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A review by lourens
Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants by John Drury Clark
3.0
The tone is comical. The author probably does the best job possible writing a story encapsulating the liquid propellant development up to the 70s. Thing is, the best job is still very repetitive. The book shines in its quirky and particular anecdotes, but a big part is outlining the consequential chemical combinations that were tried. Listing of chemicals gets dull.
I'm still happy I read the whole book, as it contextualizes many rocket fuel fundamentals & trade-offs, which makes them in turn easier to remember. And it explains the roots of rocketry today. In the closing of the book, the author states that "There appears to be little left to do in liquid propellant chemistry ...". Pages before, he says "big first-stage space boosters will continue to use liquid oxygen and RP-1... ". 50 years later, this exact rocket propellant is used in SpaceX's Falcon 9 (one of the most flown boosters this decade). So, John Drury Clark seems to have known his field!
I'm still happy I read the whole book, as it contextualizes many rocket fuel fundamentals & trade-offs, which makes them in turn easier to remember. And it explains the roots of rocketry today. In the closing of the book, the author states that "There appears to be little left to do in liquid propellant chemistry ...". Pages before, he says "big first-stage space boosters will continue to use liquid oxygen and RP-1... ". 50 years later, this exact rocket propellant is used in SpaceX's Falcon 9 (one of the most flown boosters this decade). So, John Drury Clark seems to have known his field!