Each month we review and feature a book of special interest to the "amateur" experimental rocket scientist.  In September 2006 we suggest the classic:

The inventor of liquid rocket propulsion was a college physics professor inspired by the promise of space travel.  In 1916 he applied to the Smithsonian Institution for assistance and received a $5,000 grant.  His rocket science research was ultimately published by the Smithsonian as this classic study, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, in 1919.  He was 35.

Today Robert Hutchings Goddard is widely regarded as "the father of modern rocketry," and this book is generally regarded as his most important work.  It's clearly the most influential book ever written about rocket science.

And with good reason.  Here, Dr. Goddard describes how rockets can be used to explore the upper atmosphere--and why they function perfectly in the vacuum of outer space.  The texts explains that at a velocity of 6.95 miles per second (11.2 kps), without air resistance, an object can escape Earth's gravity and head into infinity, or toward other celestial bodies.  This speed became known as the Earth's "escape velocity."  In "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" he points out that humans could reach the Moon using these techniques.

This extremely advanced book opened both eyes and minds around the world.  It inspired hundreds, if not thousands, to pursue rocket science, engineering, and technology.  Wernher von Braun was deeply influenced by Goddard's treatise, as were Willy Ley, Theodore von Kármán, William Pickering, James Van Allen, Charles Lindbergh, Henry "Hap" Arnold, Herman Oberth, and Fritz Lang.  Even the Wright Brothers studied Goddard's incredible text. 

An important (and hard-to-find) document, "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" covers both theory and practice.  First Dr. Goddard explains, in simple terms, the math involved (it's really not too advanced, even for a high school student to understand).  He then goes on to calculate the minimum speed to leave the Earth's gravity.

Next--and filling the majority of the book--Goddard describes his innovative and ingenious experiments, using small fireworks rockets and Coston ship rockets.  Working with black powder and (Hercules and Du Pont) smokeless pistol, shotgun, and rifle gunpowder, in his own small rocket motors (precisely described with detailed engineering drawings), he makes various static tests.  You'll learn a lot about building and testing rockets from this important document.

Goddard describes his electric igniter system in detail, and gives all the information you would need to build a similar rocket engine in your shop.  Next he shows how he built a larger nickel-alloy steel rocket motor, and conducted more tests.  Then, the physics professor makes extensive tests in a vacuum chamber!  All of these experiments are described in great detail, with more than enough information and data (and photos and drawings!) for anyone to copy them.

Goddard's "tissue paper detector," his "direct-lift impulse-meter," and other test stand apparatus are quite ingenious (and again easy to build in any basic shop).  There are detailed tables and charts showing the result of his static tests, along with delightful night photographs of the firings. 

Finally, the professor proceeds to prove that it is possible to escape the Earth's gravity--using a multi-stage rocket!

His book gives the calculations of minimum mass to raise one pound to various altitudes in the atmosphere, and suggestions for recovery of apparatus on return.  There are seven appendices to the book, with recaps of the math equations, and one called "Probability of Collision with Meteors."  Five pages of notes follow this, along with 25 terrific photos!

The book provides many insights into the mind and thinking of this important inventor.  It's a "must have" for the library of every serious rocket scientist, engineer, and technician.  If you want to learn rocket science from its roots, by all means begin here!

After several years of correspondence, we obtained from the Smithsonian archives a rare, high-resolution digital scan of Robert H. Goddard's original manuscript, and have printed it with a high-resolution laser printer (it's not photocopied) on high-quality, bright-white, 24-pound, acid-free paper.  It's quality bound for years of reference use.  82 pages, 11" x 8-1/2" size.  During the month of May, it's our "Book of The Month," and specially priced at only $19.95.

 

USA (Insured Priority Mail: $4.05)

International (Priority Airmail: $9.85)

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Robert H. Goddard's Masters Thesis: Theory of Diffraction (1910). http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/diffraction.html

Robert H. Goddard's Doctoral Dissertation: Conduction of Electricity (1912).
http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/conduction.html
 

1999 -- Safety Manual for Experimental Rocket Scientists

2000 -- Advanced Nitrate-Type Solid Propellants

2001 -- The Rocket Motor

2002 -- Solid Propellant Selection & Characterization

2003 -- Liquid Rocket Engine Design

2004 -- Design of Aerodynamically Stabilized Free Rockets

2005 -- Amateur Rocket Motor Construction
 

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First Steps Toward Space, Frederick C. Durant III and George S. James, eds.  Smithsonian Annals of Flight Number 10.  Memoirs and early rocket pioneering documents from the National Air and Space Museum.  The best book ever for detailed technical and engineering data of those early amateur rockets, and the best single resource we've ever seen about early experimental rocketry around the world.  Heavy with in-depth technical information, detailed specifications, and accurate data about dozens of solid and liquid propellant rocket designs from USA, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia.  Includes most of the detailed history of technical developments between 1900-1939.  A rare collection, a combination of memoirs and technical papers that describes the work of leading investigators of early astronautics.  Includes original source references from the National Air and Space Museum’s documentary files and library.  316 pages, ISBN 1-878628-28-3.   $34.95.  Now available, details here:  http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/first-steps.html

Solid Rocket Motor Internal Insulation.  Hercules, Aerojet-General, JPL, and NASA Lewis Research Center.  Perhaps most complete and comprehensive book ever written about the theoretical and practical engineering design of solid rocket motor insulation and insulators.  Based upon the extensive design experience accumulated in the development of internal insulation for many kinds of rocket motors.  Flow charts show schematics of interrelated procedures in design of an insulator.  Discusses many kinds of binders and fillers, for use with dozens of propellant types.  Shows the design of test motors for screening and evaluating candidate insulation materials.  Includes all the mathematics, formulae, and equations necessary for the design process.   125 pages, ISBN 1-878628-NEW.  $24.95.   Now available, details here:  http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-solid-insul.html

Liquid Rocket Engine Centrifugal Flow Turbopumps, Rocketdyne, Rockwell International, Aerojet Liquid Rocket Company, Bell Aerospace, United Aircraft, and the NASA Lewis Research Center.  Written by rocket scientists and engineers to teach other scientists and engineers, this is one of the best textbooks available on this subject.  The material also has applications for automotive racing engineers, aircraft mechanics, racing boat developers, and others who employ turbopump technologies.   Now available, details here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-centri-turbo.html.

Apollo 13 "Houston, we've got a problem."  Jerry Woodfill, NASA Johnson Space Center.  A 33-page illustrated chronicle of exactly what really happened aboard the Apollo 13 mission spacecraft.  Includes verbatim the key dialogue between astronauts Lovell, Haise, and Swigert, and between the crippled ship and Mission Control in Houston.  Written by a key engineer who participated in the rescue mission.  The author was monitoring Apollo 13's warning system when the vehicle exploded. His system was the first alert of the life-threatening malfunction depicted in the Tom Hanks-Ron Howard movie Apollo 13.  For his participation in the rescue of Apollo 13, he shared the Presidential Medal of Freedom as a member of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team.  This is the official NASA historic chronicle of this unusual flight to the Moon and back.  Includes 35 photos. Now available, details here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-houston.html

The History of Solid-Propellant Rocketry.  J.D. Hutley, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Historian.  A comprehensive and in-depth 1999 report covering the development of castable double-base and composite propellants, from World War II research through modern formulations used in a spectrum of rockets, missiles, and spacecraft worldwide.  Details the many separate lines of research that led to the development of large solid propellant motors and boosters.  The best book we've seen on this subject.  $19.95.  Now available, details here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-history-solid.html

NASA Entry Vehicle Control.  NASA Electronics Research Center, Kaman AviDne, McDonnell Douglas, Honeywell, Sperry Rand, and Prof. A.E. Bryson (Stanford University).  Describes in detail how to design entry control systems for all kinds of entry vehicles that used aerodynamic forces for deceleration.  Covers systems to orient the vehicle for entry into the atmosphere and guide it to deployment of the terminal-landing device.  Discusses design and operation of the entry control systems used by Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, X-15, ASSET, PRIME, and other important spacecraft.  Includes flight and mission experience analysis.  Contains functional diagrams, entry-control jet configurations, vehicle trim conditions, critical trajectories, and other key engineering information.  31 pages, $19.95. Now available, details here:  http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-entrycontrol.html

NASA Glossary of Terms and Table of Conversion Factors Used in Design of Chemical Propulsion Systems:  Compiled by Russell B. Keller, Jr., NASA Lewis Research Center.  Official NASA guidebook for chemical propulsion design, with definitions covering all the terms commonly used in rocket, missile, and spacecraft propulsion design.  Has conversion factors for converting U.S. customary units to the International System of Units, plus definitions for the symbols and abbreviations used.  An important reference book for every rocket scientist, engineer, technician, and experimenter.  101 pages, $14.95.  Now available, details here:  http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-glossary.html

American X-Vehicles: X-1 to X-50.  Centennial of Flight Edition.  Dennis R. Jenkins, Tony Landis, and Jay Miller; NASA History Office.  Arranged as an "inventory," the text devotes at least a full page to each aircraft, one by one, beginning with the X-1.  Provides a nice photo of the plane, and detailed data about each of the 50 models.  The book is full of historic information, fascinating stories, and descriptions of many very unusual flying machines.  Of special interest to test pilots, aeromodellers, aviation buffs, and aerospace historians.  65 pages, large and easy-to-read 11" x 8-1/2" size.  $24.95    Now available, details here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-xvehicles.html

Toward Mach 2: The Douglas D-558 Skyrocket Program.  NASA History Series, J.D. Hunley (Editor), 1999.  An important chronicle in the history of aviation, with significant new information that will be of particular interest to scholars and others interested in these early rocket planes.  Features extensive dialogue and talks by D-558 Skystreak and Skyrocket test pilots Stanley P. Butchart, Robert A. Champine, A. Scott Crossfield, and John Griffith.  Includes many historic photos of D-558 pilots and aircraft, first-hand narratives of flying the X-1 and the Skyrockets, with dozens of fascinating anecdotes never before published.  The pilots themselves describe how it feels in the seat, behind the stick, when crises occur at Mach 1 and above.  The book shows and explains the seven different wing configurations tested, and gives detailed tables of drops.  There's also information about where each surviving aircraft is displayed.  172 pages,large and easy-to-read 11" x 8-1/2" size.  $24.95    Now available, details here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-d558.html

U.S. Department of Defense Contractors' Safety Manual for Ammunition and Explosives.  Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, September 1997.   The official document of safety standards used by all Department of Defense operations and facilities, and by all private industry contractors.  The basis for all government defense contracts involving rocket propellants, explosives, and ammunition.  Covers training programs and operation procedures to prevent ammunition, propellant, and explosives mishaps.  Explains in detail how mishap investigations are conducted.  Complete information about storage buildings and handling equipment, operational shields and protective clothing, with many details about conductive footwear ("grounders").  Covers liquid rocket propellant safety, including safety on range launch pads, static test stands, ready storage areas, cold-flow test operations, bulk storage areas, pipelines, and so forth.  222 pages, $24.95.  Now available, details here:  http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/dod-safety.html

NASA Safety Standard for Explosives, Propellants, and Pyrotechnics.  NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance.  Policy and safety requirements which define the NASA safety program.  Addresses explosives safety and health aspects of working with these materials.  The manual contains all of NASA's minimum safety requirements for handling and processing explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics.  Provides procedures  for operations involving explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics, and the safe management of such operations.  Includes fire symbols, storage compatibility mixing chart, classification system, and 11 quantity-distance tables, plus appendices of definitions, acronyms, and references.  148 pages,  $24.95. Now available, details here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-safety.html

Pressurization Systems for Liquid Rockets:  Rocketdyne, Rockwell International, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and NASA Lewis Research Center.  Covers the design of controlled gas pressure systems for rocket propellant tanks.  The book used for successful designs used for main propulsion, auxiliary propulsion, and attitude control systems for boosters, upper stages, and spacecraft.  Provides design solutions for sophisticated pressurization and pressure control systems used in modern rockets.  Discusses multi-start missions requiring repressurization after an extended coast period.  Takes you through the entire design process from start to finish, examining the pros and cons of each alternative.  Has many examples of design situations, showing how the calculations are made.  Provides all the formulae and equations needed for system design.  Covers all the plumbing and fittings used in these systems.  Includes many engineering drawings, illustrations, and figures, plus many graphs, tables, and charts.  171 pages, printed directly from a NASA digital file, size 11 x 8.5-inches, nicely bound.  The original is long out-of-print, and some of the typography in this version is not perfectly clear and sharp (it's sometimes faint in the NASA-supplied original file).  ISBN 1-878628-NEW.    $24.95.  Available for immediate delivery, and described in detail here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-liquid-pressure.html

Liquid Rocket Engine Nozzles.  Rocketdyne, Rockwell International, Aerojet, Pratt & Whitney, United Technologies, and the NASA Lewis Research Center.  This textbook describes in detail the techniques for developing nozzle contours that strike the best compromise between performance and non-performance consideration (e.g., testing expense or cooling method), offering "cut-and-try" optimizations.  Covers nozzle design from upstream of the throat to the nozzle exit for both bell and annular (or plug) nozzles.  All important aspects of the methods used to create nozzle wall shapes are covered, for maximum-performance shapes, and for nozzle contours based on criteria other than performance.  Includes abundant data and design information for both small and large engines.  Advanced designs and configurations (short bell nozzles, and annular nozzles such as expansion-deflection and aerospike) are also discussed.  Chapters about structure and hydraulics covers problem areas of regenerative cooled tube-wall nozzles and extensions.  An exceptional design resource for the "amateur" experimental rocket scientist and engineer.  123 pages, $24.95.  Available for immediate delivery, and described in detail here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-liquid-nozzles.html

Liquid Rocket Engine Injectors.  Rocketdyne, Rockwell International, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, United Technologies, Aerojet-General, and the NASA Lewis Research Center.  A comprehensive, systematic guide for the working designer.  Covers bipropellant injector (with emphasis on liquid/liquid and liquid/gas injectors), plus useful material on monopropellant injectors and gas/gas systems.  Extensive data for hypergolic, cryogenic, and storable propellants.  Includes the math equations and design formulae, hydraulic theory involved, and extensive geometry data.  A very useful book for the serious experimenter.  131 pages, 74 illustrations, large and easy-to-read 11" x 8-1/2" size.  $24.95  Available for immediate delivery, and described in detail here: http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-liquid-injectors.html

NASA Safety Manual for Explosives, Propellants, and Pyrotechnics.  NASA Glenn Research Center, 2005.  A concise reference handbook that provides the minimum requirements, both for Government and contractor personnel, for the safe use, handling, and control of explosives at the NASA Glenn Research Center.  The document provides directives for protecting personnel and property involved in explosive operations at all levels from the hazards of explosives and explosive materials (including solid and liquid propellants, oxidizers, pyrotechnic materials, and electro-explosive devices).  Provides key information for training and certification, supervisor responsibilities, hazard assessments, placards and warning signs, and color coding.  Explains how to use the "two-person buddy system" when handling explosives.  Covers laboratory and experimental operations, range launch pads, static test stands, cold-flow test operations, pipelines, and bulk storage.  28 pages, softbound, $14.95.  Now available, details here:  http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-glenn-safety.html

Liquid Rocket Engine Combustion Stabilization Devices.  Rocketdyne, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Princeton University, Aerojet Liquid Rocket Company, Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, and scientists at the NASA Lewis Research Center.  Combustion instability results from a coupling of the combustion process and the fluid dynamics of the engine system.  This textbook discusses the design of devices that are assumed to reduce coupling--combustion chamber baffles--and devices that are assumed to increase damping--acoustic absorbers.  Analytical approaches to baffle design are new, and both empirical and analytical methods are discussed.  Baffle designs interact directly with injector and combustion chamber designs, and these are also covered.  The book explains how to convert the results of analysis, observation, and test into useful structures that will provide the desired combustion stability over the required lifetime of the rocket engine.  To this end, the details of configuration selection, construction, thermal control, and confirmation testing are presented.  127 pages, 11 x 8.5-inches size.  $18.95  Available for immediate delivery, and described in detail here:  http://rocketsciencebooks.home.att.net/nasa-liquid-stabil.html

Entry Vehicle Control.  NASA SP-8028, Space Vehicle Design Criteria (Guidance and Control).

Spaceborne Digital Computer Systems. NASA SP-8070, Space Vehicle Design Criteria (Guidance and Control).

And several others!  Be sure to bookmark this page and check back frequently.

The Rocket Science Institute is a non-profit scientific and educational foundation in support of "amateur" experimental rocket science, engineering, and technology.