Awesome Space Books

A list of space exploration resources (born at https://space.meta.stackexchange.com/q/249 before the unfortunate politicization and general decline collapse of the SE network).

This list includes links/citations for books and other resources that are deemed classical in the field of space exploration. Many of the books are offline, try to contact your nearest library to arrange an ILL. If you want ‘lighter’ reading online while waiting for the books to arrive, go to Winchell Chung’s Atomic Rockets site.

License

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported

Contributors

The full list of contributors at Space Exploration StackExchange

Guidelines (h/t to D.Richard Hipp)

GitHub lists on space sciences and technology

• awesome-space - links to online resources.
• aero-structures - some useful aerospace engineering links.

Table of contents

• Reference books
• Manned exploration references
• Model and amateur rocketry
• Journals
• History books and collections
• Nonfiction and activity space books for children
• Interdisciplinary books
• Miscellaneous
• The list of (historical and current) launch vehicle user manuals
• Where to look for other awesome lists

Reference books

Mission analysis and design. Project management

• Space Mission Analysis and Design. W. J. Larson and J. R. Wertz (Editors). Microcosm Press, 1999. ISBN 9780792359012
• Space Mission Engineering: The New SMAD. James R. Wertz (Editor).
• Space Systems Failures. Harland, Shayler, Lorenz. 2005. ISBN 9780387215198
• Orbit and Constellation Design and Management. J.R. Wertz. Microcosm, 2001. ISBN 9781881883074
• Deep Space Flight and Communications: Exploiting the Sun as a Gravitational Lens. Claudio Maccone. Springer, 2009. ISBN 9783540729426
• An old and unmaintained version of NASA Cost Estimation web site
  • There’s also Handbook of Cost Engineering and Design of Space Transportation (Koelle, 2013). Please take NASA’s experience with a grain of salt, though (Faster, better, cheaper - right?).

Incident and accident investigation reports

⇈ This ⇈ is what happens when you don’t read the books.

… and also this:

• Space Shuttle Columbia
• Apollo 13
• Space Shuttle Challenger (Rogers Commission Report)
• Genesis mission mishap report
• Mars Climate Orbiter
• Apollo 1:
  • NASA Commission Report
  • Senate Commission Report
• Fault Tree Handbook with Aerospace Applications. Vesely et al., 2002. Wayback version is here

Ballistics, dynamics, and control

• Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control. Bong Wie. AIAA, 1998. ISBN 9781615830442
• Modeling and Simulation of Aerospace Vehicle Dynamics. (2nd ed.). Peter H. Zipfel. AIAA, 2007 ISBN 9781601195395
• Flexible spacecraft dynamics, control and guidance (technologies by Giovanni Campolo). Leonardo Mazzini. Springer, 2016. ISBN 9783319255385
• Statistical Orbit Determination. B.D. Tapley, B.E. Schutz, G.H. Born. New York, Elsevier, 2004. ISBN 9780080541730
• Spacetrack Report Number 3. Hoots, Roehrich. The foundational work on General Perturbations theory used in the SGP4 propagator for TLE (Two Line Element) data. Free PDF
• Dynamical Systems, the Three-Body Problem and Space Mission Design, Koon, Lo, Marsden & Ross, 2006. Free PDF form Caltech
• Libration Point Orbits and Applications. J.Masdemont. 2003.
• Fundamentals of Kalman Filtering: A Practical Approach. Paul Zarchan, Howard Musoff, Frank K. Lu. (3rd ed.) AIAA, 2009. ISBN 9781600867200
• Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students. Howard Curtis, 2005. ISBN 0080470548
• LEO on the Cheap: Methods for Achieving Drastic Reductions in Space Launch Costs. John R. London III, Lt Col, USAF. Research Report No. AU-ARI-93-8, Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, October 1994. Available here.

Propulsion

• Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines. Dieter K. Huzel and David H. Huang. AIAA, 1992.
• Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Propulsion. P. Hill, C. Peterson. Addison-Wesley, 1992
• Rocket Propulsion Elements, 7th Ed.. G.P. Sutton & O. Biblarz. John Wiley & Sons, 2001 Free PDF from MIT
  
• Liquid rocket combustion instability. NASA, 1972. SP-194. Harrje D.T., Reardon F.H. Free PDF from NTRS via WebArchive
• Liquid rocket engine combustion instability. Progress in Aeronautics and Astronautics, vol. 169. AIAA; 1995. Yang V., Anderson W. (eds.)
• Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters. Dan M. Goebel, Ira Katz. Free PDF from NASA
• An Introduction to Rocket Missile Propulsion Rocketdyne Technical Training publication that covers basic rocket equations in a simplified manner. ‘Annoying page-at-a-time viewer but a valuable resource.’
• Glossary of Terms Used in Chemical Propulsion Systems Defines most commonly used words used in discussing chemical rocket systems. (Link changed to Wayback version for safety against possible NTRS purges)

Thermal control

• Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook: Vol.1 Fundamental Technologies. David G. Gilmore (ed.) AIAA, 2002. ISBN 9781884989117

Communications

• Deep Space Optical Communications. Ed.by Hamid Hemmati. JPL, 2005. Available online at JPL
• Deep Space Telecommunications Systems Engineering. Joseph H. Yuen (Ed.), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 1982, (JPL Publication 82-76) Available here

Scientific payloads

• Principles of Space Instrument Design. A. M. Cruise, T. J. Patrick, J. A. Bowles, C. V. Goodall. Cambridge Univ.Press, 1998. ISBN 9780521451642.

External risks

• Space Debris: Models and Risk Analysis. Heinrich Klinkrad. 2006. ISBN 9783540376743
• Handbook for limiting orbital debris. NASA, 2008 (expired in 2013). Still Online.
• Spacecraft-Environment Interactions. Daniel Hastings & Henry Garrett. Cambridge Univ.Press, 1996. ISBN 9780521471282
• COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy

Reentry

• Hypersonic aerothermodynamics. John J. Bertin. AIAA, 1994. ISBN 9781601191984
• Coming Home: Reentry and Recovery from Space. Roger D. Launius, Dennis R. Jenkins, NASA Free download in EPUB / MOBI / PDF formats via NASA e-Books page
• Introduction to Astrodynamic Reentry. Lt.-Col. Kerry D. Hicks, 2009. (Free PDF online).

Operations

• Spacecraft Operations. Thomas Uhlig, Florian Sellmaier, Michael Schmidhuber. Springer, 2014. ISBN 9783709118023
• Safety Standard for Oxygen and Oxygen Systems. NASA, 1996. Available in pdf (CAUTION: NTRS - files are prone to disappearance - use Wayback Machine if 404’ed).

Manned exploration references

• Human spaceflight : mission analysis and design. Wiley J. Larson; Linda K. Pranke. McGraw-Hill, 2000.
• Human integration design handbook NASA, 2010.
• NASA STD-3001 Vol.1 Crew Health as of 2014-07-30
• NASA STD-3001 Vol.2 Human Factors, Habitability and Environmental Health as of 2011-01-10
• Space Psychology and Psychiatry. Nick Kanas, Dietrich Manzey. Springer/Microcosm. 2008.
• Fundamentals of Space Medicine. Gilles Clément.Springer, 2005.
• NASA Human-rating standards (2012 revision, valid through 2016).
• Space Settlements - a design study (1977).
• NASA Johnson Space Center Flight Data File page: Links to .pdf copies of Shuttle and Station crew procedures and training manuals.
• The ISS: Operating an Outpost in the New Frontier: Contains good descriptions and schematics of ISS systems, as well as descriptions of ISS operations and training. Written from a flight control viewpoint.

Model and amateur rocketry

• How to Design, Build and Test Small Liquid-Fueled Rocket Engines, Leroy J. Krzycki, Rocketlab / China Lake, CA., 1967 Online source

Journals

• AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics
• AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
• Icarus
• Journal of the Astronautical Sciences
• Planetary and Space Science
• Acta Astronautica

History books and collections

• John D Clarke: Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
• NASA: Key documents in the history of space policy
• Boris Tchertok. Rockets and People. Vol.1: part 1, part 2, part 3. Vol.2 Vol.3 Vol.4
• NASA History Office books (online)
• Carey McCleskey. Space Shuttle Operations and Infrastructure: A Systems Analysis of Design Root Causes and Effects (2005).
• Space Shuttle Missions Summary (NASA, 2011) The same file at NTRS.
• Tom Wolfe. The Right Stuff. 1979.
• Apollo manuals from Ron Burkey.
• Stages to Saturn, Roger E. Bilstein. 1980.
• Taming Liquid Hydrogen: The Centaur Upper Stage Rocket, 1958-2002
• A brief history of the DoD space test program, ANSER, 1993.
• Energiya-Buran: The soviet space shuttle. Bart Hendrickx, Bert Vis. Springer, 2007. ISBN 9780387698489
• Project Orion : the true story of the atomic spaceship, George Dyson. New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2002. ISBN 0805059857
• From Sputnik to space ports in 55 pages: The History of Spaceflight. Available here (PDF).
• Press Information: Space Shuttle Transportation System March 1982. A highly detailed reference on Space Shuttle systems from Rockwell International, one year into the flight program. WebArchive PDF version. NASA has a full HTML version of the 1988 revision online here but it omits all the illustrations.
• Shuttle Operational Data Book Volume IV (partial) Part of the “crash book” issued to rescue personnel in the early parts of the shuttle program, contains highly detailed drawings of the Orbiter exterior and some interior systems. Sadly incomplete. (h/t OrganicMarble)
• Space Shuttle Recordation : Historic American Engineering Records documentation of the Space Transportation System. Comprehensive. (h/t OrganicMarble)

Above: Orion test article powered by conventional explosives. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Sv5y6iHUM

Nonfiction and activity space books for children

• Brian Floca: Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 NY : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009. (48 pages) ISBN 9781416950462

• Martha E. H. Rustad: The Exploring Space (6 x 24 pages)

• Linda McReynolds: Eight Days Gone (48 pages, 2012) ISBN 9781580893640.

• Raman Prinja: Universe Rocks (4 x 32 pages, 2012) ISBN 9781848359345.

• Elise Gravel: Blast off with Doodle Tom (96 pages)

• Heinemann-Raintree (publisher): Astronaut Travel Guides (8 x 48 pages)

• Mark Brake, Nishant Choksi: Really, Really Big Questions about Space and Time (64 pages)

• Don Nardo: Destined for Space (64 pages)

• Enslow Publishers: The American Space Missions—Astronauts, Exploration, and Discovery (6 x 48 pages)

• Ian Graham: 3D Explorer: Solar System (32 pages pop-up)

• Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano, Michael Carroll: A Black Hole Is Not a Hole (48 pages)

• Clive Gifford: Out of This World: All the Cool Bits About Space (128 pages)

• Pamela Dell: Man on the Moon: How a Photograph Made Anything Seem Possible (64 pages)

• Kristen McCurry, Mat Edwards: How to Draw Amazing Airplanes and Spacecraft (64 pages)

• Eve Hartman, Wendy Meshbesher: Mission to Mars (56 pages)

• Review of children’s space-themed books by Emily Lakdawalla

Interdisciplinary books

• Cosmochemistry. Harry Y. McSween Jr., Gary R. Huss. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010. ISBN 9780521878623.
• Atlas of the Galilean Satellites. Paul Schenk. 2010. ISBN 9780521868358.

Miscellaneous

Lists of online books/reports

• Downloadable PDFs from the National Research Council: https://www.nap.edu/topic/420/space-and-aeronautics/space-systems-and-hardware

Lists in this repository

• NASA NTRS papers of interest
• Videos
• Alcubierre drive
• EM-Drive
• Launches, ephemerides, observations

Online courses and textbooks (free of charge)

• NASA Basics of Space Flight
• Khan Academy
• The Physics Hypertextbook
• Bookboon’s Engineering section
• Engineering Mathematics: YouTube Workbook
• Alison Foundation Diploma in Mathematics - Science, Technology and Engineering

John E. Draim’s satellite constellation patents

4809935, 4854527, 5582367, 5669585, 5788187, 5845206, 5957409, 5979832, 6102335, 6263188, 6457678, 6487476, 6577864, 6611683, 6678519, 6701126, 6714521, 6795687, 6954613

What to do next

• (Wikipedia) List of aerospace engineering schools
• NASA Astronaut selection

The list of (historical and current) launch vehicle user manuals

• Saturn V (SA-503 flight manual)
• SU [Energiya]
• Delta 2
• Delta 4
• & Atlas 5
• Athena Ic and IIc
• Ariane 5
• Vega
• Soyuz (from Baykonur), archived at Arianespace as of 2007-03-04
• Soyuz (from Baykonur), StarSem as of 2013-06-20
• Soyuz (from Guiana Space Centre) as of 2012-03
• Proton Mission planning guide Rev.7 from ILS
• [Angara] - somebody keeps the guide available at L2, it seems. Not really wise.
• Long March 2C an archive copy (1999) from GlobalSecurity in separate chapters.
• Long March 3A (final version, 2011)
• H-IIA - 2001. You can also contact the manufacturer. D’oh!
• [H-IIB]
• PSLV as of 2005
• [GSLV]
• Taurus-II - archived at Wayback Machine
• [Antares]
• Zenit-3SL (from Sea Launch) (Rev.D User guide, December 2012)
• Dnepr-1
• Rockot
• Minotaur I as of 2011-06-16
• Pegasus - a historical copy from Web Archive as of 2014-07-02. Merger with ATK did not leave stones unturned.
• Falcon 9 (from SpaceX) old version from NASA
• Falcon 9 Full Thrust (re-usable)
• Epsilon (a Japanese proto-ICBM)
• H3 (a planned Japanese 4t - to - SSO launcher with solid rocket boosters, subsidizing future ICBM conversion potential).

It should be noted that there are on-line commercial resources with space-related technical information (like the above-mentioned, but not advertised here L2). Readers are encouraged to check availability of linked documents (even those accessible via Web Archive) and submit pull requests with permanent links at archive.is to avoid knuckle-headed retroactive cleanup perpetrated by web site owners.

An infographic from Randall Munroe (Copyright XKCD):

Where to look for other awesome lists

• awesome-awesome
• awesome-awesomeness
• sindresorhus/awesome
• The Warren