The launch of the first liquid-propellant rocket in 1926 led to the development of the first long-range missiles fired during World War II. The technology had advanced sufficiently by 1957 to enable an intercontinental ballistic missile to be developed. This missile formed the basis of the first launch vehicle to carry a satellite, Sputnik I, into orbit, marking the beginning of the Space Age. In the thirty-two years of the U.S.-Soviet space race between 1959 and 1991, the moon, all the planets in the solar system except Pluto, an asteroid, and a comet have been explored by spacecraft. Since the Space Age began, twelve men have walked on the moon, and over four hundred people have experienced space travel. The Hubble Space Station has enabled astronomers to peer twelve billion light years into the past and to take their first look at a black hole. What else may be achieved in the coming decades as space exploration gains new momentum? With over thirty years' experience as a space journalist reporting on both the U.S. and Russian space programs, Tim Furniss provides a comprehensive history of space exploration in a highly readable way. In A HISTORY OF SPACE EXPLORATION, he also ventures into future missions currently in their early planning stages.
