To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.Copyright © 2005-2024 Christopher P. Winter. All rights reserved.
This page was last modified on 10 August 2024.
| OUTER SPACE & SPACEFLIGHT |
These books will mostly deal with flight into space. However, astronaut memoirs go to "Memoirs", and books on previous space history (like Powering Apollo) go to "History." In addition, books which don't deal with flight into space directly go elsewhere. Captured by Aliens, which touches on space flight only insofar as it examines human beliefs about visits by extraterrestrials to Earth, is an example; it goes to "Anthropology." Similarly, books about SETI (the search for extraterrestrial Intelligence) go to "Astronomy." A historical note: Entries with a green background in the Review Date field are transfers from the old "Visions of a Space Age" section. |
| PRINCIPAL AUTHOR |
TITLE (Linked to review) |
RATING (0-5) |
REVIEW DATE |
ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashford, David | Spaceflight Revolution | 5.0 | 2/20/2003 | As of 2003, the X-15 was first and only fully reusable vehicle to reach space. David Ashford's company wants to end that 35-year hiatus. |
| Belfiore, Michael | Rocketeers | 5.0 | 11/18/2009 | Follow Michael Belfiore on a tour of NewSpace — the commercial space-launch companies competing to be the first private venture into the final frontier. |
| Berinstein, Paula | Making Space Happen | 5.0 | 1/07/2003 | Once we all dreamed of a glorious Space Age. What happened to those dreams? This engaging book holds the history of the years since Apollo up for thoughtful examination. |
| Berry, Adrian | The Giant Leap | 1.5 | 1/04/2003 | A well-intentioned but sorely misguided attempt to describe how interstellar travel will be accomplished |
| Collins, Michael | Mission to Mars | 5.0 | 9/27/1996 | Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins describes his vision of a mission to Mars. |
| Coombs, Charles | Aerospace Pilot | 5.0 | 12/04/1994 | Coombs's lively narrative makes you feel you're training right alongside his fictional pilot candidate, Dan Evans. |
| Dyson, George | Project Orion | 5.0 | 1/07/2002 | Now legendary, this atom-bomb-powered spaceship is shown to be potentially practical. |
| Elias, George Henry | Breakout into Space | 3.0 | 3/16/1997 | Elias' thesis: that it is the duty of "the Gifted Generation" (baby boomers) — and in their own best interest — to expand into space. |
| Freeman, Marsha | Challenges of Human Space Exploration | 5.0 | 5/22/2001 | What good is the International Space Station? Marsha Freeman explains. |
| Hujsak, Edward | The Future of U.S. Rocketry | 5.0 | 3/12/1997 | Good data on U.S. launch vehicle families. Good opinions about where the launch industry can go in the future. Trenchant opinions about why it's not getting there fast. |
| Impey, Chris | Beyond | 4.5 | 5/28/2015 | The latest book by astrophysicist Dr. Impey walks us through the past and present of space travel, and projects a glimpse of one possible future. |
| Launius, Roger | Imagining Space | 5.0 | 12/02/2003 | Fifty years of space progress are reprised in this well-illustrated volume. |
| Lewis, John S. | Mining the Sky (& Rain of Iron and Ice) | 5.0 | 3/29/1998 | In these two companion volumes, Dr. Lewis explores the promise and peril of near-Earth asteroids. |
| Lewis, John S. | Rain of Iron and Ice (& Mining the Sky) | 5.0 | 12/24/1997 | In these two companion volumes, Dr. Lewis explores the promise and peril of near-Earth asteroids. |
| Mishkin, Andrew | Sojourner | 5.0 | 4/30/2004 | Mishkin was a systems engineer on JPL's Sojourner Mars rover. His account conveys in readable wise all the tension, frustration, and lost sleep attendant to such projects — and the exultation when they succeed. |
| Morton, Oliver | Mapping Mars | 5.0 | 2/01/2004 | The exploration of Mars, and the scientists performing it, are portrayed in this informative book. |
| O'Neill, Gerard K. | The High Frontier | 5.0 | TBA | Dr. O'Neill and his students at Princeton University developed the concept of solar power satellites. |
| Petersen, Carolyn C. | Hubble Vision | 5.0 | TBA | A celebration of the glorious images brought to us by the first telescope in space. |
| Pyle, Rod | Space 2.0 | 5.0 | 6/18/2019 | An excellent overview of the current status of access to space. |
| Reed, R. Dale | Wingless Flight | 5.0 | 3/17/2003 | At California's Dryden Flight Research Center, Reed and his colleagues pioneered a new way of getting back from orbit. |
| Ride, Sally | To Space and Back | 5.0 | 12/04/1994 | America's first woman in space tells how it is to fly on the Space Shuttle. |
| Robinson, George S. | Envoys of Mankind | 4.0 | 7/20/2003 | An examination of the changes humanity may undergo when large numbers of people live off-planet, and the legal frameworks that will be needed to ensure civil order and a fair measure of freedom. |
| Sagan, Carl | Pale Blue Dot | 5.0 | 1/17/1997 | Astronomer Carl Sagan shows us our place in the cosmos. |
| Savage, Marshall T. | The Millennial Project | 4.0 | 1/20/1995 | Here's a grand plan if there ever was one. |
| Shirley, Donna | Managing Martians | 5.0 | 2/23/2003 | From Oklahoma came young Donna Shirley, dreaming of exploring Mars. And she did. |
| Spudis, Paul D. | The Once and Future Moon | 5.0 | 5/21/2001 | All about the value of Luna, and why we should get off our duffs and go back to Earth's natural satellite |
| Stine, G. Harry | Halfway to Anywhere | 5.0 | 3/01/1997 | Heinlein told us Earth orbit is halfway to anywhere. Stine shows how and why to take that first step. |
| Stoiko, Michael | Soviet Rocketry | 5.0 | 9/14/2002 | Aerospace engineer Stoiko dug up invaluable data on the space vehicles of the USSR, and presents it here. |
| Vajk, J. Peter | Doomsday Has Been Cancelled | 5.0 | TBA | Out in space it's raining soup, says Vajk, and we don't know about soup bowls. |
| Weil, Elizabeth | They All Laughed at Christopher Columbus | 0.5 | 12/07/2002 | A book about one of the most advanced aerospace engineering efforts of the 20th century, written by someone who doesn't understand engineering or aerospace |
| Wohlforth, Charles | Beyond Earth | 5.0 | 3/12/2017 | Saturn's moon Titan is the destination proposed in this book as the most likely near-term refuge for humanity. |
| Zubrin, Robert | The Case for Mars | 5.0 | 3/29/2003 | A practical plan to get to and explore Mars by "living off the land." |
| The books are rated from 0 to 5 in increments of 0.5. Colors represent the following quality ranges: | ||||
| 4.0 to 5.0 | Quality: | HIGH | (Color = Aqua) | Competent to exceptional; well worth the money |
| 2.0 to 3.5 | Quality: | FAIR | (Color = Lime) | Useful despite some flaws; may or may not be worth buying. |
| 0.5 to 1.5 | Quality: | POOR | (Color = Yellow) | Seriously flawed; read it if you wish, but don't buy it. |
| 0.0 to 0.0 | Quality: | YUCK | (Color = Fuchsia) | Avoid this book at all costs! |
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.