| View Larger Image | A History of Space Exploration | Hardcoverby Tim Furniss (Author)
| List Price: | $25.00 | |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Mercury Books | | Page Count: | 192 Pages | | Publication Date: | November 10, 2006 | | Sales Rank: | 451,376st |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The launch of the first rocket in 1926 led to the development of the first long-range missile - the A4, renamed V2 - fired in anger during the Second World War. The technology had advanced by 1957, to enable the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to be developed. This missile formed the basis of the first launch vehicle to carry a satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit, marking the beginning of the Space Age. Since then the Moon, all the planets in the solar system except Pluto, and an asteroid and a comet have been explored by spacecraft. Since the Space Age began, twelve men have walked on the Moon, and over 400 people have experienced space travel. Satellites now provide the world with a range of services from environmental monitoring to mobile phone calls. Space station operations have become routine. The Hubble Space Telescope has enabled astronomers to peer 12 billion years into the past and to take their first look at a black hole. What else will be achieved in the coming decades, as space exploration takes on a new momentum? |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 4 reviews)
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Very Good by David Cornell (Michigan)  5 Stars
January 09, 2007
This book is very informative. It has detailed information on not only the U.S. space program but also on the Soviet program as well. One of the best books I ever read on the subject.
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Good overview, but very biased against Russian space exploration by Prometheus  3 Stars
April 05, 2006
I picked this book up in the bookstore today as I'm trying to find a book that gives an overview of all space exploration. Flipping through the pages (which are packed with colour photographs and very nicely laid-out), I noticed a lot of detail regarding the US efforts, but very little detail regarding other nations, especially the Russian 'firsts' in space.
What coverage there is on the Russian efforts seems almost comically biased - for example, the coverage of Yuri Gagarin's flight is titled "Eastern Propaganda" and it goes on to tell how the first space flights by the Russians were 'cheats' because the Russians parachuted to Earth, rather than landing in their spacecraft. I found this chapter extremely distasteful. The Russians were first into space, they were first to orbit the Earth, they were first to perform a spacewalk, and they put the first woman in space. I find it bad sportsmanship indeed to downplay such achievements purely because the early Russian recovery procedures didn't meet some arbitrary regulation which had nothing to do with the achievements that were made.
If this 'yellow journalism', nationalist bias and petty jingoism is characteristic of the rest of the book, I fail to see how this book could be useful. The book gets three stars because I can't give a full review of the book (I did not buy it and do not plan to in the future) so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt, but two stars are knocked off for the incredible level of bias against non-US efforts, which is so bad that one would think the book was written at the height of the Cold War rather than in the last five years.
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From rockets to Mars - and beyond! by D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer (California, USA) 5 Stars
March 11, 2006
The story of space exploration and its future comes to life in a visual treat which follows space technology and discoveries from the first rocket in 1926 to modern times. Each technological advancement is linked to both space exploration advancement and, in turn, to other effects on human achievement. The vintage and contemporary photos, charts, and visuals provide a powerful timeline of events which lend to leisure browsing and interest, backed by facts suitable for reports.
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A sweeping historical summary of man's efforts to better understand the universe beyond the confines of the earth by Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) 5 Stars
March 07, 2006
Featuring color photography on almost every page (and a handful of vintage black-and-white photos), A History Of Space Exploration And Its Future is a sweeping historical summary of man's efforts to better understand the universe beyond the confines of the earth. From early spacefaring crafts to the birth of the space shuttle to the all-too-worrisome modern problem of space debris orbiting the earth, to the latest discoveries of other planets, comets, and stars, A History Of Space Exploration is thoroughly accessible to the lay reader yet sweeping in its wealth of detail. Highly recommended.
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