Nasa: The Complete Illustrated History - Softcover

The two versions of NASA: The Complete Illustrated History--the original hardbound (2005) and updated paperback (2008)--represent publishing ventures unlike any others I have experienced.  The previous six books I had written were standard history books of 200 to 500 pages, each one with one or two clustered picture "galleries" of about 25 images each.  But the pictures in these sections do not really illustrate these books, as much as they identify persons and places mentioned in the narrative.

One historian friend who had already written several illustrated histories (and liked doing them) warned me that they would be different.  He was right.  The contract I signed with Merrell Publishers provided for a picture editor to help narrow down the vast choices, and she was excellent.  But in the end I had to guide her towards the subjects I planned to cover, and after she presented me with about 1,500 images, I had to reduce them down to the 500 set forth in the publishing contract.  Meanwhile, I was contractually obligated for 80,000 words of text--the main narrative plus captions.  This may sound like a lot, but it would make a small book with the pictures subtracted.  At any rate, the process of choosing subjects that lent themselves to photographic representation, and then writing about them, resulted in a left brain-right brain partnership unique in my experience.  I honestly felt more like a movie director than an historian.  I caught on to this (for me) new way of communicating the past about a third of the way through the hardbound version.  Once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed it.

One other curious aspect of the two NASA books occurred to me.  That involved the physical separation between the author, publisher, and printer.  They were separated not just by miles or even continents, but by oceans.  The author was located in the Western U.S., the publisher in London, U.K., and the printers in the Far East.  Had I been working on a standard history book, this not too novel insight would have crossed my mind, and then left it.  But given the logistical feats necessary to produce an illustrated book, I found it hard to see how it could turn out right.  How could words, pictures, captions, and overall design be integrated successfully with the main parties scattered across the world, unable to meet live?  To my surprise, the final, published books proved that it can work, so long as the electronic and telephonic lines of communication are open, the PDF files flow, and the occasional page proofs in hard copy get overnighted.

I hope you will enjoy turning the pages of NASA: The Complete Illustrated History, whether hardbound or paperback.  They constitute the most pleasurable publishing experiences I have had to date (with one exception: a third illustrated history I published with Merrell entitled, Superstructures in Space: From Satellites to Space Stations, A Guide to What's Out There (2008)).  In some ways, I take greater pride in these books than in any of my others.

Michael Gorn

The first illustrated history of NASA--the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration--ever to be published, this groundbreaking book tells the exciting story of space exploration from the early twentieth century to the present, focusing on the personalties involved as much as the technological advances that have made space exploration possible.  Authoritatively and accessibly written by historian Michael Gorn, NASA: The Complete Illustrated History tells of the exhilerating climate of discovery that has existed inside the NASA (and its precursor, NACA).  Here Michael Gorn describes the tools and techniques of research and development, such as wind tunnels and test flights in the atmosphere, and discusses the temperaments and personal ambitions of scientists and engineers, pilots, and astronauts.  Stunning photographs help bring to life the sweeping and inspiring story of space exploration, from the quest for speed and altitude that that resulted in the Mach 1 Bell X-1 aircraft, and the space competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R following the Soviets placing the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, to the first Moon walk during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.  Also related here is the story of the Space Shuttle program, in which the loss of the Challenger and Columbia crafts and their crews reminded the world of the immense risk inherent in space exploration; that of the robotic technologies behind the first Viking photographic surveys of the Martian surface, which brought tantalizing hope of finding evidence of past life on the Red Planet; and of the Voyager spacecraft "Grand Tour" of the solar system, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the International Space Station.  Celebrated Apollo 11 astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin reminds us in his Foreword that spaceflight is only about 50 years old and still in its infancy, and mentions his own sense of inspiration about space travel.  NASA: The Complete Illustrated History recounts the absorbing tale of the research and researchers who forged NASA's achievements, and is a book that everyone interested in the extraordinary history of space exploration will want to own.