EDITORIAL INFORMATION

The SpaceAGE CD-ROM contains a drawing program (Arts & Letters DRAW), clip art, type-faces, and the most complete multimedia encyclopedia about spaceflight available. Endorsed by the National Space Society, SpaceAGE has been featured on CNN Future Watch and was selected as the "Best Space CD" by CD-ROM World Magazine.

(Extracted from the cover).

OUR REVIEW

Here in the Science Book Board we have been rendered open-mouthed with such a splendid software. Those of us who are keen fans of space have now got a multimedia product (and therefore one which is adapted to our present days) where we can locate all the information we want, including the history of astronautics, photos, videos, current news, press excerpts, bibliography, etc. Let's point out that besides, together with SpaceAGE, we are given a very complete, powerful drawing program called DRAW whose objective is to make the necessary tools available for the user to produce their own designs around the space scenario. From this package of software we will merely say it is well worth using it. It is very easy to utilize and the results that are obtained turn out to be really wonderful.

With respect to SpaceAGE, the true reason for this review, its presentation and variety in contents is truly superlative. Once the program is executed, a screen or menu appears where we can select whatever we wish to consult. Among the available themes most noteworthy are the robotic missions, manned missions, launch vehicles, space stations, spin-offs, history, personnel, space centers and future developments. There also are specific sections for the novelties in this edition, credits, a very useful search system, appendixes, an on-line help, and above all, the theatre, a section where the user will be able to see in an automatic way numerous videos and slide shows. In almost all the cases the program allows us to print the information here presented, see enlarged photos, look for specific issues, etc. The contents, on the other hand, are eminently concise yet very complete indeed. Thus we will find infomation about all sorts of artificial satellites, manned flights and rockets, all this together with images and short explanatory texts. In the Appendixes we will likewise find numerous press excerpts by NASA, lists of books related to space flight, addresses of specialized magazines, firms, societies, etc.

Technically the program is very attractive indeed. It is fast and well-planned. Its capacity to grow is outstanding and we are sure that its programmers will continue to improve it in the future. In actual fact, it has been designed so as to function straight from the CD-ROM player, although the best results are obtained by copying some of the main files into the hard disk (some 26 MB so as to access the information in a faster way). The program works well in 386-486 machines, with a minimum of 4 MB of RAM and having Windows 3.1 or better. With a sound card we will enjoy the spoken explanations and the audio clips as well. It also is necessary to use the mouse and a graphic card VGA with 256 colors. In a word, this is one of the best available choices in our present days to learn about and enjoy astronautics. This kind of products are likely to create a liking for space!