Nasa: The Complete Illustrated History

by Michael H. Gorn, Buzz Aldrin

Authoritatively and engagingly written, this book tells the story of American space exploration from the early 20th century to the present, covering every US space mission ever undertaken, including those of projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, and the development of the Space Shuttle.

Genres: Space, History, Science, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Hello, I’m Michael Gorn, and I’m a native Californian living in the Los Angeles area with my wife, Christine. My writing specialty is the history of aeronautics and spaceflight, which I’ve been pursuing for nearly 40 years.

I’ve published a number of books in the field. My latest, due out in September 2018, is Spacecraft: 100 Iconic Rockets, Shuttles, and Satellites that Put Us in Space (Quarto Publishing Group, 2018).

Spacecraft is timed to commemorate two of the most historic events of the space age: the 60th anniversary of the founding of NASA in 2018, and in 2019, the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11—the first landing by human beings on the Moon. Illustrated with over 300 beautiful, original artworks by my collaborator Giuseppe de Chiara of Naples, Italy, Spacecraft is an oversize, lavishly illustrated book that depicts the world’s great space vehicles, from Sputnik 1 in 1958 to the massive James Webb Space Telescope in 2020. I contributed concise and, I hope, enlightening historical profiles that accompany the images.

Some of my previous books include NASA: The Complete Illustrated History (Merrell Publishers, 2005, revised 2008) and Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA (The University Press of Kentucky, 2001). I also wrote The Universal Man: Theodore von Karman’s Life in Aeronautics (Smithsonian, 1992), Superstructures in Space: From Satellites to Space Stations, A Guide to What’s Out There (Merrell Publishers, 2008), and I was a contributing author for Spyplanes: The Illustrated Guide to Manned Reconnaissance and Surveillance Aircraft from World War I to Today (Quarto Publishing Group, 2016).

I enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a historian in the U.S. civil service. I served for nearly thirty years with the Air Force, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, becoming the Chief Historian of the NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center, at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

I’ve been fortunate to receive several awards for my work, most notably the Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award for Expanding the Envelope, presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. I also received the Alfred V. Verville Fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and was selected for the Fellowship in Aerospace History by the American Historical Association.

I have a strong attachment to Southern California, where I grew up (in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of L.A.) and attended the University of Southern California, where I earned a doctorate in history. Aside from the pleasures of writing about aeronautics and spaceflight, I’ve had a lifelong passion for morning walks, amateur (very amateur!) gardening, and for wood carving birds and other wildlife.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein inzwischen etwas überholtes aber nicht weniger interessantes Buch vom Bücherflohmarkt der Stadtbibliothek. Sehr schön bebildert und gut geschrieben!

[Takahiro Aoki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll highly recommend the below two books,

NASA Apollo 8 (Official NASA Books).
This mission was important to Apollo 11.
Failure is not an Option (by Gene Kranz), former flight director, NASA.


This Book (NASA, The Complete Illustrated History) is also attractive.

[Kaulin Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells about the great history of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The history ranges from before NASA ever existed clear to the some of the most recent missions (missions recorded in book ending at 2005). Before NASA, there was NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Every US plane that broke a speed record flew with a radial engine covered by an NACA cowling. Mach 1 was also conquered in the X-1 during NACA's reign, and more supersonic research was done with the X-1E and other aircraft. Then rocket experiments began, and NASA came into play. A rocket powered plane used by the NASA was the X-15, one of the fasted planes ever. The X-15 achieved speeds of Mach 6-7. Alan Shepard became the first man in space on August 20, 1953 (Project Mercury). Then Project Gemini and Apollo followed. Apollo brought the first men to the moon. Many probes were sent to different places in the solar system and the space shuttle came into use, becoming one of the most reliable ways to orbit. Many missions didn't go flawlessly, and some ended in complete disaster. It took much research to develop spacecraft into what they are today. My favorite part was when it talked about Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon for the first time.

Many astronauts feared for their lives during their missions. A good example of this is Apollo 13. Luckily, the astronauts on board were able to survive on the crippled spacecraft long enough to make it safely back to Earth. It is pretty hard to relate to that kind of fear, that dying is a huge possibility, but I have been near cliffs and felt the possibility of falling off. Some of the earliest rocket experiments were like large model rocket projects, including five stages. I love to experiment with model rocketry, and have been very interested in it for most of my life.

I LOVE this book! It includes so many cool details that I never knew, and I'm usually the expert on this stuff. I loved how it was written when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and took the first step onto its surface. I didn't really have a least favorite part, except the sad parts when astronauts died in disasters.

Anyone who loves to read about past space missions would enjoy this book very much. It has so many details that make the history very exciting. Many of them you wouldn't know, so you learn a lot too!

[Karl Kindt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The single best overall history I have read of NASA. It covers the big picture, dips in for some details of interest for highlights, and has some superb pictures.

[Darkpool · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my lovely students brought it in for me to borrow... will probably graze and look at pictures rather than read the copious amounts of text.