The History of the American Space Shuttle by Dennis R. Jenkins

The History of the American Space Shuttle 
by Dennis R. Jenkins

The flight campaign for the American space shuttle began on April 12, 1981, with the launch of STS-1 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and ended on July 21, 2011, with wheels stop of STS-135. During the 30 years and 135 missions in between, the program experienced triumphs and tragedies, amazed the world with its orbital exploits, and was frequently the subject of admiration, condemnation, pride, and despair.

This book provides a detailed overview of the history of winged spacecraft and the development of the vehicle we call the "space shuttle," and provides a technical description of the orbiter, main engines, external tank, and solid rocket boosters. Two pages are dedicated to each of the 135 missions flown by the American space shuttle, including technical data, crew names, and photos of each mission.

 The Challenger and Columbia accidents are discussed, along with a discussion of what NASA did to fix the flaws and continue flying. The book concludes by covering the retirement of the vehicle and the delivery of the four remaining orbiters to their final display sites.

Dennis R. Jenkins  worked as a contractor to NASA for 33 years, mostly on the Space Shuttle Program in a variety of engineering and management roles. After supporting the first few space shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Mr. Jenkins spent five years activating the Vandenberg Launch Site in California before the facility was closed following the Challenger accident.  Returning to KSC, he supported recovering from the accident and a variety of special projects. During the late 1990s, he was the ground systems lead for the X-33 program.

Afterward, he managed a variety of upgrade projects at KSC. Jenkins spent 2003 on the staff of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), 2004 as staff to the President’s Commission on the Future of Human Spaceflight, and 2005 as the Verville Fellow at the National Air and Space Museum and then returned to KSC. In 2010, he began participating in the Orbiters on Display Working Group that planned the delivery of the Orbiters to their final display sites. He is currently the project director for the Endeavour exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Jenkins is the recipient of the American Astronomical Society’s 2018 Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. Previous books have won many awards, including the 2015 Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

I received a complimentary copy.

Cassandra's Review- The book is beautiful. It would take a month to get through the whole thing but I was able to browse through and find so much to keep me interested.  I love learning all about new things and this was fun.  It is packed with beautiful illustrations and timeless moments. I think it would be the perfect gift.