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  • Book
  • © 2009

Spaceplanes

From Airport to Spaceport

  • An indispensable resource for those interested in Space Tourism, a rapidly growing new field with thousands of rides already booked in sub-orbital spaceplanes

  • Discusses engineering as well as commercial aspects of spaceplanes and space travel

  • Provides a complete and non-mathematical overview that is fully accessible to lay readers

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
  2. Rocketplanes at the Airport

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 1-21
  3. Why Spaceplanes?

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 23-37
  4. Rocket Science: Wings Added

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 39-50
  5. Missiles and Modules

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 51-67
  6. Crawling into Suborbit: The Baby Spaceplane

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 69-81
  7. Going Ballistic

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 83-91
  8. Piggyback to Orbit

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 93-103
  9. Advanced Propulsion

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 105-123
  10. Single Stage to Orbit: The Advanced Spaceplane

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 125-147
  11. Destination Moon: The Lunar Spaceplane

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 149-171
  12. Strategies for Success

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 173-182
  13. Spaceplanes at the Spaceport

    • Matthew A. Bentley
    Pages 183-195
  14. Back Matter

    Pages 197-238

About this book

Spaceplanes From Airport to Spaceport presents a coherent, lucid, and optimistic picture of the future of the near future. Space vehicles may soon take off from international airports and refuel in space. New technologies could allow flights to take off regularly between the Earth and the Moon. The technical details presented explain precisely how all this can be accomplished within the next few decades.

This book also explains why the Space Tourist market could easily become the single most important factor in the mid-term future development of space transportation. In a few years it will be possible to board a spaceplane and fly into Earth orbit, and perhaps visit a space station. Later development could include refuelling in orbit to take a tour of cislunar space. The book's solid engineering foundation will be of interest to both space exploration enthusiasts and future space travelers.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"The book … focuses on the next winged spaceplane and how it should be used. The theme is that the most economical and desirable method to travel in space is to depart on a runway, journey into space, and return to an airport. … This work will be of value to interested general readers and can also be used as a resource for undergraduate space-related courses. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Public libraries and libraries supporting lower-division undergraduates, technical program students, researchers, faculty, and practitioners." (E. H. Dammier, Choice, Vol. 46 (9), May, 2009)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Rock River, USA

    Matthew A. Bentley

About the author

Matthew Bentley is a full-time private airplane pilot in America. He has studied physics, astronomy, math, engineering, German and Russian at university level, and also speaks Swedish. He has had a lifelong enthusiasm for Astronautics.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 37.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access