This volume is from the Monograph in Aerospace History and is an invaluable record that marks the 40th anniversary of the testing of a cluster of five J-2 engines that powered the second state of the Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo lunar landing program.
The book is based on a series of lectures given on Apollo propulsion development that was staged at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center in 2006.
As editors, Fisher and Rahman have captured the challenge of developing seven different rocket propulsion systems that put the oomph in the Apollo program.
More importantly, this book tells it like it was – explained by leading propulsion experts that gave the country such powerhouses as the F-1 Saturn V first stage engine, the J-2, as well as attitude control engines and the lunar descent and ascent engines.
As noted by the book’s editors: “The story told within is not how one particular engine was built, but rather how ordinary people persisted and were driven to do extraordinary work.”
Rocketeers of today would do well to glean the lessons learned as spotlighted in this informative volume.
The over 200-page monograph is chock-full of great viewgraphs and photos. The observations by the experts are well presented and a delight for the technical reader and the nozzle novices among us.
Note: for a free PDF of this volume, go to:
http://history.nasa.gov/monograph45.pdfBy
Edited by: Steven Fisher and Shamim Rahman; NASA, Washington, D.C. (paperback); NASA SP-2009-4545; 2009
Leonard David