Aerospace engineering and technology books for sale

I am selling the books listed below. Shipping will be added to all
prices, however only the true shipping cost, depending on book size
and weight as well as chosen delivery speed, will be charged, without
any additional surcharge for handling. If you are interested, please
email me at (remove .NOSPAM from the
address) – the Compuserve address above is no longer valid.
-------------------------------------------------------------
For sale are two copies of the "Handbook of Astronautical
Engineering", edited by Heinz Hermann Koelle, McGraw-Hill Book
Company, Inc., New York, First Edition, 1961, hardcover, no dust
jacket.
This encyclopedic handbook is the only such comprehensive astronautics
text ever produced and still constitutes an outstanding technical and
scientific reference source. It treats major areas of space technology
including structures, propulsion, guidance, and other significant
topics and to date is the most massive and complete book on the
overall astronautical field yet published.
It provides an excellent survey of the astronautical state of the art
in space technology at the dawn of the space age on a total of 1872
pages with 350 tables, 1052 illustrations, about 2300 equations,
approximately 1360 references and an extensive 35 page index. It was
compiled and edited by the then Director of the Future Projects Office
at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and constitutes a team work
of specialist engineers and scientists mostly involved in the then
current space flight developments in the US. The 135 major
contributors include well known experts like Scott Crossfield, Kurt
Debus, Krafft Ehricke, Frederick Ordway III, Eugen Saenger, Ernst
Stuhlinger, George Sutton, and Robert Truax, and Walter Dornberger and
Hermann Oberth were some of the famous members of the Editorial Board.
Wernher von Braun, who was the Chairman of the Editorial Board, stated
in his foreword: "A team of 150 leading specialists from government
agencies, industry, and universities and three years of concentrated
well-coordinated effort were required to produce the first handbook
(on this planet!) summarizing the essential present knowledge in the
field of space flight."
The editor called the tome the 'spaceflight bible' of the Sixties, and
it served also a reference for the astronauts, each of whom received a
personal copy when entering service with NASA.
The volume has been divided into the six major parts of fundamentals
of astronautical engineering, astrodynamics, astrionics, propulsion,
space vehicles, and space flight operations. Each of the 28 chapters
included within these six parts are broken down into varying numbers
of sections comprising 115 subchapters. The chapters deal with
objectives and trends, geophysical and astrophysical fundamentals,
engineering fundamentals, trajectory fundamentals, aerodynamic
fundamentals, powered flight, free-flight trajectories close to
celestial bodies, satellite orbits, lunar and interplanetary
trajectories, atmospheric entry, relativistic rocket mechanics,
fundamentals of astrionics, astronavigation, stability and control,
electrical systems and power sources, communications systems and
equipment, propulsion fundamentals, air-jet propulsion systems, solid
propellant rocket engines, liquid propellant propulsion systems,
advanced propulsion systems, design fundamentals, terrestrial
vehicles, space vehicles, objectives and mission requirements, manned
space flight, operational role of man, and ground operations.
The book covers a wide variety of spaceflight related topics,
including such diverse aspects as spaceflight economy, social impact
of space activities, vehicle system testing, relativistic flight
mechanics, orbit control, body temperatures in space, launch
facilities and operation, mission requirements, or flight evaluation,
and includes lots of material, summaries and collections of tables,
graphs, and bibliographic reference material not found anywhere else.
Although some sections are now somewhat dated due to the progress of
technology especially in electronics, most of the fundamental
information and data, for example on propulsion systems, as well as
the basic formulas are still as valid and relevant as they were four
decades ago and of special interest with respect to the renewed space
exploration mandate NASA has just received.
The first edition of October 1961 comprised 7915 copies, and including
a second edition at the end of 1963 only a total of 9818 were ever
printed. Consequently the book is now very rare and hard to find.
The books are 6 ¼" x 9 ¼" tall and 2 ¼" thick. Both books are ex
library copies that were recently surplussed by the Boeing company
branch library at the Huntington Beach plant. They are in generally
good condition, but have some shelf wear and rubbed boards, and
corners and spine ends are bumped and rubbed as well. Both have a
crease on the title page (which is typical for used copies of this
book) as well as typical library marks and stamps respectively
remnants of stickers. One also has a small tear on the tile page,
while the other has perforations on the first three pages stemming
from a staple. One is stamped "North American Aviation, Inc. / Los
Angeles Division Library" and the other "North American Aviation / Jun
- 3 1963 / Received / Columbus Engineering Data". Both also wear the
stamp "Withdrawn from Boeing Library Holdings" and thus actually
represent a bit of aerospace history in themselves.
The price of each copy is $160.
-------------------------------------------------------------
For sale is a copy of the "Forty-Fourth Annual Report of the National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 1958, Administrative Report
Including Technical Papers Nos. 1342 to 1392 (Final Report)",
published by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington,
DC, 1959, hardcover, no dust jacket.
This book represents the final volume issued by NACA on its activities
before it was transformed into NASA and is the best primary source on
Committee activities and achievements. The Annual Report provides a
brief outline of Committee membership, policy, activities, facilities,
and budget, along with a summary of the state of aeronautical
research. Bound with the Annual Report are the Technical Reports
published in that year. The report starts with a letter of transmittal
by President Eisenhower to Congress and a letter of submittal to the
President by the famous James Doolittle, who then was NACA Chairman
and issued this final annual. The forwarding letters pointed out that
at the close of business of September 30, 1958, the NACA would cease
to exist and that all facilities and employees would be absorbed by
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to be established
the following day.
Following a brief overview over NACA and how it operates, two special
contributions, "Forty Years of Aeronautical Research", first published
in the Smithsonian annual report for 1955 and reprinted in the Final
Annual Report, and its companion piece, "The Following Years,
1955-1958", by James Doolittle, provide a fascinating summary of the
history and accomplishments of NACA.
Additional sections peculiar to the final report concern reprints of
the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, which created NASA out
of NACA, and the proclamation making said act effective at close of
business of September 30, 1958.
The bulk of the volume is constituted by 51 individual technical
reports covering the whole spectrum of NACA activities. Many of the
papers concern classical aviation related topics, such as crash fire
prevention in turbojet aircraft, airfoil theory, atmospheric flight,
aerodynamics and fluid dynamics, but a number of publications on
topics like high energy fuels for ramjet engines, ballistic missiles
entry and hypervelocity vehicles herald the dawn of the space age.
The tome has a total of 1494 pages and is 9 ¼" x 11 ½" tall and 3"
thick, with a weight of 11 lbs. It includes black and white as well as
color photographs, diagrams, drawings, tables, formulas, and
literature references.
This report is now very rare and hard to find, and, being the last of
its kind ever to be published, it constitutes a unique historical
document on NASA's predecessor.
The book is an ex library copy that was recently surplussed by the
Boeing company branch library at the Huntington Beach plant. It has
typical library marks, stamps and stickers reading "Douglas Aircraft
Library" and "Douglas Aircraft Division Technical Library". Some shelf
wear, bumping of corners and cracking has occurred, and the pages have
yellowed, with small tears on a few of them. Otherwise the book is in
good condition.
The price is $60.
-------------------------------------------------------------
For sale is a copy of "Basic Astronautics: An Introduction to Space
Science, Engineering and Medicine", by Frederick I. Ordway III, James
P. Gardner, and Mitchell R. Sharpe Jr., Space Technology Series,
Prentice Hall International, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1962,
hardcover, no dust jacket.
The book consists of three major parts and 13 chapters covering a wide
variety of topics such as the history of astronautics, space physics,
astrobiology, space vehicle development, propulsion systems,
structural design and space medicine and was written to provide an
introductory survey of the basic elements of astronautics. Two of the
authors served on NASA's launch vehicle program at the Marshall Space
Flight Center at the time. Frederick Ordway III went on to become a
scientific advisor for the landmark science fiction movie "2001: A
Space Odyssey", while Harry Lange, who prepared the majority of the
technical illustrations for the book, later worked as a spacecraft and
hardware designer on the same movie.
The book has 587 pages and is 6 ¼" x 9 ¼" tall and 1 ½" thick. It
includes a large number of black and white photographs, diagrams,
drawings and tables as well as formulas, literature references and an
index.
The book is an ex library copy that was recently surplussed by the
Boeing company branch library at the Huntington Beach plant and wears
the stamp "Withdrawn from Boeing Library Holdings". It has shelf wear
and slight cracking at the back, scratches on the cover and rubbed
boards, and corners and spine ends are bumped and rubbed respectively
frayed as well. The edges of the back are reinforced with tape. It has
a crease on three of the first pages as well as typical library marks
and stickers, with some smudging, soiling and highlighting of text.
The price is $6.
-------------------------------------------------------------
For sale is a copy of "The Starflight Handbook: a Pioneer's Guide to
Interstellar Travel", by Eugene F. Mallove and Gregory L. Matloff,
Wiley Science Editions, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1989, hardcover, dust
jacket and transparent protective cover.
This book is a compendium of scientific and engineering knowledge
about interstellar travel. It offers a high-level overview in
nontechnical text of the many different fascinating and exotic
approaches and technologies that have been proposed for interstellar
travel and contains in depth discussions of concepts ranging from
nuclear pulse propulsion engines over ramscoops and interstellar
navigation systems to solar sails and slingshots off of neutron stars,
with detailed technical and mathematical information and formulas
provided in sidebars and special appendices separated from the main
text. Topics addressed in the 16 chapters include methods of
interstellar propulsion, astrodynamics, space power systems,
space-time difficulties in starflight, star-to-Earth communications,
effects of starflight on people and machines, hibernation and
suspended animation, interstellar arks and colonies, and techniques
for spotting extrasolar planets. Interwoven through the text are
historical perspectives as well as related social and cultural
considerations about perspectives of starflight within the near to
medium term future.
The handbook contains a wealth of detailed information and graphic
presentations, and many of the diagrams and concepts were originated
by Robert Forward, a prominent name in the field of interstellar
travel. Forward has done extensive research into solar/magnetic sails,
space towers and tethered satellites. Freeman Dyson (creator of the
Dyson sphere) is another well known scientist featured in the book.
Other starships covered include the Orion and Daedalus pulsed-nuclear
spaceships.
The book has a total of 274 pages and is 7 ¾" x 9 ½" tall and 1"
thick. It includes black and white photographs, both scientific and
artistic drawings, diagrams and tables as well as formulas, literature
references, seven appendices and an index.
The book is an ex library copy with a dust jacket and a transparent
protective cover. It has typical library marks, stamps and stickers,
but is otherwise in very good condition.
The price is $16.