Journey into Space: The First Three Decades of Space Exploration

Charting the USA's rise and decline as a leader of the space race, this text describes the last 30 years of space exploration and research, from early attempts to break free of Earth's atmosphere to the latest projects, such as Voyager II and NASA's flawed Space Shuttle programme.

Former head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (the center of the U.S. planetary program), Murray was a major figure in America's early, golden age in space. As a key insider, he recreates the drama of the unnamed space probes, then relates how he watched in sorrow and frustration as the program became "a helpless hostage" to the phase of NASA's Space Shuttle program that culminated in the 1986 Challenger disaster. A passionate advocate of renewed national commitment to robotic planetary exploration, he calls for a second "golden age" and is particularly keen on the prospect of an international mission to Mars. His detailed criticism of the leadership of NASA ("that rapidly declining institution") will be of interest to anyone concerned over America's loss of leadership in space. Murray is cofounder, with Carl Sagan, of the Planetary Society, a public-interest organization dedicated to planetary exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. In an appendix he discusses the work of the society and defines what he believes to be the most important question of all: "Are we alone in space?" Illustrations.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Murray, a leading space scientist and former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, provides a personal account of the nation's planetary exploration program from the "golden age" of the 1960s and early 1970s to its subsequent decline during this decade. He places much of the blame for the decline on NASA's preoccupation with the space shuttle. Murray concludes that, given a goal, the nation can once again regain leadership in space, and he strongly advocates a joint U.S.-Soviet manned mission to Mars as well as NASA's proposed Mission to Earth, a global environmental monitoring program. A thought-provoking account of both the nation's successes and failures in space. Recommended.
- Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Coll., Ga.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.