Illustrated in full color. From the foreword: "This NASA Technical Publication explores and documents the nature of Space Shuttle operations and its supporting infrastructure in order to address fundamental questions often asked of the Space Shuttle Program-why does it take so long to turn the Space Shuttle around for flight and why does it cost so much? To accomplish this, the report provides an overview of the cause-and-effect relationships between generic flight and ground system design characteristics and resulting operations by using actual cumulative maintenance task times as a relative measure of direct work content. In addition, the paper provides an overview of how the Space Shuttle Program's operational infrastructure extends and accumulates from these design characteristics. Finally, learning from the experience of operating the Space Shuttle, the report derives a set of engineering and technology needs from which future space architects and technologists can revolutionize space travel from the inside out by developing and maturing more operable and supportable systems."

Before frequent flyer miles, before the "Thunderbirds, " before Mission Control, there was trial and error. From the "Curtiss Pusher" to the space age, one eccentric man's biography serves as a microcosm for those adventuresome days of early aviation.