The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA's First Space Plane Book

From the beginning, the Space Shuttle was a bold idea: a space plane launched as a rocket only to drop out of orbit deadstick, unpowered, with one chance to glide safely back to Earth. Like any space program, it had its tragedies and triumphs . . . and reached its end. After thirty years of service, the shuttles have come back to Earth for good, destined for new homes in museums across the United States. As this chapter of the American space program closes, author Piers Bizony chronicles three decades of shuttling astronauts, satellites, telescopes, space station parts, and science experiments in this lavishly illustrated celebration of the world's first operational space plane. With over five hundred color photos covering day-to-day operations before, during, and after liftoff and touchdown, charting the breakthroughs and the setbacks, Space Shuttle is a fitting tribute to NASA's longest-running space program.