A History of Jet Propulsion, Including Rockets by Raymond Friedman

(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)

The ebook is expensive, but I was very interested in this topic and there was no better alternative. However, the book is worth it because it meets completely my expectations and I enjoyed a lot reading it.

Raymond Friedman is an engineer and you immediately realize it by his direct and efficient style, and because he manages to explain in a practical way physics concepts such as the essential Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of the movement applied to flight and space or advanced concepts such as specific impulse or escape velocity .

In a few pages the book deals with many topics. Among other things of the principles of flight, types of jet engines and rockets, the combination of fuels/propellants to choose in each case, types of satellites, and at the same time a succinct history of each of these advances.

Being two different themes, aircraft and missile propulsion by jet or ramjets, or rocket propulsion, in its varied military and civil applications, on our planet or outside it, the book justifies by humanity's need to dominate the air, and what is its extension, space.

In this sense, the author extends his technological explanation to the usefulness and scientific and/or economic justification of the expansion through space and dedicates part of the book to achievements such as the Hubble telescope or the ISS International Space Station. It also offers a few expectations about what to expect in the short, medium and long term future, mainly in the exploration of our solar system.

The book also has three appendix about Newton’s Laws applied to jets and rockets, the mathematics of rocketry and space travel and selected biographies of major contributors to jet propulsion and rocketry.

Published in 2010, I think that the only flaw that I see in this work is that it is written before the Elon Musk era with his reusable rockets and ambitious projects.