ROD PYLE, SPACE AND SCIENCE AUTHOR Welcome to my author's blog. While celebrating the release of my

ROD PYLE, SPACE AND SCIENCE AUTHOR Welcome to my author's blog. While celebrating the release of my newest book, I hope to also provide you with some entertaining reads as well as rare and fascinating downloads of documents and reports from the Space Age. So relax, enjoy, and leave some feedback! After all, authors don't write for their own reading enjoyment... we live to be enjoyed by others.
From Wikipedia: "HOTOL, for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was an unrealised British space shuttle mini link tn proposal. Designed as a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable winged launch vehicle, it was to be fitted with a unique air-breathing engine, the RB545, to be developed by Rolls Royce. The engine was technically a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen mini link tn design, but by air-breathing as the spacecraft climbed through the lower atmosphere, the amount of propellant needed to be carried onboard, for use in the upper atmosphere and space, was dramatically reduced. Since propellant typically represents the majority of the takeoff weight of a rocket, HOTOL was to be considerably smaller than normal pure-rocket designs, roughly the size of a medium-haul airliner such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9/MD-80." This British project was a heart-breaker. Destined never to leave the drawing board, what once looked mini link tn promising turned out to have almost mini link tn no cargo capacity and an engine that could probably not be built (the arguments rage on). Whilst looking mini link tn for a decent image of HOTOL for my book, and leaving fistfuls of torn-out hair on the ground, I came across uber-talented space artist Emil Petrinic, who created a number of original illustrations for me. This one shows the unrealized HOTOL, all 206 by 90 feet of her. Hey, the shuttle is definitely better looking, but kudos to the artist!
Welcome to the Missions to the Moon book blog. This is a place to re-live the heady days of the Apollo and Soyuz lunar programs- perhaps the crowning achievements of the 20th Century. Many blog entries will include a new downloadable image or artifact from the space age- items rarely seen and not available in print. It's all in the spirit of my newest book, Missions to the Moon - to remember the great adventure of the Golden Age of space exploration, and ponder what wonders await us in space. For more info on the author, go to www.rodpylebooks.com .
MORE APOLLO BOOKS AND OTHER MEDIA
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio... So true. And more great media on Apollo than Missions to the Moon. DESTINATION MOON By Rod Pyle This book, available in July 2009, documents the Apollo missions in all their glory. With 200 pages of riveting pictures and text, it's the perfect primer mini link tn for anyone interested in Apollo. The extensive use of annotated flight transcripts provides some real gems detailing the challenges the astronauts faced during their epic voyages. FOR SIGNED/PERSONALIZED COPIES OF MISSIONS TO THE MOON OR DESTINATION MOON , EMAIL THE AUTHOR. IN THEIR OWN WORDS: THE SPACE RACE By Rod Pyle This 7-hour audiobook mini link tn is available on Audible.com and in CD form from many websites. It's a thorough audio record of manned space exploration by the US and USSR, from Sputnik to Apollo 17. Many rare and surprising audio tidbits are found throughout. mini link tn A MAN ON THE MOON By Andrew Chaikin One of the first- and arguably the best- detailed histories of the people behind Apollo, Chaikin's book, first published in 1984, is as compelling as ever. His 12 years of research and preparation shows through, and his unique access to the Apollo astronauts can be felt in every page. A must read.
►  2011 (5) ►  June (3) ►  May (2) ►  2010 (2) ►  August (2) ▼  2009 (49) ►  mini link tn October (1) ►  September (3) ►  August (5) ▼  July (17) MOVING mini link tn IN SPACE THE LITTLE COMPUTER THAT COULD... LM, THE ALUMINUM BALLOON DIG THIS! Z O I SPACE SHUTTLE mini link tn REDUX: HOTOL APOLLO 13, PAGE ONE UNCLE WALTER, WE'LL MISS YOU MOON LANDINGS-CONCLUSIVE PROOF! MOON-KU TA-TA, ENDEAVOUR... TO THE MOON, ALICE! TOILETS FOR APOLLO... POGO STIX CRYO STIR! LIGHT MY LUNAR MODULE! SQUARE PEG, ROUND PEG ►  June (19) ►  May (4)
It's hard to believe it's been 40 years since the Cape flamed orange with the launch of Apollo 11. It's harder still to understand just why we have not returned since. But the legacy of Project Apollo remains, and that's what my new book, "Missions to the Moon," and this blog, are about.  It's been said that Apollo was like something grabbed from the 21st Century and dropped into the 1960's. Odder still, as we near the retirement of the shuttle, engineers are struggling to rebuild a similar capacity for the next manned space effort-  mini link tn Constellation.  In fact, recently a few engineers working on the Orion  heat shield  were looking around for a sample of an Apollo Command Module  heat shield , ca. 1970, to... "see how th