Space Flight.
Russian edition of L’Astronautique (1930) also available in this collection.
Internal Ballistics of Solid-Fuel Rockets.
Book on solid-fuel military rockets based on work done by the Propellants Group at the California Institute Of Technology (1941-1945). Stated first edition on front page (later editions do not have the notice).
La Vie Serait-elle Possible A Bord De Satellites Artificiels.
Discusses the possibility of manned space flights and the military and civilian uses of satellites.
Interplanetary Flight An Introduction To Astronautics.
Clarke's first book of nonfiction, written while he was assistant secretary of the British Interplanetary Society. In the Preface he states this is the first English-language book to develop the theory of astronautics in any detail, deliberately taking the astronomer's rather than the engineer's approach and relegating the mathematics to an appendix, and thanks A. V. Cleaver for critically reading the manuscript. Chapters work through escape by rocket, the Earth-Moon journey, interplanetary flight proper, and the atomic rocket, including the solid- and gaseous-core nuclear reactor schemes that Cleaver and L. R. Shepherd had proposed as an alternative to chemical propellants. The plates illustrate the BIS's 1949 multi-stage "expendable" spaceship design and H. E. Ross and R. A. Smith's rotating wheel space station, early technical concepts that anticipated the space-station imagery later popularized by the von Braun/Collier's series and, eventually, 2001: A Space Odyssey. First printing, with the dust jacket showing "B.Sc." after Clarke's name; later printings would add his FRAS title.
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Arthur C. Clarke
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Dynamics Of Rockets.
Russian edition of “Ballistics of the Future.” Translated from English by Rubashov. Edited by A. A. Kosmodemyansky.
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Ballistics of the Future. Three Editions.
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Rocket Engines.
A popular work on the principles of operation and design of rocket engines operating on solid and liquid fuels. The second edition (1954) is also available in this collection.
Rockets.
Literature for young adults. Has a section on interplanetary travel describing light sail propulsion and aerobraking.
L'Astronautique.
A non technical book introducing Astronautics to the general reader with discussions of physical and physiological aspects of space flight, propulsion, and navigation. Includes report on Nikolai Rynin’s experiments on acceleration with animals.
Raketen Von Stern Zu Stern.
A popular account of rocket propulsion and future spaceflight, framed as running conversations with a skeptical layman friend, “Jackele,” who tours a rocket test stand and imagines journeys to the Moon, Mars, and Venus. Carries a foreword (Geleitwort) by Hermann Oberth. This copy is the second printing (Zweite Auflage) of the 1949 Lot-Verlag edition. Inscribed by A. E. Slater (Munich, 1 July 1951), who went on to serve on the British Interplanetary Society’s postwar Council alongside Val Cleaver, Leslie Shepherd, and Ralph Smith. Gartmann — editor of Weltraumfahrt and publisher of von Braun’s Das Marsprojekt at Umschau Verlag, and later author of the foreword to Oberth’s The Moon Car — is represented elsewhere in the collection by those items.
Space Medicine.
Grew out of a space-medicine symposium held at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, on March 3, 1950. Contains Wernher von Braun's first article in English, "Multi-Stage Rockets and Artificial Satellites," which lays out a three-stage ferry ship, a rotating wheel-shaped space station, and a lunar-flyby trajectory departing from and returning to that station. Also includes Harry Armstrong's account of founding the USAF Department of Space Medicine and Heinz Haber's essay linking astrophysics (solar radiation, flares, the corona) to the hazards of space flight. Armstrong recruited Haber during Project Paperclip. Another book by Haber (1953) is also available in the collection.
The Assisted Take-Off Of Aircraft.
Survey of methods to assist aircraft during take off. Describes catapults and rocket-assisted take-off for military and commercial applications. First edition, wraps. Admiral Bolster was a key figure in the Navy's JATO program in the 1940s.
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The Assisted Take-Off of Aircraft
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Interplanetary Flight An Introduction To Astronautics.
Contents are identical to the British edition (1950) that is also available in this collection.
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Arthur C. Clarke
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Hochfrequenztechnik Und Weltraumfahrt.
Articles on electronics and space travel.
200 Miles Up.
Exploration of the upper atmosphere using balloons and rockets. Previous owner cut out the author’s biography from the DJ and pasted it on front endpaper.
The Problem Of Interplanetary Voyages In The Works Of Native Scientists.
Collection of works from Russian scientists edited by Liapunov.
Raketenflug Ins Weltall.
Historical treatise on rockets and space travel.
Rockets Beyond The Earth.
Introductory text on rockets and space travel.
A Rocket Drive For Long Range Bombers.
Hamermesh, M. (Translator) The first commercially available translation of Über Einen Raketenantrieb Für Fernbomber (1944). Before this translation, only the translation from the Navy was available.
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Visions of the Space Station and the Rocket Bomber
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L’Astronautica.
Italian edition of L’Astronautique. An encyclopedic work.
Das Marsprojekt.
Von Braun’s engineering study for a Mars expedition of ten ships and seventy crew, relying on conventional chemical propellants (hydrazine and nitric acid) rather than speculative nuclear drives: three-stage ferry rockets to assemble the fleet in Earth orbit, the interplanetary vessels themselves for the outbound and return legs, and wingless landing boats for three of the ten ships to reach the Martian surface. Von Braun wrote it in 1948–49 at Fort Bliss, Texas, as the technical appendix to an unpublished science-fiction novel; unable to place the appendix with a publisher on its own, he saw it appear instead as a Sonderheft (special issue) of the journal Weltraumfahrt, edited by Heinz Gartmann for Umschau Verlag — the same magazine, publisher, and year as the collection’s run of Weltraumfahrt issues, also in this collection. An English translation followed in 1953 as The Mars Project (University of Illinois Press).
Struggle For Speed.
Book for general audiences on the search for higher speeds by car, train, and rocket. Contains a chapter on rocketry and interplanetary travel.
By Space Ship To The Moon.
For young kids. Illustrated coffee table book.
Russian Missile Artillery.
The history of rocket weapons in Russia. Examples of use of missiles in the Russian-Turkish war (1828-1829). This is the revised second edition.
Across The Space Frontier.
Long format version of the article “Man Will Conquer Space Soon,” which appeared in Collier’s magazine in 1952 (March 22nd).
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Visions of the Space Station and the Rocket Bomber
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The First Book Of Space Travel.
For young kids.
Teleskope, Raketen, Gestirne.
An astronomy book with sections on rocketry and space travel.
Man In Space.
Haber's popular-science study of the physical and psychological hazards of spaceflight, illustrated by Jerry Milord. Draws technical details and drawings of Wernher von Braun's three-stage rocketship, space station, and space suit from the 1952 Collier's symposium on space travel and Across the Space Frontier. Quotes von Braun, developer of the German V-2 rocket, arguing that chemically propelled multi-stage rockets, not atomic drives, are the realistic near-term path to orbit, and models the g-forces of a three-stage ascent on the V-2's own acceleration profile.
V-2.
Account of the development of the V- weapons by the head of the Peenemünde rocket station.
Development Of The Guided Missile.
Discusses artificial satellites and space travel besides guided missiles. This is the expanded edition published in England for Flight magazine.
Menschen Im Weltraum.
An introduction by Dr. Wilhelm Meyer-Cords (Düsseldorf, December 1954) traces Oberth's career from his 1923 Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen through his 1929 Wege zur Raumschiffahrt (also in this collection) to the Bumper-WAC rocket's 403 km flight of February 1949, and cites Heinz Gartmann's Oberth biography Träumer, Forscher, Konstrukteure — Gartmann, also represented in this collection, later wrote the foreword to Oberth's The Moon Car (also here). Across eight chapters Oberth surveys satellite rockets, including an unmanned three-stage design he proposes for carrying rhesus monkeys on a 60-day orbital research flight; types of space stations; a wire-mesh space mirror (Weltraumspiegel) for redirecting sunlight to Earth; electric spacecraft; and, in Chapter 7, the jumping, compressed-air-legged “Mondauto” that Oberth expanded five years later into the standalone The Moon Car. From the library of Heyward E. Canney, Jr., represented elsewhere in the collection.
Le Vol Dans L'Espace Cosmique.
Introduction to astronautics. Probably a French edition of “Flight into Universal Space” (1949) also available in this collection. Illustrated, wraps.
From Rocket To Spacecraft.
Second edition with new title of Gilzin’s work on rocket engines (1950) also available in this collection.
Rocket Exploration Of The Upper Atmosphere.
Review of sounding rocket results. Includes a section on rocket techniques.
Forschung Zwischen Luftfahrt Und Raumfahrt.
Signed and inscribed by Sänger to Dr. L. R. Shepherd, President of the British Interplanetary Society, with kindest regards from the author.
Discovering The World.
First edition, illustrated in color. The Second edition (1956) is also available in the collection.
The True Book Of Space Travel.
First U.S. edition with minor changes from the British edition to accommodate cultural and language differences.
L’Aeroplano.
Survey of aeronautics. This fourth edition is interesting because it has a new section with an introduction to astronautics (two chapters).
Astronáutica (Fundamento De Los Viajes Espaciales).
Introduction to space travel in Spanish.
Flight Into Space: The Facts, Fancies and Philosophy.
Popular account of the coming space age by Time magazine’s science editor, from guided-missile test firings to the prospect of orbiting satellite stations and travel to other planets, in twenty-five brisk chapters. Signet Key paperback, first printing November 1954, reprinting the 1953 Random House hardcover.
The Viking Rocket Story.
The development of the Viking rocket by the manager responsible for it.
Interplanetary Flights.
Introduction to space travel.
La Exploración Del Espacio.
Signed and inscribed. Another exemplar also available in this collection, but unsigned.
Stories About Rockets.
A presentation of the main subjects of rocket technology for general audiences.
High Speed Aerodynamics.
Russian edition of Hilton’s book from 1952.
Frontier To Space.
A survey of exploration of the upper atmosphere through rockets. First edition. The Russian edition (1957) is also available in this collection.
Flight To The Moon.
Articles about a trip to the Moon by: K. Gilzin, Yu. Dolgushin, B.V. Liapunov, Yu. Khlebtsevich, G. Gurevich, I. Friedman, Yu. Stepanov, M. Popovsky. Numerous illustrations. A later edition (1956) also available in the collection.
Voyages Into Space.
Historical introduction to the basics of rocketry. However most of the book is devoted to speculation on interplanetary travel. Illustrated.
Fisiología Del Vuelo.
Written by an Austrian doctor, member of the Luftwaffe who worked in Argentina after WWII. First book from South America on space medicine and physiological aspects of spaceflight.
The Key To Interplanetary Space Travel.
Introduction to space travel, space suits, space stations, and trips to the Moon and Mars. Illustrated.
Guided Missiles In War And Peace.
Historical development of missiles.
Rocket Propulsion Elements.
Second edition of Sutton's classic study of rocket propulsion technology. The first edition (1949) is also available in this collection.
Flug Durch Den Weltraum.
Marie Neurath, together with her husband Otto Neurath and designer Gerd Arntz, developed Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) in 1920s Vienna — a pictorial-statistics method using repeated, standardized symbols in place of free illustration. She continued running the Isotype Institute in London after Otto’s death. This Schönbrunn-Verlag German edition is one of the “Wunder der Welt” series explicitly following “Methode Neurath”: simple, standardized picture-tables aimed at children from about age 10. Through repeated pictograms — identical suited figures, staged rocket silhouettes, arrows — it explains how a ship escapes Earth’s gravity, sheds spent fuel stages, coasts weightless, and lands on other worlds. Text and pictures were checked by Kenneth W. Gatland, a founding member of the British Interplanetary Society, represented elsewhere in the collection by his Development of the Guided Missile.
The Real Book Of Space Travel.
For young readers. Second revised edition.
El Satélite Artificial.
Discusses rockets, interplanetary travel and satellites. Of note, last chapter is a theological discussion on life in another worlds, and the Virgin Mary in relation to interstellar travel. The author was a Jesuit priest.
Astronáutica.
Introduction to rocketry and space travel by a founding member of the Chilean Interplanetary Society.
Science And Technology In Modern Wars.
Survey of weapons with chapters on artillery, missiles, and rockets. Contents appear to be more political indoctrination than technical survey.
Rockets And Guided Missiles.
Survey and bibliography of rocket propulsion. U.S. edition with contents identical to the British edition (1956).
Twelve Stories About Space Travel.
Introduction to space travel and satellites. The author was the Vice president of the Polish Astronautical Society and a member of the BIS. First edition, signed, stiff wraps.
Hacia La Conquista Del Universo.
Historical survey of astronautics.
Frontier To Space.
Russian edition of the 1955 book also available in this collection.
From Artificial Satellites To Interplanetary Flights.
Appears to be a greatly expanded edition of Interplanetary Flights (1955) also in this collection.
Earth Satellites And The Race For Space Superiority.
Introduction to artificial satellites for general audiences.
Satellite!
Paperback version of the 1956 book (US edition). Discusses artificial satellites.
Cohetes Y Satélites.
Extract from the journal of the Royal Geographic Society of Spain. Transcript of a conference discussing the newly launched Sputnik. Softcover.
Artificial Satellites.
Signed and inscribed by Sternfeld to Dr. L. R. Shepherd, President of the British Interplanetary Society, Moscow, April 1959. Discusses artificial satellites, including Sputnik.
Raketen Satelliten Raumschiffe.
Signed. Discusses space travel and satellites and includes two chapters on Sputnik. The author was the Vice president of the Polish Astronautical Society and a member of the British Interplanetary Society.
Qué Es La Astronáutica.
General introduction to astronautics. First edition was published in 1952.
A Guide To The Study Of Space Law.
RAND Corporation Paper P-1290 (revised April 1, 1958) by John C. Hogan, Research Editor at RAND, reprinted from the Spring 1958 issue of the Saint Louis University Law Journal, a symposium volume devoted to the laws of space. Builds on Hogan's earlier "Space Law Bibliography" (Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Summer 1956) with a list of "Forty Questions on Space Law," an outline of the technical, legal, political, and military aspects of space policy, reading lists of scientific books and periodicals for lawyers, a survey of a University of Oklahoma space-law project, and a bibliography of more than 250 titles. One of the earliest attempts to organize space law as a distinct legal field, published less than a year after Sputnik and nearly a decade before any nation signed a space treaty.
Dream Towards.
Science fiction by Liapunov, whose scientific books are also represented in the collection. Generously illustrated.
Theory Of Combustion Instability In Liquid Propellant Rocket Motors.
Russian edition of Theory of Combustion Instability In Liquid Propellant Rocket Motors (1956).
Flying Rockets Into World Space.
An introduction to rocket technology for general audiences.
The Answers To The Space Flight Challenge.
Written by a renowned illustrator, discusses voyages to the moon, satellites, space stations, and interplanetary and interstellar travel. Very imaginative and profusely illustrated.
El Primer Motor-Cohete Argentino.
Documents the development of the AN-1 rocket engine, the first liquid propellant rocket engine from South America. Illustrated.
Ships Of Interplanetary Spaces.
Describes the basics of spacecraft dynamics and follows the evolution of rockets from gunpowder to interplanetary ships.
Guided Weapons.
Russian edition based on the UK edition (1957, London: Chapman & Hall). Discuses rocket systems, including the V2, for military purposes. Illustrated.
Towards The Mechanics Of Photons.
Russian edition of Zur Mechanik Der Photonen-Strahlantriebe (1956).
Soviet Writings on Earth Satellites and Space Travel.
Anthology assembled within weeks of Sputnik. Part I is Ari Sternfeld’s own book-length essay “From Earth Satellites to Interplanetary Travel,” its preface dated Moscow, November 1957, a month after Sputnik I and days after Sputnik II. Part II, “The Sputniks,” gathers translated Pravda and Izvestia reports on all three Sputnik launches alongside contributed pieces by leading Soviet specialists — astronomer V. Ambartsumyan, geophysicist Alexander Obukhov, and Academician A. I. Berg on Sputnik radio tracking among them — closing with a comparison of Soviet and American satellite designs, again by Sternfeld. Sternfeld, Polish-born, coined the term “cosmonautics” in a French-language book that won the Prix REP-Hirsch of the French Astronomical Society in 1934, then moved to Moscow in 1935; here he appears as one of the first Soviet voices to reach English-language readers after the launches he had spent decades anticipating.