Lunar Exploration Human Pioneers and Robotic Surveyors [Paperback]

Paolo Ulivi provides a well-paced, rapidly moving, balanced, even-handed account of lunar exploration as a popular history. He covers the unmanned programmes, e.g. Ranger, and other American probes in the late 50s and in the later chapters he looks at recent lunar exploration and future plans for the same. Its a book that will be perfect for an enthusiast or someone coming to the story for the first time, as it does not include excessive technical depth. Uniquely drawing on recently declassified documents, detail of Chinese lunar exploration projects is provided, as well as nuclear lunar weapons of the 50s developed by the super powers, Soviet Russia and the United States.The Beginning of the Space Race (early Soviet rocketry and US satellite projects).- The Space Race 1960-1969 (the race between US and USSR unmanned spacecraft).- United States Wins the Race (US Apollo Programme).- How the Soviet Union Lost the Race (Soviet human lunar projects).- The Race is Over (unmanned lunar exploration of the 70s and 80s).- The Small Ones are Coming (probe missions).- The Future (possible lunar missions over the next decade).

From the reviews:

Lunar Exploration during the past decade was driven by national pride to prove its technological prowess & . These factors are intricately woven in this book & . Planetary Exploration has emerged as one of the most challenging technological agenda & . The book describes the enormity of these efforts, bringing out the mile stones in a lucid and commendable manner, providing a rare insight ... . The book is very timely & . is supplemented by several appendices. & it is a book that every lunar enthusiast would like to read. (N.G. Bhandari, Earth, Moon and Planets, Issue 93, 2005)

With the Moon now firmly in the sights of the worlds space agencies once again & this concise account of lunar exploration to date is most timely. & Detailed accounts of all the missions, sucl(