Rockets, Missiles, and Moons

New York: William Morrow and Company. Near Fine in Near Fine dj. 1957. First Edition. Hardcover. [nice clean book with just the teensiest bit of wear at a couple of corners, and a small light stain at the bottom of the rear cover; the jacket is similarly nice, with just some minor wear to the edges and extremities and a couple of tiny brown stains at the top edge of the rear panel]. (B&W photographs) A "state of the technology" report on the early development and growth of the nascent U.S. space program, published just a couple of weeks before the USSR's launch of Sputnik, which brought new urgency to the Americans' efforts by kicking off the so-called "Space Race." (NASA was officially created the following July and began operations in October.) Most of the book is focused on American efforts to put unmanned satellites (the "moons" of the title) into orbit, although the final chapter does engage in a little speculation about possible future space missions by humans. .