Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics

First edition

Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics^[1] is a short, modestly technical introduction to space exploration written by Arthur C. Clarke, and published in 1950. It includes material accessible to readers with a high-school level of science and technical education, covering the elements of orbital mechanics, rocket design and performance, various applications of Earth satellites, a discussion of the more interesting and accessible destinations in the Solar System (such as they were understood at the time of writing), and in a final chapter covering the rationale and value of human expansion off the Earth.

Overview

The book includes ten chapters:

• Historical Survey
• The Earth's Gravitational Field
• The Rocket
• The Problem of Escape by Rocket
• The Earth-Moon Journey
• Interplanetary Flight
• The Atomic Rocket
• Spaceships and Space Stations
• Subsidiary Problems
• Opening Frontiers

A short mathematical appendix is provided (for the benefit of readers not versed in the calculus), plus a bibliography and index, for a total of 164 pages. It includes also many figures and diagrams, and 15 plates (now largely of historical interest, showing how far space exploration has advanced since 1950).

References