Voyages of Discovery – The Missions of the Space Shuttle Discovery by Robert A. Adamcik; Apogee Prime; Canada; $24.95 (soft cover); 2010.
As NASA’s space shuttle program rolls to full stop, the missions performed by each of the orbiters have been truly stunning.
The author of this book has pulled together an impressive account of the contributions of space shuttle Discovery. This unique compilation showcases Discovery (OV-103) from 1984-2011.
“This book…is intended as a celebration of one ship in NASA’s space shuttle orbiter fleet, the people who built her, the payloads she delivered, and the crews that flew her,” Adamcik writes in the introduction to the book. He has achieved this objective and more. While this volume is fact-filled, a reader will find a comfort level in the pages because the technical jargon has been kept to a minimum.
When Discovery was rolled out from its construction site in 1983, what missions, what crew, what adventures awaited the space plane couldn’t be fully predicted.
What is striking by a read of this book is how a complex machine fulfilled so many assignments: From satellite ejection and retrieval to supporting deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and helping to build the International Space Station.
Over 350 black and white photos and illustrations dot this book’s pages – serving up a picture book view of Discovery’s role in furthering and honing human spaceflight skills. As the author notes, 180 men and women flew on 39 missions of Discovery. Given those stats, “Discovery will eventually take her rightful place as the most successful space ship ever built,” Adamcik concludes.
The reader will finish reading this book with a far-greater appreciation of not only Discovery’s contributions, but also how the shuttle fleet has empowered NASA to further its human spaceflight ambitions.
For more information, go to:
http://www.apogeeprime.com/prime/bookpages/9781926837130.html
By Leonard David