The Complete Book of Spacecraft

Marvel at the history of space exploration through its daring vehicles, exhaustively chronicled in this authoritative volume featuring more than 250 artworks.

In 1957, the world looked on with both uncertainty and amazement as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first man-made orbiter. Sputnik 1 would spend three months circling Earth every 98 minutes, covering 71 million miles in the process. The world's space programs have traveled far (literally and figuratively) since then, and the spacecraft they have developed and deployed represent almost unthinkable advances in such a relatively short period.

In The Complete Book of Spacecraft, illustrator and aerospace professional Giuseppe De Chiara teams up with aerospace historian Michael Gorn to present a huge, profusely illustrated aerospace history. This history profiles and depicts spacecraft from Sputnik 1 through the International Space Station and everything in between, including concepts that have yet to venture outside Earth's atmosphere.

This updated and revised edition includes:

• Expertly written profiles depicting and describing the design, development, and deployment of manned and unmanned spacecraft from around the world, including satellites, capsules, spaceplanes, rockets, and space stations—now updated with the latest models.
• Vivid scale illustrations of many international spacecraft in multiple views, sometimes in cross-section, and in many cases shown in archival period photography to provide further historical context.
• Earthbound and spaceborne data and intel chronicling every technological leap, engineering challenge, and monumental achievement, from troubleshooting the lunar landers of the '60s to engineering solar-driven sails to propel futuristic craft to Mars and beyond.
• A look ahead to an era of privatised space travel and even plans for lunar and Martian space stations and settlement.

Dividing the book by era, De Chiara and Gorn feature spacecraft not only from the United States and Soviet Union/Russia but also from the European Space Agency and China. The mind-blowing machines examined in this volume include the rockets Energia, Falcon 9, and VEGA; the Hubble Space Telescope; the Cassini space probe; and the Mars rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity.

For anyone who has marvelled at humankind's attempts and advances in leaving Earth, The Complete Book of Spacecraft is the definitive reference.