Re: Book, Single Stage to Orbit

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 18:32:53 -0700, Edward Rupp <[email protected]>
wrote:

>I just finished a new book called 'Single Stage to Orbit'.  The sub tile
>is 'Politics, Space Technology, and the Quest for Reusable Rocketry.' 
>Written by Andrew J. Butrica.
>
>It was a very good book that gave some me some new insights into the
>difficulties of getting such a project through a fickle Congress and
>government.  Most of the book is about the politics with only a modest
>amount of technical information.  The big thing to conclude from the
>book is any practical reusable rocket launcher has to be very carefully
>designed to keep ground operations to a minimum, as 'aircraft like' as
>possible.

Butrica won a Leopold Award for _To See the Unseen_, his history of
radio astronomy, and he's been writing about space history for some
years.  One wonders, then, about his titular identification of RLVs as
SSTOs.  A book published in November 2003 should reflect the current
consensus among hardware developers that SSTO, while technically
interesting, is not on the road to commercial success.

>Great read, I highly recommend for understanding some of the economics
>of reusable rocketry, history and politics.

Titular misgivings aside, this book is a great step forward.  As Doug
Jones pointed out yesterday, the big cheers at Space Access last year
were for a business plan and a regulatory clarification.  The industry
is maturing.  Hallelujah!

-R

--
LSO to pilot after 6th bolter,
"You have to land here, son.
This is where the food is."