from Soviet regime to Russian cooperation with the United States is dramatically depicted, and provides important insights for future space programs, to be conducted by both space powers.


Anyone who wants to learn how the Soviet mastered the ultimate frontier, with triumphant spirit of man, as well as high end technologies, will find a lot of informative and new information in this remarkable account of Soviet spaceflight.

The Story of an Unknown Part of Space History
One of the great changes that has come about since the collapse of the Soviet Union is access to formerly secretfacilities and operations. For this book the Russians allowed unprecedented access to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (TsPK in Russia). Here is a description of everything from the selection process, through training, equipment, and the ground support infrastructure even down to tennis courts. Surprising to see, is the photograph of the offices assigned to NASA as part of the international cooperation now in effect.

To anyone who has followed the United States space program, this book provides a view into an aspect of the development of space that hasn't been seen before. In many cases the Russian efforts were similar to those of the United States. In other cases, there were decided differences. Perhaps in the future, the combined history of the developmnent of space will be documented, but not yet. This is the story of one little known side.

As I read this book I was reminded of the competition aspects of the space race as depicted in 'The Right Stuff.' ... Read more

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Describes the history and work of the John F. Kennedy Space Center located on Merritt Island on the east coast of Florida. ... Read more

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While visiting the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Bluebonnet is asked to help on the next mission. ... Read more

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A visitor to Beijing in 1900, Chinese or foreign, would have been struck by the great number of native-place lodges serving the needs of scholars and officials from the provinces. What were these native-place lodges? How did they develop over time? How did they fit into and shape Beijing's urban ecology? How did they further native-place ties?

In answering these questions, the author considers how native-place ties functioned as channels of communication between China's provinces and the political center; how sojourners to the capital used native-place ties to create solidarity within their communities of fellow provincials and within the class of scholar-officials as a whole; how the state co-opted these ties as a means of maintaining order within the city and controlling the imperial bureaucracy; how native-place ties transformed the urban landscape and social structure of the city; and how these functions were refashioned in the decades of political innovation that closed the Qing period. Native-place lodges are often cited as an example of the particularistic ties that characterized traditional China and worked against the emergence of a modern state based on loyalty to the nation. The author argues that by fostering awareness of membership in an elite group, the native-place lodges generated a sense of belonging to a nation that furthered the reforms undertaken in the early twentieth century.

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Customer Reviews (2)

my photo mentor!
Bob Thall happens to have been my Photo/Darkroom 1 teacher in college back in the late 80s. This gentleman is the bomb! Hey, I already got my grades, so I have absolutely nothing to gain here! Going into the class, I had, to put it mildly, a very poor eye for photography. I mean, anyone can use a camera. However Bob enabled me to acquire a real appreciation for photography as an art form, to the extent that I am still taking photographs, almost every day of my life, literally! In fact, I recommend to every serious student that I meet (I am still taking classes!) to enroll in a Photo/Darkroom 1 class with Bob Thall. He has helped imbue me with an artistic sense and keen eye that is helpful in any art class or artistic related endeavor. OK now about the book: It rocks! While some consider his work dry (he said it himself almost 20 years ago), if you take a close and careful look at every aspect of his work including content, composition, shooting, printing, etc., you may see what I see... Who else could make a photograph of a Chicago alley look so darn beautiful?!

meticulous revelations, gorgeous results
Bob Thall has been making marvelous photographic books from marvelous big-camera photographs for more than a decade.He's also been systematically investigating the city of Chicago as a test case for the 21st century city.PERFECT CITY began by looking at the creative destruction of an architecturally significant and economically vibrant American urban downtown;THE NEW AMERICAN VILLAGE then looked at the new "urbanism" of what Joel Garreau has called the Edge Cities that have sprung up along the interstates and tollroads at a safe distance from the old metropolis.Now with CITY SPACES, he's tackling the newest phenomenon of American urbanism:the nostalgic return of downtowns as places to work, live,and be entertained.It's Thall's quirky intelligence at work that a collection of photographs of alleys could become a book about the resurgence of the old city, but that's what he shows us-- the way the city's encrustations of history, its graffiti, old signs, strange corners, odd spaces, and once-vibrant functional loading docks have become objects of nostalgic reverie, and Thall offers to be our guide in this visual treasure-hunt.This is a photographer of decidedly modernist sentiments.The play of subtle light on worn brick, the way mirror glass recedes deceptively into a non-existent, yet absurdly convincing surreal skyscape, the delight you feel as things line up into sensuous arrays when you stand precisely THERE and tilt your head like THIS and bend your knees oh-so-slightly:these are the matters of this book.Such visual sleight-of-sight requires superb printing to work in a book;luckily the Icelandic printers have labored with Nordic determination and the results are astonishing:blacks as smooth as velvet but still retaining a sense of detailed dark space; silvery sheens to steel, walls that crumble as you look at them. ... Read more

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A simple overview of the operations at several space flight centers in the United States. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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This book represents an image and photographic history dedicated to "Kennedy Space Center," whether used as a family or geographic name. Images cover the period from 1958 to 2006. It is a historical compilation from a variety of sources with a linguistic emphasis on any image relating to the name "Kennedy Space Center," including alternative meanings and inflections which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (family name, geographic name, etc.) as well as use in modern culture, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, the military, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, and other physical sciences. This selection process results in many unexpected entries for a image collection dedicated to the name Kennedy Space Center, since editorial decisions to include or exclude images is purely a linguistic process. The dating of the images is either the year taken, the year published, or a numerical value found in the title or credit (e.g. the sorting by years may not be related to the years when the images were originally produced). Original image orientation is generally used. The images are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. Some images have not been cropped, to retain margin information, and/or to show original condition. Proceeds from this book are used to expand the content and coverage of Webster's Online Dictionary (www.websters-online-dictionary.org). ... Read more