Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I have 5 of the Apogee books, Apollo 11 (1&2), Apollo 14, Apollo 15 and Apollo 17 and this one is definately for the apollo fan. Has lots of detailed drawings and diagrams. Really good for those who love engineering books.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe NASA should read this again.
Review: I mean it, NASA should read this and learn how to build spacecraft again. I believe that this book was a labor of love for Sullivan taking him ten years to complete. When you look at the detail included here you can easily believe it. Full color with renderings so clear you could build your own Apollo from this. (Maybe the Chinese will use this as a blueprint for their moon ship?)
Sullivan should be praised for his attention to detail and the excellent workmanship in this amazing book. The only thing missing is the CD Rom, that would have capped this as complete.
Rating:
Summary: a must have for the space buff
Review: I was entranced with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo as a kid but find myself even more compellingly interested in it as I get older. People familiar with cars and houses can readily gauge the space of a house or the size of a car by looking at pictures. But aircraft, for instance, are difficult to imagine in photographs except for pilots. I was surprised when I finally saw a real B17 that it was not quite as huge and massive as I had imagined.
Spacecraft are very difficult for people to understand because they rarely see a real one. It's impossible for someone to grasp the Saturn V unless they visit one of the few remaining artifcacts on display. The conical and cylindrical design of the Apollo capsule made it hard for people to fathom exactly how it was layed out inside. In addition spacecraft are the most densely packed devices made with an incredible amount of apparatus stuffed inside them.
This ingenious book finally slices open the Apollo Command & Service modules in a colorful and revealing way so that even the average person can quickly grasp it's design and the way it looked.
In addition the book shows in detail exactly how it worked and how it all fitted together.
This book is a must have article for any Apollo buff.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for the Casual Reader...Only
Review: My main criticism of the book, and this hit me the second I opened to the 2-D layouts in front, was that the SPS engine bell is too bulbous, and the forward radiator panels are too "square" in appearance. They should be more rectangular in shape. If these had been interior features, I could easily have overlooked them. But with the good reference material available today on Apollo, including photographs taken from every angle and David Weeks' fine CSM drawings, it just seems to me that the engine bell in particular should have been shown right. Refer to Mike Mackowski's S.I.M. #6 and David Weeks' Service Module drawings for the correct SPS outline. Second, very little detail is provided for the two hatches (extremely intricate and vital sub-systems) or the docking system, apart from a basic 3-D view of the docking probe and ring. These areas should have been treated with a great-deal more attention. Mr. Sullivan does indicate the multiple-pane arrangement of the CM windows, but it would have been helpful to see how they were affixed into thier respective frames in both the inner and outer hulls. A simple, 2-D section view through one of the side windows, for example would have told a lot about the overall window structure. The crew couches and instrument panels, aside from being rendered in color, really don't show anything over and above the level of detail in the spacecraft handbook illustrations. I would have at least expected some overall dimensions of the couches, if not of the attenuation struts, mirrors and floodlights. Lastly, it would have been nice to see a little more detail on the "J" Mission Scientific Instrument Module bays carried aboard Apollo 15 thru 17, as well as specific differences between the actual flown spacecraft (Apollo 4 and 6 thru ASTP) as no two of these spacecraft were alike.If you're a casual reader with merely a moderate interest in the American Space Program, you'll find this book enjoyable. But if you're a seriously sold-out space nut like me, and you're looking for hard, accurate dimensional data for a large-scale model of an Apollo Spacecraft, keep looking, because you won't find it here.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall excellent book
Review: My main criticism of the book, and this hit me the second I opened to the 2-D layouts in front, was that the SPS engine bell is too bulbous, and the forward radiator panels are too "square" in appearance. They should be more rectangular in shape. If these had been interior features, I could easily have overlooked them. But with the good reference material available today on Apollo, including photographs taken from every angle and David Weeks' fine CSM drawings, it just seems to me that the engine bell in particular should have been shown right. Refer to Mike Mackowski's S.I.M. #6 and David Weeks' Service Module drawings for the correct SPS outline. Second, very little detail is provided for the two hatches (extremely intricate and vital sub-systems) or the docking system, apart from a basic 3-D view of the docking probe and ring. These areas should have been treated with a great-deal more attention. Mr. Sullivan does indicate the multiple-pane arrangement of the CM windows, but it would have been helpful to see how they were affixed into thier respective frames in both the inner and outer hulls. A simple, 2-D section view through one of the side windows, for example would have told a lot about the overall window structure. The crew couches and instrument panels, aside from being rendered in color, really don't show anything over and above the level of detail in the spacecraft handbook illustrations. I would have at least expected some overall dimensions of the couches, if not of the attenuation struts, mirrors and floodlights. Lastly, it would have been nice to see a little more detail on the "J" Mission Scientific Instrument Module bays carried aboard Apollo 15 thru 17, as well as specific differences between the actual flown spacecraft (Apollo 4 and 6 thru ASTP) as no two of these spacecraft were alike. If you're a casual reader with merely a moderate interest in the American Space Program, you'll find this book enjoyable. But if you're a seriously sold-out space nut like me, and you're looking for hard, accurate dimensional data for a large-scale model of an Apollo Spacecraft, keep looking, because you won't find it here.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Book
Review: Scott Sullivan has produced the book I was waiting for! I have been desiring a book about Apollo CM/SM details and construction, and this was the one that was worth waiting for. Though I have been an Apollo addict for years, and have read all the NASA Mission Reports (also available from Apogee Books) some things were difficult for me to actually visualize without Scott's CAD drawings. Part of the problem with previous books, even well illustrated books, was the uniqueness and density of the CM design. For instance in space, there is no up, so it becomes sometimes difficult by reading accounts the interrelationship between the LEB and associated spaces. Now it is crystal clear. I hope that Scott Sullivan will come out with a LM book to accompany this brilliant work. Thank you, Scott!
Rating:
Summary: Might as well be NASA plans
Review: This book could have been mistaken for NASA official design plans. Includes 3d images to give an idea of where things are within the CSM. Detailed descriptions of CM and SM as well as docking port. Has instrument panel diagrams and cockpit control layout designs. Includes abort checklists, etc. and everything you need to learn how to build and fly your very own Apollo 18, which was aborted due to budget cuts. NOTE: Does not include description or diagram of of Saturn V or 1B booster rockets or details of missions except an in-depth description of the Apollo 1 tragedy.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible quality and details!
Review: This book is a strange concept that sounds like it might not work - Scott Sullivan did a ton of research on the Apollo command and service modules, from blueprints and other sources, and then plugged it all into a computer program and made CAD drawings and incredible cutaways from every system. The results are truly phenomenal; every page of this full-color book is glossy and of the quality usually reserved for high-end art books costing ten times as much.
As far as detail, I felt I had enough info to start building one of these things in my back yard if the local hardware store sold all of the titanium I'd need! I don't think the original space program had blueprints as detailed and colorful as those within the pages of this book. I am a big techno-geek, always wondering how things work and are put together, and I have spent hours and hours gawking at these drawings, looking at how heat shields are made or how astronauts stored their gear. There's also a lot of text per page telling you what you're looking at and how things were assembled.
This is not only a well-executed book, but a great idea for other similar books for other parts of the space program. If Mr. Sullivan announced a large-format set of plans for the Space Shuttle or Skylab, I would be the first in line, no matter what they cost!
Rating:
Summary: The most incredible depiction of the Apollo CSM ever
Review: This is easily the most incredible and diagramatic depiction of the Apollo CSM ever created. The illustrations are truley beautiful showcasing a level of detail that is absolutley astounding. Virtually every subsystem is depicted from the inside out in full color renderings that are clear and consiece. Breathtaking cut-away views show the entire command module with every layer of its many inner and outer hulls, as well as all of its internal components plain to see. I highly recommend this fine piece of work to anyone who has ever marveled at what man is capable of creating.
Rating:
Summary: Might as well be NASA plans
Review: This is such a good, concise and welldone book about the Apollo CSM. For the first time it gives you an idea what it must have been like, going to the moon in this machine, made by the lowest bidder. The drawings are all very clear. I am allready waiting and hoping that the author will make a similar book about the Apollo LM.
|
