Go for Launch: An Illustrated History of Cape Canaveral

Apogee Books Space Series #61

by Joel W. Powell, Art Lebrun

From the first Bumper V-2 launch in 1950 to the Atlas V vehicles of today, more than 55 years of Cape Canaveral history is captured in this exhaustive collection of photographs celebrating the development and evolution of one of space exploration's most famous and significant facilities. Detailed maps and historical aerial photographs reveal the famous launch complexes and basic infrastructure of this storied base station, while missile and rocket tests are featured in never-before-seen images with descriptive captions. The bustling daily activity of thousands of employees at the Cape is captured on film, providing a behind-the-scenes look at rocket launches. Information on the current generation of space launch vehicles, trivia on various rockets and satellites that have flown out of Cape Canaveral, and amusing anecdotes are also included.

Genres: Space

304 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed through this book, which belonged to my dearly departed father, who worked as an aviation engineer for most of life. It was very interesting, filled with photographs, an illustrated history of space launches at Cape Canaveral. The information on the Delta IV rockets, I found most intriguing, as my father spent the last years of his life building them for Boeing. If this topic interests you, you will enjoy this book.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

more nerd books
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This book was fun to read. It was interesting to read about the early days of rocket/missile launches and some of the disasters that went along with it.

This book does not include any of the Apollo moon launches; these were all handled by the Kennedy Space Center, which is different than Cape Canaveral.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unique and very useful history of the Cape and NASA. The pictures alone are the price of the book. Too bad it is not in color and with a larger format.