The World of Space

The astronauts who will make the first voyage to Mars are probably in college today; the commander of Earth's first mission to Jupiter most likely has not yet entered high school; the leader of hte first Pluto expedition is cutting his first teeth.Man is on his way. What has until recently been a fantastic dream, a science-fiction bubble, is about to become reality. What will we find "out there?" In clear, straightfoward language, Robert Silverbreg explains the background of scientific research that has resulted in manned space flights, discusses the problems likely to be encountered in the emptiness we call space, tells what is known and what is conjectured about our moon and about each planet in our solar system, and probes the fascinating questions of possible life on other planets.Mars, Venus, and Mercury will be within our grasp in a decade or two. The, outward bound, man will inspect the giant worlds of Jupiter and Saturn, and by the end of the century may even have ventured as far as those frigid outposts of our solar system, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Then - maybe - we will send our first probes to the nearest stars. Here is a lucid and informed presentation of what we may expect to find.