The Greatest Adventure: A History of Human Space Exploration

Description

The space race was perhaps the greatest technological contest of the 20th century. It was a thrilling era of innovation, discovery and exploration, as astronauts and cosmonauts were launched on space missions of increasing length, complexity and danger. The Greatest Adventure traces the events of this extraordinary period, describing the initial string of Soviet achievements: the first satellite in orbit; the first animal, man and woman in space; the first spacewalk; as well as the ultimate US victory in the race to land on the moon. The book then takes the reader on a journey through the following decades of space exploration to the present time, detailing the many successes, tragedies, risks and rewards of space exploration.

Colin Burgess is author or editor of almost 40 books on military and spaceflight, including Selecting the Mercury Seven: The Search for America's First Astronauts (2011). He lives in Sydney, Australia.

'A fresh, crisp, and insightful chronicle. Burgess wings the reader through humankind's initial, sometimes faltering, journeys into outer space; and our first footprints on another world. But these were just the start. Strap in! From these beginnings mankind personally touches the Kosmos in its Greatest Adventure.' - Charles D. Walker, engineer, corporate executive, and first commercial industry astronaut on Space Shuttle missions STS-41D, STS-51D, and STS-61B