Download or read book History of the Space Shuttle, Volume Two written by T. A. Heppenheimer and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Basing his work on virtually untapped NASA archives, T. A. Heppenheimer has produced the second volume of his definitive history of the space shuttle. Volume Two traces the development of the shuttle through a decade of engineering setbacks and breakthroughs, program-management challenges, and political strategizing, culminating in the first launch in April 1981. The focus is on the engineering challenges—propulsion, thermal protection, electronics, onboard systems—and the author covers in depth the alternative vehicles developed by the U.S. Air Force and European countries. The first launch entailed a monumental amount of planning and preparation that Heppenheimer explains in detail.