Document created: 1 June 03
Air & Space Power Journal - Summer 2003

Exploring the Unknown, vol. 5, Exploring the Cosmos edited by John M. Logsdon with Amy Paige Snyder, Roger D. Launius, Stephen J. Garber, and Regan Anne Newport. US Superintendent of Documents, NASA History Office (http:// history.nasa.gov/what.html), Washington, D.C., 1999, 796 pages, $70.00.

One of the most important developments of the twentieth century has been spaceflight—the human movement into space with people and machines. Its elements included people, motivations, organizations, objectives, and technologies; and the managerial, political, economic, and international contexts in which space-age events unfolded. Historians and students conducting research into spaceflight history may find this volume, and the series in general, a useful reference. This is the fifth book in the NASA series that documents key aspects of spaceflight development in the United States. However, it may be of limited value to the general Air Force reader.

Spaceflight has continued to enjoy a near-universal appreciation of its historical significance. Probably no other large-scale human activity has been chronicled as extensively. The result is a body of related material that can be overwhelming and one of the principal challenges faced by scholars and researchers. NASA attempted to ameliorate this problem more than a decade ago when it began the first of what will become an eight-volume series. Each volume includes pivotal documents from diverse sources that detail the evolution of the US space program.

Volume 1, Organizing for Exploration, was published in 1995 and covered the antecedents to the US space program and the origins and evolution of NASA and US space policy. Volume 2, External Relationships, 1996, dealt with the relationship between the US civilian space program and the space activities of other countries; the relationship between the US civilian, national security, and military space efforts; and satellite communications, remote sensing, and the economics of space applications. Volume 3, Using Space, was published in 1998. Volume 4, Accessing Space, covered various forms of space transportation and was published in 1999. Future volumes will cover solar and space physics, earth science, and life and microgravity science (volume 6), and human spaceflight (volumes 7 and 8).

Over 110 documents were selected for inclusion in this volume on the US space-science program. They are presented in three major sections, each covering a particular aspect of the program’s origins, evolution, and execution. The introductions provide the bibliographical details and background information necessary to show the context of each document’s subject to the major events of the space-exploration history.

Chapter 1 deals with the origins, evolution, and organization of the US space-science program. Chapter 2 deals with the solar-system exploration, while chapter 3 deals with NASA’s astronomy and astrophysics efforts. Each chapter’s introductory essay complements and provides context for its documents. The first chapter’s essay includes background information on cosmic-ray science, the balloon program, the upper atmosphere, sputnik, the Space Act, the Space Science Board, NASA’s space-science program, and the reorganization of 1959. Chapter 2’s essay includes information about NASA’s planetary-exploration program, planetary science, the Moon program, the impact of Apollo on planetary exploration, and solar-system exploration today. Chapter 3’s essay includes background about space-based astronomy prior to 1958, NASA’s subsequent entry into space astronomy, and the associated technical and social challenges. That chapter addresses additional topics: international cooperation; relations with the human space program; the gamma-ray, X-ray, optical, infrared, and radio-astronomy programs; general relativity; the Hubble Space Telescope; the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, formerly known as the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF); the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF); the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO); and an extrapolation of the future.

Since almost all observatories are making new discoveries daily, the future of space astronomy will continue to be more of the same—except bigger and better. One primary push will be to identify terrestrial-size planets orbiting nearby stars. Identifying these will enable us to focus our search on areas where intelligent life would most likely exist. Another effort will be to continue looking for life in our own solar system—Mars and the moons of Jupiter. In short, volume 5 implies that the future of spaceflight promises to be exciting and filled with new opportunities for exploration and discovery.

Col Jonathan W. Campbell, PhD, USAFR, Retired
Harvest, Alabama

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.