Rockets and Spacecraft

This book explains how rockets are used as weapons of great power as well as a means to explore beyond Earth. It also describes space exploration's marvellous decade - the Sixties with Gagarin's first flight in 1961 to Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon in 1969. Recent rocket developments are covered as are the re-usable shuttle and the unmanned space probes that have told us so much about the rest of the solar system. The coverage of the book includes a look at the birth of modern ballistic missiles during the Cold War arms race; space race spin-offs, such as weather and communications satellites, Teflon, Velcro and miniaturized electronics and computer components. This book is part of a series which studies some of the most important technologies to have emerged this century, and emphasizes the ways in which these inventions have been used, and their dramatic impact on our lives.