Spaceflight: A Smithsonian Guide

This is a very enjoyable text covering the history and present day (up to mid-nineties) of the exploration of space. Unlike many personal accounts written by those who took part in these events, this book has an almost refreshing air of objectivity. In well-divided chapters it features an overview of spaceflight (what are the necessary elements of a workable spacecraft?) and its early history (the great men of rocket theory and design).It discusses close to all the launch vehicles and spacecraft that has ever flown, from Vostok to the Shuttle. All manned flights are listed. History of Moon exploration follows in a similar fashion. Planetary probes and satellites are discussed in the final chapter, together with visions for the future.Both the Russian and American space programs are given a thorough and balanced overview, without any obvious bias either way.The book has excellent drawings, diagrams and charts allowing those unfamiliar with the space jar! gon to understand how things work. Although sometimes oversimplified, these ensured that the message was clear. Photographs were plentiful but not overwhelming - there are other books more suitable for coffee table perusal pile.As this text is fairly small in size (B5?) it is very handy to keep even on a cramped bookshelf. Having read a number of space exploration accounts, I thoroughly recommend this guidebook if you only want to have one resource text on spaceflight.