Spy Satellite Manual (Owners' Workshop Manual) Hardcover – December 1, 2016

I have been a fan of Dr. Baker's many books and periodical articles since the late 1970s. The book is well-written and contains much new information on this subject, and is invaluable to anyone interested in this subject. It is equally well-illustrated, but does contain a couple of minor errors. There was no such thing as the Lockheed RF-104, and the so-called "Wright Model A" purchased by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1909, is more correctly referred to as the; "Military Flyer." The only other thing I would have liked to have seen, is better delineation of the applicable launch vehicles. Particularly, the Atlas-Agenas. There is also much less information on U.S. ELINT reconnaissance satellites, which is hardly surprising, given the highly classified nature of the subject. Nevertheless, despite these nitpicky points, the book is well worth having, and provides a great deal of insight into U.S. satellite reconnaissance. I therefore bestow a five star rating.

An impressive book at many levels. Excellent overview of the US spy satellite program with insights into both the history and the hardware. In terms a public domain reference on the subject, probably the best there is. Strongly recommended.

Haynes has been producing a steady stream of (mostly) excellent material this year, without the goofy novelty books which have marred their "workshop manual" series in the past. Dr. David Baker, best known for his classic works "The Rocket" and "The History of Manned Spaceflight," has been using this series to present a slicker, more streamlined study of space hardware."US Spy Satellites" is somewhat of a curious beast. It's a very well-rounded reference work, which does a fine job balancing historical and technical details. All of the major American military reconnaissance satellites (the KH-series, SAMOS, and the aborted Manned Orbital Laboratory) are described in fairly substantial detail, although obviously there's less on more recent programs. Quite a bit of material here would have landed the reader in prison 20 years ago. The chapter on MOL was fascinating, if somewhat of a tease - when are we going to get a full-length book on this program? The photographs and technical diagrams, for the most part, are excellent and well-produced. To give a few examples, there are block diagrams of Agena systems, color cross-sections of each satellite, sketches of unbuilt concepts, diagrams of the optical systems of several satellites, and numerous NRO briefing slides.On the other hand, David Baker's Haynes manuals tend to stray from the established format and suffer somewhat as a result. Like his others, it's a narrative history intended to be read cover-to-cover. Unlike the other books in the series, there are no detailed technical asides or side-panels. His earlier works on NASA Mars rovers and the Apollo 13 missions used these to good effect. What happened to them? I'm not knocking his talents as a space historian or writer; I just wish he'd have a bit of fun with the format and exploited it to a greater extent. This book is somewhat fascinating in places but gets kind of dry when the technical specs and organizational details start piling up.I enjoyed this "manual," and discovered quite a bit of new material, but compared to Haynes' recent Saturn V manual, it feels a bit stuffy. Anyone with a serious interest in U.S. "black projects" will find much to love here, although the somewhat dry writing style might be an issue.

Great diagrams, specs, pics and history of many of Americas super secret "national technical means" space vehicles from the 1950's to present..a .must have for the collection any space recon buff

I bought this for my hubby for his birthday and he loves it! He said it's really a great book with amazing detail!

Outstanding overview of the "Key Hole" program. Wish there was more coverage of the KH-11 and Lacrosse.

Very interesting book on the US spy satellite program from the early years up to the KH-11 Digital /transition stage.

This book is an excellent work. No complaints at all.Product, packaging, and delivery were all first rate.Thanks very much!

Excellent for my son in laws work project

It's not just a book on spy satellites, it's a book on rockets, satellites in general, and spy satellites. Well written, great pictures, great book overall.

Le produit est arrive dans les temps estime de livraison, il est conforme a ce qui etait specifie dans l'annonce. Le livre est riche d'illustrations et de photos, la qualite du livre est tres bonne.

As described and on time

Gift for my dad who was delighted! He couldn’t put it down. Very well written and the page layout is great. Very interesting subject. Will probably get more of these manuals as gifts in the future.