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Aside from the inspiring and perhaps extraordinarily sanguine introduction by former astronaut and senator Harrison Schmitt, this is a book of facts and resources about space, accessible both to general and young readers. Included are a chronology of space flight beginning with the Chinese in 1232, biographies of major space exploration figures, a hundred pages of data on individual missions, and several sections on references and further resources. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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Library Journal Review

This slim handbook's seven chapters provide a basic source of information for space researchers, including a chronology of space exploration milestones, biographical sketches of key individuals, listings of space-related organizations, annotated bibliographies of reference books and films, and a chapter of tabular data covering manned and unmanned missions. These data comprise the meat of the book, listing every space launch--successful or not--from 1957 to early 1990, arranged by type of mission--earth orbital, lunar, or interplanetary. The mission-oriented arrangement may confuse neophytes (e.g., one must scan through thirteen separate listings to find Cosmos 954, the nuclear-powered satellite that caused an international incident when it spread radioactive debris over Canada in 1978), a situation that would have been helped by more extensive annotations of the data and cross-referencing. Still, the selective bibliographies are excellent, and the information presented is largely free of factual errors that have marred recent similar introductory reference works. Recommended for larger subject collections.-- Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Coll., Ga. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

ABC-Clio's new reference series "Contemporary World Issues" will treat topics ranging from social issues such as homelessness and adult literacy/illiteracy to technical issues such as space, wastes, and radioactive materials. This volume on space exploration includes what is defined as useful information on "humankind's excursions" in space. After an introduction by former astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, which reviews the history and goals of the space challenge, the volume gives a chronology of key events in space exploration, a group of biographies of key contributors to space exploration, and then 13 tables of various types of space activities compiled from various NASA and TRW, Inc. reports. The most valuable chapter is an international directory of organizations engaged in various space exploration activities. There is also a selected, annotated bibliography of books, periodicals, films, and videocassettes related to space exploration. There is nothing really new here that is not available in more detail in other specialized directories or works, but this can be a quick reference for high school, lower-division undergraduate, or public libraries. -R. J. Havlik, University of Notre Dame