Back when scientists knew nothing about space travel, back when rockets were new, a group of Russian cosmonauts rode rockets to the edge of space and into earth orbit. These pioneer space travelers were dogs, space dogs of the Soviet space program.For 15 years, space dogs occupied the world stage, blazing trails as the first astronauts.Their flights taught scientists how living beings reacted to rocket travel and tested the equipment that would be used for human space flight. The age of the space dog extended from the first launch in 1951 until the final, record-breaking dog flight in 1966. Some dogs won world-wide fame. Most of them, however, worked-and died-in obscurity. They were all pioneers of space travel. And no one has ever told their story. Until now.Space Dogs dramatizes the training of the dogs, the harrowing early flights, the tragic accidents, the fame that came to the program after the launch of Laika in Sputnik 2, and the final flights leading up to the first manned flight.Space Dogs includes never-before-published photos from the archives of Novosti, the Russian News Agency.

The pioneers of astronomy and space exploration have advanced humankind’s understanding of the universe. These individuals include earthbound theorists such as Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Galileo, as well as those who put their lives on the line travelling into the great unknown. Readers chronicle the lives of individuals positioned at the vanguard of astronomical discovery, laying the groundwork for space exploration past, present, and yet to come.

Prologue by Konrad Dannenberg -- Hermann Oberth : the father of space travel -- The battle of the formulae -- From theory to experimentation -- Peenemunde : a scientific mobilization -- How the A-4 rocket became the V-2 -- Coming to America : Operation Paperclip -- The space age begins! -- Willy Ley rallies the nation for space -- Wernher von Braun : the Columbus of space -- Krafft Ehricke's extraterrestrial imperative.

Now with an Historical Afterword by Ron Miller Featured in Ron Millers _The Conquest of Space Book Series.Ó Pioneers of Space (1949) was later reincarnated almost word-for-word as the "non-fiction" Inside the Space Ships, one of the books largely responsible for the UFO craze of the 1950s and 60s. Ghost-written by Adamski acolyte Lucy McGinnis, this novel contains some of the most inept scientific ideas imaginable. In the early 1950s, "Professor" George Adamski laid the groundwork for all subsequent UFO contactees. In Pioneers of Space he created many of the incidents and qualities he later attributed to the "actual" inhabitants of Venus, Mars and Saturn he later claimed to have met. In addition, we get a look at some of the strange "science" this self-proclaimed astronomer believed in. "Facts" such as there must be oxygen in space otherwise the sun could not burn... At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

The first in-depth, fully illustrated history of global space discovery and exploration from ancient times to the modern era “The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration examines civilization’s continued desire to explore the next frontier as only the Smithsonian can do it.” —Buzz Aldrin, Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut and author of No Dream Is Too High Former NASA and Smithsonian space curator and historian Roger D. Launius presents a comprehensive history of our endeavors to understand the universe, honoring millennia of human curiosity, ingenuity, and achievement. This extensive study of international space exploration is packed with over 500 photographs, illustrations, graphics, and cutaways, plus plenty of sidebars on key scientific and technological developments, influential figures, and pioneering spacecraft. Starting with space exploration's origins in the pioneering work undertaken by ancient civilizations and the great discoveries of the Renaissance thinkers, Launius also devotes whole chapters to our space race to the Moon, space planes and orbital stations, and the lure of the red planet Mars. He also offers new insights into well-known moments such as the launch of Sputnik 1 and the Apollo Moon landing and explores the unexpected events and hidden figures of space history. The final chapters cover the technological and mechanical breakthroughs enabling humans to explore far beyond our own planet in recent decades, speculating on the future of space exploration, including space tourism and our possible future as an extraterrestrial species. This is a must-read for space buffs and everyone intrigued by the history and future of scientific discovery. "This oversize offering is a space nerd’s dream come true." —Booklist

The radical history of space exploration from the Russian Cosmists to Elon Musk Many societies have imagined going to live in space. What they want to do once they get up there - whether conquering the unknown, establishing space "colonies," privatising the moon's resources - reveals more than expected. In this fascinating radical history of space exploration, Fred Scharmen shows that often science and fiction have combined in the imagined dreams of life in outer space, but these visions have real implications for life back on earth. For the Russian Cosmists of the 1890s space was a place to pursue human perfection away from the Earth. For others, such as Wernher Von Braun, it was an engineering task that combined, in the Space Race, the Cold War, and during World War II, with destructive geopolitics. Arthur C. Clark in his speculative books offered an alternative vision of wonder that is indifferent to human interaction. Meanwhile NASA planned and managed the space station like an earthbound corporation. Today, the market has arrived into outer space and exploration is the plaything of superrich technology billionaires, who plan to privatise the mineral wealth for themselves. Are other worlds really possible? Bringing these figures and ideas together reveals a completely different story of our relationship with outer space, as well as the dangers of our current direction of extractive capitalism and colonisation.

International space law is less than 50 years old. Although the work on the codification of space law started in the late 1950s, the Outer Space Treaty was only adopted in January 1967. However, much earlier than that, even as early as 1932, the first ideas about legal rules for human activities in outer space were being considered. Very little is known about these early drafts and proposals, and the pioneering work of early scholars in the field remains relatively unknown. This volume seeks to redress this by analysing the biographies and contributions to international space law of eleven such early "pioneers”, whose ground-breaking and original work helped to develop the field in important ways. The collection starts in the 1930's with the Czech author Vladimir Mandl, and dwells at length on the 1950's, the early time of space flight. The section on each "pioneer" is written by different members of the International Institute of Space Law, making this a lively, fascinating and unique collection of essays, of interest to the whole community of space lawyers.

A detailed look at space - from the first rocket launch to how the continued potential for space exploration alters the way man looks at his world.

This unique collection of photographs features over ten years of collaborations with the most important space and research centers in the world, resulting in a one-of-a-kind story of the human race to the stars. Vincent Fournier's visionary photographs provide an imaginative look at space exploration by merging fantasy with reality in images of rockets, otherwordly landscapes, research facilities, and cosmonauts. To produce these extraordinary images, Fournier has collaborated with the world's major space centers and astronomical observatories, including NASA, the European Space Agency, the Russian space agency, and the European Southern Observatory. Readers are given access to confidential locations and projects such as the NASA SLS rocket. Fournier's artistic vision creates a unique look at the history of space exploration, from the early Sputnik and Apollo programs to the future Mission on Mars. The images invite us to focus on our perceptions of space and time. Fournier questions our past and future utopias--what are our expectations for the future and has the future already happened? The evocative images document and archive while also exploring humankind's myths and fantasies about the future.