I have been reading from the science fiction section of Project Gutenberg alot lately.  I came across this book by E. Everett Evans, The Planet Mappers, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50682

Save for the 1% C and void stuff, this book from 1955 describes space travel much like I percieve it from the Knight Hawks descriptions.  The ship is nuclear powered with pellets of nuclear fuel.  The gravity is generated by acceleration and measured in Gs.  Pushing 2.5 or 3 Gs is rough.  Ships decelerate by thrusting in the opposite direction and they refer to it as negative Gs.  The ships land tail first.  Exploration means mapping from ship orbits, landing to take samples and place a marker, then going to the next planet in the system to make a complete claim on the system.

I recommend this is a fun read.  Put your mind back in 1955 and enjoy the culture shift.