What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Does anyone know the fist time a space shuttle was mentioned in a story or novel? I'm referring to the actual shuttle rather than a similar craft dreamed up by an author.

This sounds like a search for a specific book -- moving it to Unsolved.

After a quick poking around, one of the earliest I can find is Shuttle Down by G. Harry Stine. It's from '81, and Stine apparently was involved with NASA and/or the space industry so he got a lot of details right.

Moonraker, the James Bond film, came out in 1979 and involved a space shuttle. The original Ian Fleming novel was written in 1955 and had nothing to do with spaceships, but I'd imagine the novelization of the movie, James Bond and Moonraker, would also have the shuttle. I've got the novelization around somewhere, but I've never read it so I can't say how accurate it was. I would bet not very.

Phil, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

No response. Abandoned.