America in Space: NASA's First Fifty Years

by Steven J. Dick, Neil Armstrong (Foreword), Robert Jacobs

For more than a century before 1957, scientists and adventurers dreamed about the exploration of space and designed rockets and vehicles to make it possible, but the real space age began on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite. Until then, America's space exploration had been entrusted to the military, but immediately following Sputnik, the United States began to plan for the first civilian space agency. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was officially born on July 29, 1958.

America in Space is a visual history of NASA, from its early days as a pioneer in supersonic flight, through the first manned space missions of the 1960s, to the shuttle and international space station missions that are still underway. It also covers NASA's exploration of the Solar System using unmanned probes and the imagery from satellite telescopes like Hubble.

In fall 2007, NASA begins to celebrate its 50th Anniversary and Abrams is privileged to publish the official visual history of its many achievements in manned and unmanned space travel. Written and edited by a team of experienced NASA staffers and illustrated with many unpublished and rare images from the voluminous NASA archives scattered across the country, America in Space offers an unparalleled view of the human need to explore unknown places.

Genres: Science, Space, Nonfiction, History, Astronomy, Photography

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Steven J. Dick is an American astronomer, author, and historian of science most noted for his work in the field of astrobiology. He served as the NASA Chief Historian and Director of the NASA History Office from 2003 to 2009 and, prior to that, as an astronomer and historian of science at the U.S. Naval Observatory for more than two decades.

Reviews

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

America in space : NASA's first fifty years. The chapters are: In the Beginning, The First A in NASA, One Small Step…Project Mercury, Project Gemini, Project Apollo, & Space Shuttle, and Voyages in Space & Time.

The photographs are remarkable. They have both black & white and color ones.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, large, coffee-table book of the first 50 years of American space program.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible photography and information about the American space program and development of NASA.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is chock-full of fascinating photographs chronicling the first fifty years of America's space program. The book and photographs are very large and therefore a great deal of detail is captured in every image. As a NASA and photography enthusiast, I have thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book! You should watch "When we Left Earth" and then look at this book. Or you can do them at the same time. I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life. But definitely do both. The pictures in the book are beautiful and awe inspiring.

[Andrew Kline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Gorgeous pictures from throughout NASA's history, with just enough text in the blurbs to explain what's going on without getting too technical or distracting from the images. A must-have for fans of space travel and technology.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of amazing photographs and stories...

[Joe]

Fun to look at; not much content

[jaydro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice photos, but surprisingly too many typos and outright errors in the captions for me to consider purchasing it.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of NASA and the United States' space program during its first fifty years covering it triumphs and defeats.

[Chris Coneybeer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept in living room for awhile. Great pics and amazing look at the history. Written content is thin but awesome to sit back relax and imagine being there.

[Garrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very informative and gave some information that I never knew. I would defitnitley recomend this book to others.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great book

[David Tybor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cool coffee table book with some amazing pictures from NASA. Not amazing enough to make me consider trading in my ottoman for a coffee table. 3 stars.