La Exploración Del Espacio.

Inscribed and signed by the author on the front free endpaper, in Spanish: “A mi estimado amigo Heyward E. Canney, pionero de la astronáutica, con todo aprecio,” dated August 1956. Canney is represented elsewhere in the collection. A second, unsigned copy is also held. Copyright Teófilo M. Tabanera, Buenos Aires, 1955; printed 18 November 1955 at Talleres Gráficos Imprenta Chile.

A popular introduction to astronautics by the engineer who helped found the Sociedad Argentina Interplanetaria and, per the jacket biography, was elected a vice-president of the International Astronautical Federation at the Innsbruck congress. Sixteen chapters run from “La tierra y sus vecinos” and conditions for life on Earth and other planets, through the history and rationale of astronautics, forces and velocities, rocket propulsion and energy, to the requirements of space voyages, the multistage rocket, artificial satellites and space stations, and rocket ships. Black-and-white photographs, diagrams and color plates, including a rotating wheel station, a lunar landing craft and a V-2 on the launch stand, illustrate the text.

An appendix describes the IAF and lists the national societies with addresses and August 1954 membership, such as the American Rocket Society (3,660), the British Interplanetary Society (2,521) and the Asociación Argentina Interplanetaria (280). A long multilingual bibliography follows. The jacket flap gives Tabanera’s career as an electromechanical engineer in the oil industry and records his first astronautics article in 1930. His shorter Cohetes y Satélites (1957) and Qué Es La Astronáutica (1958) are also in this catalog.