February 1983:space book reviews

The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual

Kerry Mark Joels, Gregory P. Kennedy and David Larkin, Ballantyne, 1982, $9.95.

Aimed primarily at the adolescent space buff, this book will interest anyone who wants to know more about that wonderful flying machine, the Space Shuttle. It is jam-packed with facts, diagrams and tables. It is written as though it was indeed the Operator's (Pilot) Manual. Everything seems to be there at a first reading; from the standard flight plan to how to open the lockers; from how to get into your spacesuit to what to do in an emergency; how to use the "personal hygiene” systems to where the tiles fit on. It describes possible missions in occasionally minute-by-minute detail. There are several pages giving the launch sequence as though the reader were the crewman checking off the pre-flight checklist. There is a similar sequence for the landing. Everything seems to be described, even the standard program numbers for the various procedures in the flight-control computers.

This book is full of interesting incidental facts, too, eg why the Shuttle must orbit with its Cargo bay doors open (or it overheats); how only two space suits are carried so that if an emergency involving loss of cabin pressure occurs when the crew is more than two, the rest might climb into small (less than 1 m diameter) balls called "Personal Rescue Enclosures" which look like the alien in "Dark Star" and cannot be the best way to spend a few hours; how the human body in zero g relaxes naturally into a "neutral body position", which looks like a half crouching stand, so that the heels of any foot rests are built up to accommodate the foot-back raised posture; and so on.

Modelmakers will have a field day with this book. It seems to have detailed views of everything, and plans and elevations galore. There is even a foldout diagram of the flight deck instrumentation. You really begin to see yourself sitting there flying the thing. Of course, it goes over the top at times. It is so enthusiastic it quotes the flight cost of $35/kg without mentioning that is the marginal cost, R&D costs having been "lost" in NASA's budgetting. There are, surprisingly, some gaps in the information. I searched in vain to find out where extra crew members will sit if more than four are carried. On the whole, though, it is a must for those who are interested in the details of the space missions which grace their TV screens. This is a book to have handy on the shelf for reference, to swot up on at dead of night so that one can fly that machine in imagination at least. Just in case that dream can be turned to reality one day, you understand!