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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Exploring The Unknown is an essential reference for anyone interested in the history of the U.S. civil space program and its development over time. The second of a five volume series containing a selection of key documents in the history of the U.S. civil space program, this book contains more than 150 key documents, many available here for the first time. The three major sections of this book--"The Development of International. Space Cooperation," "Invitation to Struggle: The History of Civilian-Military Relations in Space," and "The NASA-Industry-University Nexus: A Critical Alliance in the Development of Space Exploration,"--include essays and critical documents in the history of spaceflight. Each document is introduced by a headnote providing context, bibliographical details, and background information necessary to undestand the document.

The second volume comes on the heels of much praise for the first volume of Exploring the Unknown. It should prove useful for space policy analysts who seek to learn about prior NASA cooperation with Russia and other international and domestic partners.

(Extracted from the press release)

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contents.

-Acknowledgements.

-Introduction.

-Biographies of Volume II Essay Authors.

-Glossary.

-Chapter One.

-Essay: The Development of International Space Cooperation, by John M. Logsdon.
-Documents:
-I-1 thru I-55.

-Chapter Two.

-Essay: Invitation to Struggle: The History of Civilian-Military Relations in Space, by Dwayne A. Day.
-Documents:
-II-1 thru II-44.

-Chapter Three.

-Essay: The NASA-Industry-University Nexus: A Critical Alliance in the Development of Space Exploration, by W. Henry Lambright.
-Documents:
-III-1 thru III 30.

-Biographical Appendix.

-Index.

-The NASA History Series.

OUR REVIEW

The second volume (out of five) of the series Exploring the Unknown, a fundamental compilation of documents that give shape to the history of the American space program, is devoted to the outside relationships. In it material related to the international collaboration is included, as well as the civilian-military cooperation, and the relationships between the NASA, the aerospace industry and the universities.

Each one of the three sections already mentioned is preceded by an introductory paper, successively written by John Logsdon, Dwayne Day and Henry Lambright. Yet the central nucleus of the book corresponds to the hundred and fifty documents included, among them letters, statements, articles, press releases, etc. Ordered in a more or less chronological way, it will allow scholars to have the fundamental bases for the subsequent research they must undertake.

Exploring the Unknown, with its huge task of compilation, preservation and circulation of all this so very important information to understand how the American space program has come to the point it has reached nowadays, makes a remarkable service to the historian and to any reader wishing to read on the original sources how everything occurred, with no re-elaboration or subsequent interpretations.

Volume two ends with a most interesting biographical appendix, in which brief biographies of all those personalities repeatedly mentioned in the preceding documents are provided.

Like any other reference book of these characteristics, many of the documents presented in it appear for the first time in a printed form, thus increasing its value even more. Either solo or accompanied by the other volumes of the series, it will then be an essential source for students and researchers alike.