This book takes the reader on a journey through the history of extremely ambitious, large and complex space missions that never happened. What were the dreams and expectations of the visionaries behin
The era of the Apollo/Saturn missions was perhaps the most exciting period in American space exploration history. Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center were buzzing with activity. Thousands of worke
This book tells the story of the four missions to maintain Hubble's successful operation. Between 1997 and 2009 these repaired, serviced and upgraded the instruments on the telescope to maintain its s
With current technology, a voyage to Mars and back will take threeyears. That’s a lot of time for things to go wrong. But sooner or latera commercial enterprise will commit itself to sending humans to
Written by a former Aerodynamics Officer on the Space Shuttle program, this book provides a complete overview of the “new” U. S. space program - what NASA is planning to do, how NASA coordinates and p
The European Space Agency has a long history of cooperating with NASA in human spaceflight, having developed the Spacelab module for carrying in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle. This bo
This book explores the once popular idea of 'Flexible Path' in terms of Mars, a strategy that would focus on a manned orbital mission to Mars's moons rather than the more risky, expensive an
This book tells the story of the Space Shuttle in its many different roles as orbital launch platform, orbital workshop, and science and technology laboratory. It focuses on the technology designed an
For centuries the British developed a reputation as a nation of explorers. From Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe to the ascent of Everest, British explorers crossed oc
This book tells the fascinating stories of the valiant women who broke down barriers to join the space program. Beginning with the orbital flight of USSR cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963, they b
How could the newly authorized space shuttle help in the U.S. quest to build a large research station in Earth orbit? As a means of transporting goods, the shuttle could help supply the parts to the s
This book describes the history of this now iconic room which represents America’s space program during the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and early Space Shuttle eras. It is now a National
This book describes the most complex machine ever sent to another planet: Curiosity. It is a one-ton robot with two brains, seventeen cameras, six wheels, nuclear power, and a laser beam on its head.
This book explores the practicality of using the existing subsurface geology on the Moon and Mars for protection against radiation, thermal extremes, micrometeorites and dust storms rather t
Luna 2, launched by the USSR in 1959, was the first spacecraft from Earth to land on the moon. That first voyage was followed by increasingly capable lunar exploration spacecraft from Russia and the U
The flight of Gemini 4 in June 1965 was conducted barely four years after the first Americans flew in space. It was a bold step by NASA to accomplish the first American spacewalk and to extend the U.S