Spaceplane HERMES / Springer Praxis Books (PDF)

Luc van den Abeelen's first publication was in Spaceflight magazine in 1987 on the subject of the Mir space station. He continued the Soviet/Russian theme of his writing and in 1999, wrote on the historical theme of the Soviet Lunar landing program, and, in the same year, in JBIS on the history of later planned Soviet Lunar mission. For the past 15 years, he has contributed commentary on current space events on national Dutch radio and television.

“Spaceplane HERMES is a very thorough book on the long history of the European quest to develop an independent human spaceflight capability. … this reviewer views this book as an example of what works and what does not and how politics, diplomacy, funding, and technical challenges play into the development of complex international space systems. Overall, this book is appropriate for any individual with an interest in space history. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; professionals and general readers.” (D. B. Spencer, Choice, Vol. 57 (11), July, 2017)“A great book! A necessary book! … For me the book in its chronological order and panoramic picture of all the managerial, technological, and political aspects of the Hermes project lets me fill in many gaps and leads to a better understanding of decisions which were not clear at all at the time. … the book demonstrates the dream is alive and hopefully the next generation of politicians, managers and engineers will be educated by this ‘historical’ book.” (Joachim J. Kehr, Journal of Space Operations & Communicator, opsjournal.org, Vol. 4 (1), January, 2017)



“The book is written with an easy fl owing style which makes it suitable for all readerships. … Arranged in chronological order, it opens in 1946 with France’s fi rst tentative dreams of space. It is an attractively presented publication, well illustrated with diagrams and pictures. One must also not forget the extensive index.” (Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society, Issue 51, January, 2017)