"Mary Shafer" wrote:
On 6 Dec 2003 00:09:07 GMT, Andrew Gray
wrote:

In article , rk wrote:

This will be a NASA History Publication.

summary

Runway to Orbit: Reflections of A NASA Engineer, by Dr. Kenneth Iliff,
ushers
the reader through some of the pivotal aerospace projects undertaken
by NASA
since the early 1960s. Iliff made critical contributions to research
on the
X-15 aircraft, the lifting bodies, the XB-70 bomber, high
angle-of-attack
aircraft, and the Space Shuttle, among others. His highly personal
and
thoughtful narrative also describes his seminal contributions to
parameter
estimation. Runway to Orbit is scheduled for publication in January
2004.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/nltrc.html

It is about halfway down. Looks like several neat books will be coming out
from NASA.

Certainly sounds worth seeking out...

I've read it. It's OK, I suppose, but it all seems so ordinary. It's
certainly not "Hypersonic" by Jenkins and Landis. It's just about
engineering.

Okay, so you have a good sense of humor, Mary. Engineering can be quite
interesting even to persons who are not engineers. You just need the
interest in such things. Since "Runway to Orbit..." is a historical book
with a fascinating title, I doubt it is completely full of formulas.
Honestly though, do you think someone interested in flight would be
interested in "Runway to Orbit..."?

I just got Jenkin's and Landis' book "Hypersonic..." from Amazon about a
week ago. So far it seems to be well written and not as clunky as "Space
Shuttle". Of course I have not finished it yet, but I am intrigued by the
reference to a companion book entitled "X-15 scrapbook". The 108 page
softbound book is an overflow book which basically contains some 400
additional X-15 photographs with 12 pages in full color. I have not seen it
yet but if it is anything like "Hypersonic" it should be quite nice and a
much quicker read;-) I am curious to see how well Jenkins and Landis link
up the X-15 to the Space Shuttle.

--

Daniel
http://www.challengerdisaster.info
Mount Charleston, not Charleston, SC