To Rise from Earth

A comprehensive survey of spaceflight taken from US/NASA resources. Describing the whole range of space technology - from the earliest rockets to Mir, this book invites the reader on journey through space without using a single mathematical formula. From "Atlantis" to "Endeavour", "Sputnik" to "Galileo" and the Hubble Space Telescope, the book explores the bodies that grace the heavens, along with the men and women who have laboured to send both machines and humans into space. It provides an introduction to orbits and rockets by examining different types and functions, discusses orbital mechanics, explores how space manoeuvers are performed, recounts the Cold War race to the moon, explains how space shuttles are processed for flight, explores each planet in the solar system as well as asteroids, comets and the Sun, and concludes with a look into the future by previewing NASA's Mars Surveyor programme.