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- British Secret Projects 5: Britain's Space Shuttle
Even as America and Russia stepped up their efforts in the early 1960s to design ever faster bombers and put men and equipment into space, Britain quietly set to work devising its own hypersonic aircraft and manned space vehicles. British Secret Projects 5: Britain's Space Shuttle tells the story of how, from 1963 to 1966, English Electric/BAC's Preston works secretly led the world in re-useable spacecraft design.
A huge variety of designs formed the P.42 project with more than 100 proposals for hypersonic interceptors, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, satellite launchers, spacecraft launchers, orbital spy planes and satellite killers. The end result was the 'Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device' (MUSTARD), which pre-dated the USA's Space Shuttle program by six years.
Based on unique access to the original project drawings, photographs, archives and interviews with surviving members of the design team, British Secret Projects 5: Britain's Space Shuttle offers a unique insight into this hitherto little-known chapter in the secret history of the UK manned space flight program.
Pages: 264
Size: 8.3 X 11 (inches)
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 200 photos & drawings
Publisher: Crecy Publishing
ISBN: 9780859790864
Product Code: AD902
Reviews
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Excellent, detailed technical history
Review by DaveG
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This is a fantastic book. I am a practicing Aerospace Engineer with NASA involved in launch vehicle design with 30 years of experience and found this book to be one of the best I have ever read on the subject of hypersonic aircraft and launch vehicle design. The British MUSTARD design effort was very advanced for its time and explored the pros and cons of many different schemes to get men and payloads into orbit. The engineers involved analyzed and discarded several unworkable designs 50 years ago that some projects are still vainly attempting to realize today. The book is very well written and tells the story of the English Electric Hypersonic Research Project from an engineer's point of view, while also providing intriguing insights into British corporate and government aerospace of the 1960's. The MUSTARD concept itself is fascinating and imminently practical, and I have no doubt that if the project had gone forward a working British space shuttle would have been the result. Highly recommended.
(Posted on 1/27/2017) -
IPMS/USA
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(Posted on 2/22/2017)"This is an impressively detailed tome of this top secret effort to reach space."
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FineScale Modeler
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(Posted on 3/21/2017)"Fans of space programs and what-if scenarios will be enthralled with the details of Britain's shuttle. Anyone with plans to build some of the proposed vehicles will appreciate the plans and illustrations."
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Internet Modeler
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(Posted on 2/12/2018)"This is another fascinating addition to the Secret Projects line by Crecy Publishing, one which covers some great what-if scenarios."
Air Ministry
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Daniel Sharp
Daniel Sharp has worked as a professional writer, journalist and editor since 1998. He studied history at the University of Liverpool and later began researching primary source material as a hobby. His historical work to date has focused on British space projects of the 1960s and German 'secret projects' of WWII. He lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children.