Rating: 
Summary: An Outstanding Technical History
Review: This book is by far the best technical history of the Space Shuttle, presenting an overview of the vehicle's development and use. It begins with a discussion of the origins of the goal of winged spaceflight in the 1920s, extends through the Dyna Soar, lifting body, and X-plane research until the decision to proceed with the Space Shuttle in 1972. It then goes into great detail about the shuttle's design and development effort in the 1970s and then discusses in some detail the first 100 missions of the program since 1981. In every case Jenkins offers an excellent technical analysis of all aspects of the vehicle. This book is the place to start in any effort to understand the history of the Space Shuttle. When the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) started investigating the shuttle accident of February 1, 2003, its members read this book as background to their important work. Jenkins soon became a staff member supporting the CAIB and his expertise showed in the final report.
Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent resource book.
Review: This book is loaded with fascinating information about the shuttle.One thing that recently got my attention was that shortly after the Columbia disaster, I looked in the book for information about the tile problems they were having before the first flight. I wound up on page 265, which has a photo of the external tank with cargo netting wrapped around it just before the flight readiness firing. As it happened some of the foam insulation had begun to come loose after a tanking test from near the same area the foam insulation is suspected to have come off and hit Columbia. In an earlier chapter that discusses the development of the solid rocket boosters McDonnell Douglas is quoted as cautioning NASA about the very scenario that would doom the Challenger roughly 15 years later. There is no way for me to check the accuracy of every detail in this book. But I did notice a difference of launch dates for one shuttle flight from the book to what I read on a NASA web page so one might want to double check the book on occasion. Because this 3rd edition discusses the first 100 missions of the shuttle program Mr. Jenkins has eliminated some of the earlier materials about the development phases. This doesn't take away from the quality of this edition but I thought I would mention this. If the development phase is what you are really interested in the 2nd edition might be worth checking on.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic - but needs a copy editor
Review: This is a wonderful, detailed book filled with information you can't get anyywhere else. I can't say enough good things about it. But there's one problem: The book appears to have gone directly from the author's word processor to the printer without making a stop at an editor. There are hundreds of instances of dropped or extraneous words and garbled sentences, which, for me, kick the credibility of the information down a notch. Curiously, this same problem plagues the entire "NASA Mission Reports" series edited by Robert Godwin. I can understand that a bit more as those (also excellent, detailed) books appear to be simply OCR'd versions of NASA materials. C'mon space-geek authors: Give the writing as much attention as the engineering.
Rating:
Summary: Jenkins' book is the standards bearer of shuttle reference
Review: This is the best book to date about the shuttle. I refer to it several times per week when I need to answer questions from colleagues, the news media and the public. I also learn something every time I read it. Jenkins' fine use of editorial comment, facts, statistics and insider knowledge make it invaluable. I didn't think Jenkins could (or needed to) top the second edition of the book, but he did with the third. If you need the facts and more, buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: The Most Comprehensive Book About the Space Shuttle
Review: While many books have been written about the historical development of the Space Shuttle, this book is without a doubt the best and most thorough of all. In addition, to the comprehensive text, the book contains hundreds of black and white and color photographs as well as numerous line drawings to further help the reader understand this marvelous space vehicle. Roughly the first 40% of the book covers the developmental history of the Space Shuttle from the early designs of Sanger, Bredt and von Braun, though the X-planes and Dyna-Soar to the many numerous NASA designs of which there are several hundred. These first 200 hundred pages far eclipse any other book on the subject and focus on the engineering side of the project and avoids most of the political discussions that accompany most other books on the subject. The next 60-70 pages cover the development of the present Space Shuttle. After this large introductory section, the book examines the first 100 mission of the Space Shuttle, including the Challenger accident and all the changes made to the Shuttles to improve flight worthiness. The final sections provide very technical descriptions of all aspects of the space shuttle from the landing gear, the thermal control system, the heat shields and much, much more. While I can't comment about the technical accuracy of all these sections, for those sections that I'm familiar with, the thermal control system, the environmental system and EVAs, I couldn't find anything wrong. One final thing to add, in my over ten plus years working as a NASA contractor at the Johnson Space Center, I would say that I have referred to this book more than any other when I'm looking for information about the Space Shuttle, whether it is just general information or something more technical.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Comprehensive Book About the Space Shuttle
Review: While many books have been written about the historical development of the Space Shuttle, this book is without a doubt the best and most thorough of all. In addition, to the comprehensive text, the book contains hundreds of black and white and color photographs as well as numerous line drawings to further help the reader understand this marvelous space vehicle. Roughly the first 40% of the book covers the developmental history of the Space Shuttle from the early designs of Sanger, Bredt and von Braun, though the X-planes and Dyna-Soar to the many numerous NASA designs of which there are several hundred. These first 200 hundred pages far eclipse any other book on the subject and focus on the engineering side of the project and avoids most of the political discussions that accompany most other books on the subject. The next 60-70 pages cover the development of the present Space Shuttle. After this large introductory section, the book examines the first 100 mission of the Space Shuttle, including the Challenger accident and all the changes made to the Shuttles to improve flight worthiness. The final sections provide very technical descriptions of all aspects of the space shuttle from the landing gear, the thermal control system, the heat shields and much, much more. While I can't comment about the technical accuracy of all these sections, for those sections that I'm familiar with, the thermal control system, the environmental system and EVAs, I couldn't find anything wrong. One final thing to add, in my over ten plus years working as a NASA contractor at the Johnson Space Center, I would say that I have referred to this book more than any other when I'm looking for information about the Space Shuttle, whether it is just general information or something more technical.
Rating:
Summary: A Comprehensive Must-Have
Review: Wow. Dennis Jenkins has created an absolutely definitive reference work in this massive and well illustrated volume. It appeals strongly to both the casual reader (such as myself) as well as - I suspect - the expert (such as Robert Godwin!). As such, it is a highly recommended history of the Space Shuttle program full of interesting detail.
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