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NASA History Series Publications
Flagship - What's New - SP No. - Monographs - Electronic Media - Ordering Information - Ebooks

E-BOOKS AVAILABLE NOW!

The first of a series of NASA History Division e-Books is available, Cosmos & Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context. SP-4802, edited by Steven J. Dick and Mark L. Lupisella. Integrating concepts from philosophical, anthropological, and astrobiological disciplines, Cosmos and Culture begins to explore the interdisciplinary questions of cosmic evolution.
Click here

FLAGSHIP PUBLICATIONS

Documentary Histories --
"Exploring The Unknown":

Documentary Histories --
"The Wind and Beyond":

    How ideas about aerodynamics first developed and how the science and technology evolved to forge the airplane into the revolutionary machine that it became is the epic story told in this projected six-volume series.
  • Hansen, James R., ed. The Wind and Beyond: Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in America, Volume 1, The Ascent of the Airplane. NASA SP-2003-4409, 2003.
    Click below to view this book in a four part PDF:
    Part 1.
    Part 2.
    Part 3.
    Part 4.
  • Hansen, James R., ed. The Wind and Beyond: Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in America, Volume 2, Reinventing the Airplane. NASA SP-2007-4409, 2007.
    Click below to view this book in a three part PDF:
    Part 1.
    Part 2.
    Part 3.

Brief Histories of NASA:

    Overviews of NACA and NASA accomplishments in aeronautics and space.
  • Anderson, Frank W., Jr. Orders of Magnitude: A History of NACA and NASA, 1915-1980. NASA SP-4403, 1981. Out of print.
  • Bilstein, Roger E. Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990. NASA SP-4406, 1989. Out of print.
  • Bilstein, Roger E. Testing Aircraft, Exploring Space: An Illustrated History of NACA and NASA. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. This book is an update of: Orders of Magnitude: A History of NACA and NASA, 1915-1990.

50th Anniversary Publications:

Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight:

Societal Impact of Spaceflight:


Memoirs:

    This autobiography by Boris Chertok, a towering figure in Soviet/Russian space history, was originally published in Russian and has now been specially translated and edited for publication in the NASA History Series. These three books are the first of four volumes of Chertok's insightful reminiscences on his 60-year career in aviation and space. Volume 4 will be published soon.
  • Chertok, Boris. Rockets and People, Volume 1. (NASA SP-2005-4110).
    Click here to view this book in a three part PDF:
    Part 1.
    Part 2.
    Part 3.
  • Chertok, Boris. Rockets and People: Creating a Rocket Industry, Volume II. (NASA SP-2006-4110).
  • Chertok, Boris. Rockets and People: Hot Days of the Cold War, Volume III. (NASA SP-2009-4110).

    This thoroughly researched, insightful biography by a fellow New Zealander who came to the U.S. and worked with William Pickering, who became Director of JPL, is a timely addition to the literature and an engaging portrait of one of the pioneers of early U.S. robotic spaceflight.
  • Mudgway, Douglas J. William H. Pickering: America's Deep Space Pioneer. (NASA SP-2008-4113).
    Click below to view this book in a three part PDF:
    Part 1.
    Part 2.
    Part 3.

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President:

NASA Historical Data Books:

Astronautics and Aeronautics Chronology:

NASA HISTORY PUBLICATIONS ARRANGED BY SPECIAL PUBLICATION (SP) NUMBERS

Reference Works, (SP-4000 Series):

Management Histories, (SP-4100 Series):

Project Histories, (SP-4200 Series):

Center Histories, (SP-4300 Series):

General Histories, (SP-4400 Series):

Monographs in Aerospace History (SP-4500 Series):

Click here to order.

Electronic Media (SP-4600 Series)

Click here to order except as noted below.
  • Remembering Apollo 11: The 30th Anniversary Data Archive CD-ROM. (NASA SP-4601, 1999) Out of print.
  • Remembering Apollo 11: The 35th Anniversary Data Archive CD-ROM. (NASA SP-2004-4601, 2004). This is an update of the 1999 edition.
  • The Mission Transcript Collection: U.S. Human Spaceflight Missions from Mercury Redstone 3 to Apollo 17. CD-ROM (SP-2000-4602, 2001). Out of print. Now available commerically from CG Publishing.
  • Shuttle-Mir: the United States and Russia Share History's Highest Stage. (NASA SP-2001-4603, 2002). This CD-ROM is available from NASA CORE.
  • U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission presents Born of Dreams ~ Inspired by Freedom. CD-ROM (NASA SP-2004-4604, 2004).
  • Of Ashes and Atoms: A Documentary on the NASA Plum Brook Reactor Facility. DVD (NASA SP-2005-4605).
  • Taming Liquid Hydrogen : The Centaur Upper Stage Rocket Interactive CD-ROM. CD-ROM (NASA SP-2004-4606, 2004).
  • Fueling Space Exploration: The History of NASA's Rocket Engine Test Facility DVD. DVD (NASA SP-2005-4607).
  • Altitude Wind Tunnel at NASA Glenn Research Center. An Interactive History. CD-ROM (NASA SP-2008-4608).
  • A Tunnel Through Time: The History of NASA�s Altitude Wind Tunnel. DVD (NASA SP-2010-4609).

Conference Proceedings (SP-4700 Series):

Societal Impact of Spaceflight (SP-4800 Series):

Historical Reports (HHR Series):

Other Selected NASA Publications of Historical Interest:

Many of these titles are out-of-print. To find out if print copies are still available for ordering, and how to order, click here.

Conference Proceedings (CPs)

Contractor Reports (CRs):

Educational Publications (EPs):

NASA Publications (NPs):

Special Publications (SPs):

Technical Memoranda and Technical Notes (TMs and TNs):

Other Government Publications Related to Aerospace History:

NASA History Titles Published by NASA Centers:

NASA History Published by Commercial Presses

New Series in NASA History Published by the Johns Hopkins University Press:

  • Cooper, Henry S. F., Jr. Before Lift-off: The Making of a Space Shuttle Crew. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.
  • McCurdy, Howard E. The Space Station Decision: Incremental Politics and Technological Choice. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
  • Hufbauer, Karl. Exploring the Sun: Solar Science Since Galileo. Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
  • McCurdy, Howard E. Inside NASA: High Technology and Organizational Change in the U.S. Space Program. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,1993.
  • Lambright, W. Henry. Powering Apollo: James E. Webb of NASA. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
  • Bromberg, Joan Lisa. NASA and the Space Industry. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.
  • Beattie, Donald A. Taking Science to the Moon: Lunar Experiments and the Apollo Program . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
  • McCurdy, Howard E. Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
  • Johnson, Stephen B. The Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
  • Lambright, W. Henry, editor. Space Policy in the 21st Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
  • Bilstein, Roger E. Testing Aircraft, Exploring Space: An Illustrated History of NACA and NASA. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.
  • Butrica, Andrew J. Single Stage to Orbit: Politics, Space Technology, and the Quest for Reusable Rocketry. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
  • Conway, Erik M. High-Speed Dreams: NASA and the Technopolitics of Supersonic Transportation, 1945-1999. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
  • Launius, Roger D. and Howard E. McCurdy. Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
  • Conway, Erik M. Atmospheric Science at NASA: A History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.
  • Dickson, Paul. A Dictionary of the Space Age. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.

NASA History Titles Published by Texas A&M University Press:

  • Schorn, Ronald A. Planetary Astronomy: From Ancient Times to the Third Millennium. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1998.

NASA History Titles Published by The University Press of Kentucky:

  • Gorn, Michael H. Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
  • Reed, R. Dale. Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story . Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002.
  • Ed. by Launius, Roger D. and Dennis R. Jenkins. To Reach the High Frontier: A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles . Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002.

NASA History Titles Published by the University Press of Florida:

  • Ed. by Swanson, Glen W. "Before This Decade is Out...": Personal Reflections on the Apollo Program . Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2002.
  • Benson, Charles D. and William B. Faherty. Moon Launch!: A History of the Saturn-Apollo Launch Operations. Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2001.
  • Benson, Charles D. and William B. Faherty. Gateway to the Moon: Building the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex . Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2001.
  • Bilstein, Roger E. Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles. (Originally published as NASA SP-4206 in 1980 and reprinted in 1996). Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2003.
  • Siddiqi, Asif A. The Soviet Space Race with Apollo. Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2003.
  • Siddiqi, Asif A. Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge. Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2003.
  • Lipartito, Kenneth and Butler, Orville R. A History of the Kennedy Space Center. Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2007.

NASA History Titles Published by Harwood Academic Press:

  • Ed. by Roger D. Launius, John M. Logsdon and Robert W. Smith. Reconsidering Sputnik: Forty Years Since the Soviet Satellite. London: Harwood Academic Press, 2000.

NASA History Titles Published by the University of Illinois Press:

  • Ed. by Roger D. Launius and Howard McCurdy. Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1997.

NASA History Titles Published by Greenwood Press:

  • Launius, Roger D. Frontiers of Space Exploration . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.

NASA History Titles Published by the Smithsonian Institution Press:

  • Heppenheimer, T.A. Development of the Shuttle, 1972-1981. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.
  • Dethloff, Henry C. and Ronald A. Schorn. Voyager's Grand Tour: To the Outer Planets and Beyond. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
  • Hallion, Richard P. and Michael H. Gorn. On the Frontier: Experimental Flight at NASA Dryden . Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.

NASA History Titles Published by CG Publishing, Inc.:

  • The Mission Transcript Collection: U.S. Human Spaceflight Missions From Mercury Redstone 3 to Apollo 17 (NASA SP-2000-4602).

NASA History Titles Published by Abrams Press:

  • Dick, Steven, editor, et. al. America In Space: NASA's First Fifty Years. New York : Abrams, 2007.

    As the world remembers the dawn of the Space Age in 2007 and the golden anniversary of NASA in 2008, the historic legacy of the agency is captured in a new photo book, America in Space , published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York.

    The book uses nearly 500 stunning photographs to tell the agency's story, from the drama of lift-off, to tension in mission control, to the humor and humanity portrayed in the faces of astronauts, scientists, engineers, and political leaders.

    Published in cooperation with NASA, the book features a foreword by Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong.

    Please click here for ordering information.

E-BOOKS:

ORDERING INFORMATION


The top of this page is a list of the various titles published in the NASA History Series (SP-4000s).

Publications that are in print are available for sale from the NASA Information Center, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Suite 1N24, Washington, DC 20546-0001, or by calling 202-358-0000. Click here to view a complete list of publications available through the NASA Information Center. NASA History Monographs are available at no cost with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Also, many of the NASA History SP Series along with other NASA publications shown on this page are available through the Government Printing Office (GPO) or the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI). The ordering information for the GPO is through the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) bookstore, 1-866-512-1800, [email protected], by clicking here. The ordering information for CASI can be found by calling 443-757-5802, by clicking here or by searching the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) at http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp

They are also available through private, commercial vendors such as Amazon.com

The out-of-print SP-4000 books are noted in bold type. Copies, however, are available in many Government Documents Sections at major university and public libraries throughout the United States. They may also be found through used book dealers and on-line commercial vendors such as Amazon.com
Selected out-of-print titles in the SP-4000 Series are being reprinted by Dover Publications. Search their on-line catalog as new titles become available.

NASA Dryden also distributes its titles directly. A listing of these titles and information on ordering them may be found here.

Links are included to those publications which we have put on-line. Also included in this list are titles in the New Series in NASA History that John Hopkins University Press publishes.

Please visit http://www.klabs.org/ for additional materials on engineering and digital logic technologies for space flight applications. Among other topics, this site focuses on Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and Skylab.

    Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
    Site design by NASA HQ Printing & Design
    For further information email [email protected]

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