Historical Guide to NASA and the Space Program

The authors of this encyclopedic work are aptly identified as aficionados of all things space-related-Beardsley being a second-round candidate for the Mars One campaign, Garcia a software engineer, and Sweeney trained in applied intelligence. The format offers short, one-paragraph descriptions of everything NASA, from the well-known series of 19 Apollo Project space missions that included Neil Armstrong's moon landing in 1969, to the lesser-known XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane 1, a DARPA-funded space transport system. The book has several helpful sections explaining the field's many acronyms and abbreviations, a time line, and an introduction that covers the development of the NASA program. The book's four appendixes include materials (mostly from 2015) such as that year's budget request, a list of NASA instruments, employees of NASA, and a partial list of active missions. This is a handy resource for teachers, students, and anyone who seeks a quick explanation of the many dealings and endeavors of NASA, and a starting point for research on a wide range of astronomical topics. The material is not complex and the descriptions are thorough, so that novice researchers through professionals will benefit. Summing Up: Recommended. High school through undergraduate students; general readers; professionals/practitioners. * CHOICE *
Outer space and the frontier of exploration is riveting and also comes with setbacks of budget constraints, disasters, international discord, political persuasion, and public perception. The Historical Guide to NASA and the Space Program will be a useful tool for proletarian sky watchers and researchers seeking a superior understanding of NASA and where its space program originates from with respect to future endeavors. Recommended. * American Reference Books Annual *
This book contains a chronology, an introduction, appendices and an extensive bibliography, but the main part is the dictionary section, with over 500 cross-referenced entries on space missions, astronauts, technical terms, space shuttles, satellites and the International Space Station.... [T]his is a good and useful book. * s *