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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

In this volume, the American Astronautical Society's history series publishes fourteen papers presented at the twenty-fourth History Symposium of the International Academy of Astronautics. This symposium occurred in conjunction with the congress of the International Astronautical Federation in Dresden, Germany, in 1990. For the most part, this volume contains the first published versions of these papers in English, although some have appeared in journals like the Acta Astronautica. Since the papers were written in 1990, tenses and place names in some cases are no longer current, but to preserve the integrity of the papers, I have left those elements as they appeared in the original versions.

(Extracted form the Preface, written by J.D. Hunley, editor).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Foreword. Donald C. Elder.

-Preface. J.D. Hunley.

-Part I: Rocketry and Astronautics: Concepts, Theories and Analyses.

-1- EMPIRE: Background and Initial Dual-Planet Mission Studies.
-2- The Origin of Gravity-Propelled Interplanetary Space Travel.

-Part II: The Development of Liquid- and Solid-Propellant Rockets, 1880-1945.

-3- Modern Romanian Aerospace Achievements: Deep Roots.

-Part III: Rocketry and Astronautics After 1945.

-4- From Vahrenwald via the Moon to Dresden.
-5- The Legacy of Hermes.
-6- On the History of Rocketry Development in the USSR in the First Years after the Second World War (the Participation of German Specialists in the Development of Soviet Missile Technology.
-7- The SE 4300 Guided Rocket Program.
-8- The R-3 Rocket Project Developed in the USSR in 1945-1959 as a Basis for the First Soviet Space Launches.
-9- The Evolution of the Titan Rocket--Titan I toTitan II.
-10- Engineering Development of the Apollo Lunar Module.
-11- "Black Betsy": The 6000C-4 Rocket Engine.

-Part IV: Pioneers of Rocketry and Astronautics.

-12- Alfred Maul: A Pioneer of Camera Rockets.
-13- Jean-Jacques Barré, French Pioneer of Rockets and Astronautics.
-14- The Role of S.P. Korolev as a Designer of Launchers for Sputnik and Vostok.

-Index.

OUR REVIEW

Volume 19 of the AAS History Series contains the lectures presented in 1990, in Dresden, Germany, at the 24 Symposium of History of the International Academy of Astronautics. The volume includes a total amount of 14 articles that cover a wide range in the history of astronautics and that in this way are made available to all interested readers.

As is usual in this series, almost all the articles are devoted to little known themes of space history, which makes them into very attractive information sources, in some occasions being the only examples of a series of events happening several decades ago. This is how we will get to know details from such interesting issues as the space programs like EMPIRE, which in its day stated the possibility to travel towards Venus and Mars, several pioneers of Romanian and French astronautics, or the history of the development of different vehicles, such as the missiles Titan-I and II, the American Lunar Module, etc. The authors of such research works are true experts in the matter at hand: Frederick I. Ordway III, Michael R. Sharpe, Frank H. Winter and many others, who with their perseverance are ensuring that nothing is forgotten.

Specially interesting are some articles devoted to Soviet astronautics and to small programs of rockets outside the best known and popular current that also merit a place in the evolution of modern rocketry.