The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology
Gatland, Kenneth
When the Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite in 1957 and the first man into space just three and a half years later, it was clear that mankind has embarked on a thrilling new adventure. A mere eight years after Gagarin, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Eagle Lunar Module on the Moon, the crowning achievement of the first Golden Age of space exploration.
But, as the past 30 years have shown, space research is more than exploration. Satellites have spun a web of communications around our world, linking nations by telephone, telegraph and television. Other kinds of satellite serve as "radio-stars" helping our ships and planes navigate safely in all weather Observation satellites keep us informed about weather, ocean conditions, earth resources, pollution and the health of agricultural crops and forests. Still other spacecraft keep watch on military activities around the world and help to police arms limitation agreements.
We have also seen the first space stations - Russia's Salyuts and Mir and America's Skylab - in which men and women have begun to experiment with new ways of making things in the microgravity environment of space. Scientists expect to exploit these techniques flying to and from orbit in reusable space Shuttles. Buran (Snowstorm) allied to the new Soviet heavy-lift booster Energiya now takes its place alongside the NASA Space Shuttle, restored to Service after the agonising disaster to Challenger. The use of telescopes and other instruments above the atmosphere has thrown revealing light upon the Universe. And although mankind has yet to travel beyond the Moon, his robot emissaries are spreading his quest across the Solar System.
Now, eight years after its orginal publication, a revised and updated edition of The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology is released to take account of the startling developments of the eighties. Much has happened in the intervening years: China, Japan and Europe have emerged äs major space powers, glasnost has seen our knowledge of the Soviet space Programme, and particularly the Soviet Shuttle, expand prodigiously; SDI research has been initiated; the US space Station Freedom is being planned forthe 1990s. This book is uniquely able to provide both the historical perspective needed to understand the genesis of space technology, and the facts and figures on current programmes and likely future developments, which should culminate in a manned flight to Mars early next Century. Superbly illustrated with colour artwork, photographs, and explanatorydiagrams, itis probably the finest single volume history of the space age yet published.
Hardcover with dust jacket, large format
308 Seiten / pages
many photos and illustrations
very good condition, with an name sticker of the previous owner
London - New York - 1989 - Salamander Books
Art.Nr. 25609
