Frontiers Of Space- Phillip Bono

[XP67_Moonbat]

Does anyone else remember this great book? Fascinating design concepts, excellent artwork. A book with concepts ahead of their time. It was a cornerstone in my childhood . Borrowed from the public library so often, the librarians jokingly called it my "usual".

Then I left for the Navy for a decade, and came back home for school. And when I went back to library, lo and behold, "Frontiers of Space" was no longer in circulation :'(

I think that this wonderful volume is just begging for a reprint. With a section of new material. You have efforts like the DC-X (and the proposed entry for X-33), Blue Origin's New Shepard, and some of the other VTOVL competitors in the X-prize like Armadillo that make excellent subject matter.

And I feel none other than Apogee Books would be the best publisher to bring this gem back to us. Now if there's just a way to get Apogee to consider this.

What do you guys think? Is "Frontiers" due for a reprint?

Moonbat

 

[Barrington Bond]

Most definitely!

I also kept renewing it for a year from my local library - eventually I managed to get it and the others in the series from discount bookshops. Very inspirational along with the PG Tips cards space book with the wonderful Mars spacecraft on the cover.

Regards,
Barry

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Yup! it was a very good book. I'm going to shoot Apogee an e-mail. Probably won't amount to much. But if I can plant ther seed of an idea in somebody's head, my mission will be accomplished. Maybe I can write Tim McElyea or somebody.

My next stop will be a used bookstore. Hopefully, if I find a copy, I can haggle for it.

I'd buy that for a dollar!!!

 

[robunos]

available here:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0025428101/ref=sr_1_olp_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223156654&sr=1-12

cheers,
Robin.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Also here:

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=2481929&title=frontiers+of+space&qsort=p&matches=21&cm_sp=works*listing*buyused

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Thanks for the links, guys.

Moonbat

 

[Merv_P]

I have a copy - my third, the others being lost and replaced over the years. Fascinating stuff.

There are two editions; the newer one was, IIRC, distinguishable by being post-Apollo and reflecting that in its updated articles and picture spreads of the NASA Moon and Mars missions.

It's quite easy and cheap to get hold of.

Very inspirational along with the PG Tips cards space book with the wonderful Mars spacecraft on the cover.

Ah... another child of the early '70s. That was a good series.

 

[zebedee]

If i remember correctly there were 3 books Gatland wrote in the series, Manned Spaceflight, Robot Explorers, Missiles and Rockets, and the one he wrote with Bono, Frontiers of Space.

Frontiers has sat on my shelves since i got it as a 10 year old, 29 years ago! A fabulous book that still fires my imagination even if the spine is buggered. My copy of Manned Spaceflight only has seen far better days though!

On a similar note, does anyone remember "The Space Travellers Handbook" a very peculiar mix of science fact and fiction, that had details of planetary navigation and how to modify your camera to work in the vacuum of space!

Zeb

 

[zebedee]

Just got Bill Rose's interesting book in the Secret Projects series, Manned Space Projects and an interesting fact comes to light. Id always wondered why so much space in the book was devoted to the Icarus and other similar craft.

Turns out Philip Bono worked for Douglas and was the designer responsible for these studies...!

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPATD201773
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/oost.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/rombus.htm

Zeb

 

[flateric]

yep...life is full of discoveries=)

 

[fightingirish]

Ed Dempsey has uploaded all the pages of the 1976 edition of this book, FRONTIERS OF SPACE, as pictures at his Flickr page.
Link:

https://flic.kr/p/2pRpERn

View: https://flic.kr/p/2pRpERn

This, as well as the next nine images in this series, are all from the pages of the 1976 edition of this book, FRONTIERS OF SPACE, by Philip Bono and Kenneth Gatland, published by Macmillan Publishing Co., of New York. Artists who produced these images include the following: John Ward; Tony Mitchell; Norman Dinnage; William Hobson; Jack Pelling; and Brian Hiley. These people hold all rights and title to these artworks. They are presented here for informational purposes only, as representative of speculative space thinking during the years between Apollo and Shuttle operations. They should not be reused in any project without the permission of the owners.

 

[Silencer1]

Ed Dempsey has uploaded all the pages of the 1976 edition of this book, FRONTIERS OF SPACE, as pictures at his Flickr page.
Link:

https://flic.kr/p/2pRpERn

View: https://flic.kr/p/2pRpERn

Thank you for the link to this book' pages!
By the way, Mr. Dempsey Flickr photostream contains a huge and wide-range collection of other interesting photos: classic cars, military memorabilia, rockets, missiles and, of course, aircraft. There were a number of Martin company stuff - aircraft, projects, papers.