EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Hombres en el Espacio is the third book about space exploration published in this collection. The two first volumes referred to unmanned satellites and probes. This one, on the other hand, deals only with the exploratory activity by cosmonauts and astronauts in outer space. In the first part of the book a wide analysis about how and why the Moon was visited is carried out. The second part studies the issue of the activities developed in the first space stations: Salyut, Skylab, Mir, Spacelab-Shuttle and Alpha. The third and last part deals with the issue of the future in the short run (the twenty-first century), the return to the Moon, the first trips of human beings to the planet Mars and the construction of space colonies.

(Extracted from the back cover).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contenido.

-Prólogo, por Anthony Carro.

-Presentación.

-Agradecimientos.

-Créditos.

-PRIMERA PARTE. DESDE EL AÑO 1957 HASTA EL 1973. LA LLEGADA A LA LUNA.

-1. ¿Por qué Se Fue a la Luna?
-2. La Luna: Objetivo Casi Inalcanzable. La Tecnología de los Años Sesenta.
-3. La Carrera Espacial. Momentos Decisivos.
-4. Llegada a la Luna. Primeros Pasos en Otro Cuerpo Celeste.
-5. ¿Por qué los Soviéticos No Llegaron a la Luna? Algunas Incógnitas Desveladas.

-SEGUNDA PARTE. DESDE EL AÑO 1971 HASTA EL 2010. ESTACIONES ESPACIALES.

-6. Las Primeras Estaciones Espaciales. Programa de Gran Interés Científico.
-7. El Transbordador Espacial. ¿Esfuerzo Fallido?
-8. La Estación Espacial ALFA. Primera Cooperación Internacional de Alcance.
-9. ¿Hombres o Robots en el Espacio? Una Polémica Inacabada.

-TERCERA PARTE. EL FUTURO A MEDIO PLAZO. ¿QUE OCURRIRA EN EL SIGLO XXI?

-10. Regreso del Hombre a la Luna. Primera Parte.
-11. Regreso del Hombre a la Luna. Segunda Parte.
-12. La Propulsión Espacial Nuclear. Una Tecnología en la Encrucijada.
-13. Exploración de Marte. Una Aventura Demasiado Arriesgada.
-14. Construcción de Colonias Espaciales. Una Nueva Dimensión en el Espacio Exterior.

-Indice Onomástico.

-Indice de Materias.

OUR REVIEW

Ruiz de Gopegui, one of the best experts in astronautics in Spain and a participant in tasks of management in most of the American manned space programs, has lately been involved with a profusely divulgative function that has led him to write several books. The book we are reviewing here is the last, and the most recent one he has produced up to now. In it, Gopegui analyses in a reflective way the history of the manned flights, their motivations and consequences, as well as the future they imply.

The author carries out a modern historical description, above all on the Soviet-Russian side, contributing the latest known details as dark as the lunar program of the USSR. The book, widely illustrated, is a magnificient, very complete summary of the human activities in space and what these can become in the next years thanks to the new projects already being implemented. The contacts that Gopegui has all over the world in the aerospatial sector and his numerous friendships in this environment ensure a precise, updated work. In a few words, a very interesting work that comes to fill a spot in the Spanish literature on these issues.