This article is the fourth in a series on NASA publications. Part One presented an overview of NASA Special Publications, emphasizing the General Publications (SP number <1000). Part Two provided an introduction to the Special Publications written under the auspices of the NASA History Office (SP-4000 series) and particularly on the category of Reference Works (SP-40XX). Part Three focused on the Management Histories (SP-41XX).

This article continues with the NASA History Office Project Histories (SP-42XX series). The titles and assigned SP numbers for this category appear below. The first 11 of these are covered in this article. SP-4012 and higher will be covered in Part Five. As with other NASA publications, the older of these are often seen in softbound editions, but were also released in hardbound in very limited press runs.

The SP-42XX series is composed of histories of various NASA projects and is perhaps the series of most interest to readers and collectors as it offers the official NASA histories of Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo among others.

The series was inaugurated in 1966 with "This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury" (NASA SP-4201), written by Loyd Swenson, Jr., James Grimwood and Charles Alexander. Grimwood was Johnson Space Center historian at the time. The title of the book came from President John F. Kennedy's address at Rice University in Houston where he spoke about sailing "on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained...".

"This New Ocean" is a strong, comprehensive work including a 100 page section on the lure of space, examining space literature, aeronautics, rocket research and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Parts two and three of the book speak to the development of Project Mercury and operations. Seven appendices contain information on functional organization, workflow, organizational flow charts, flight data, personnel growth costs, and the Project Mercury tracking net. The book is well illustrated with 50 or more black and white photos of all aspects of Project Mercury.

It was four years until the next volume in this series was published, "Vanguard- A History" (NASA SP-4202) by Constance McLaughlin Green and Milton Lomask. Interestingly, Charles Lindbergh wrote the foreword to this volume, giving tribute to Robert Goddard. The volume is an excellent history of the Vanguard project, the United States' second satellite in space, including onboard experiments, instrumentation, tracking systems and test firings.

Another seven years elapsed until the publication of SP-4203, "On the Shoulders of Titans; A History of Project Gemini" by Barton Hacker and James Grimwood. The oft overlooked intermediate step to the Moon between Mercury and Apollo received excellent treatment. Of particular interest to enthusiasts are the lesser known aspects and programs related to Gemini, the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory, Dyna-Soar, the paraglider and various lunar orbiting and lander concepts. The book is well illustrated with both black and white photos and a number of color plates.

After "Titans," the publishing pace accelerated. "Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations" (NASA SP-4204) by Charles Benson and William Faherty was published in 1978. "Moonport" was the first of six volumes in this series specifically on Project Apollo.

This is perhaps the scarcest of the NASA history publications and extremely difficult to find in hardback. Fortunately, it has been republished by the University Press of Florida in two volumes, "Gateway to the Moon" and "Moon Launch!"

"Moonport" is physically notable for its beige cover rather than the traditional navy blue of the other early manned spaceflight histories. It provides excellent coverage of the development of Kennedy Space Center facilities for the Saturn V and Project Apollo. This was a huge undertaking in some ways equivalent in difficulty to the more obvious Moon flights.

The authors also effectively examined the operational challenges of Project Apollo at the Cape, including the Apollo 204 fire. This section includes the story of Thomas Baron, a North American employee, who expressed severe concerns about the Apollo Command Module before the fire. All in all, it's a great volume with Appendices covering launches of the Saturn I and IB, launch complex 39, the Apollo 9 and 14 countdowns and the Apollo 11 LC-39 processing.

The fifth book of the NASA Project Histories is "Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft" (NASA SP-4205) by Courtney Brooks, James Grimwood and Loyd Swenson, Jr.

Unfortunately, this volume is often confused for the book "Chariots for Apollo: The Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon" by Charles Pellegrino and Joshua Stoff. Although this trade publication is filled with entertaining anecdotes, it is not nearly the academic work that NASA's "Chariots" comprises.

"Chariots" (SP-4205) covers the development and operation of the command, service and lunar modules through the Apollo 11 flight. The authors contributed one of the strongest volumes in the NASA history series. Well illustrated with over 50 black and white photos, our only regret is that it does not include the later lunar flights with the lunar rover.

"Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles" (NASA SP-4206) was written by Roger Bilstein and published in 1980. The emphasis of course is on the Saturn series of launch vehicles. Bilstein compiled a top notch treatise on the development of the H-1, F-1, RL-10 and J-2 engines as well as the broader launch vehicle. Also covered are the trials of design and testing. Appendices include a schematic of the Saturn V, the prelaunch-launch sequence, Saturn flight history and contractors. Over 50 black and white photos complete the volume.

The NASA History Office, for reasons unknown to us, did not publish a NASA SP-4207. This number was no doubt reserved for a title, but was never delivered.

Beginning with NASA SP-4208, "Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab," the History Office moved away from the conservative deep blue cover with gold text to a more contemporary look. Authored by W. David Compton and Charles Benson, "Living and Working" examines the rich Apollo Applications program that yielded the United States' first space station. The book is thorough, examining other space station proposals beginning in 1962 and through the deorbit and breakup of Skylab.

"The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project" (NASA SP-4209) by Edward Ezell and Linda Neuman Ezell is interesting because the Ezells began note taking for this volume while ASTP was underway. In the preface they note that much of the research is based upon oral "histories" because they sat in on so many meetings and read many participants mail! What emerges from the effort is a nice volume on a space effort that was as much political as technological. ASTP is covered well from the Cold War spirit of the 1950s through splashdown.

R. Cargill Hall's "Lunar Impact: A History of Project Ranger" (NASA SP-4210) was published in 1977. Project Ranger was, of course, an important step toward eventual manned flights to the Moon. It followed a troubled path that included Congressional investigations into failed probes. Hall managed to tell not only the technological history, but also a story of working relationships. This is an excellent volume that is unfortunately sometimes overlooked in favor of the books on manned spaceflight.

In 1980, NASA defined the project history as being broader than a single program. "Beyond the Atmosphere; Early Years of Space Science" (NASA SP-4211) was the result. Authored by Homer Newell, the book covers the gamut of space science from upper atmosphere research to satellite geodesy, but Newell also managed to explore administrative issues at NASA, the question of whether the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was an insider or outsider and international ties in the area of space science. There is something here for everyone.

Part Five will cover SP-4012 through the end of the SP-42XX series. This is a rich series and as the table above shows, there are several more works to be published soon.

Future resource guides on NASA Special Publications will include the other NASA History books, New Series in NASA History, NASA Educational Publications, Reference Publications and Conference Publications.