Table of Contents

1. The century of space science.- The Beginnings.- 2. The space age and the origin of space research.- 3. Enabling technology for space transportation.- The Early Epoch of Space Science.- 4. The cosmic radiation.- 5. Magnetospheric physics.- 6. Barium cloud experiments in the upper atmosphere.- 7. Alkali metal cloud experiments in the upper atmosphere.- 8. Early solar space research.- 9. A history of the solar wind concept.- 10. The terrestrial planets at the dawn of the space age.- 11. The Moon before Apollo.- 12. From the ionosphere to high energy astronomy -a personal experience.- 13. Early ultraviolet spectroscopy from space.- 14. The early days of infrared space astronomy.- Fundamental Science in Space.- 15. Verification of general relativity: tests in the Solar System.- 16. Verification of general relativity: strong fields and gravitational waves.- 17. The cosmological constants.- 18. COBE, dark matter and large-scale structure in the Universe.- 19. The origin of the light elements in the early Universe.- 20. Gravitational lensing.- Extragalactic Astronomy.- 21. Clusters of galaxies.- 22. Gamma-ray bursts.- 23. Quasars.- 24. Blazars.- 25. X-ray and infrared properties of normal galaxies.- The Milky Way.- 26. The hot part of the interstellar medium.- 27. Space-borne observations of the life cycle of interstellar gas and dust.- 28. The interstellar medium of our Galaxy.- 29. Galactic cosmic rays.- 30. Stellar populations and dynamics in the Milky Way galaxy.- 31. Pulsars and isolated neutron stars.- 32. Evolutionary concepts of binaries with compact objects.- 33. White dwarf binaries.- 34. Low mass X-ray binaries.- 35. High-mass X-ray binaries.- 36. Black-hole binaries.- 37. The formation of stars and protoplanetary disks.- 38. High-energy radiation from outer stellar atmospheres.- 39. Mass loss from stars.- 40. Planetary nebulae.- 41. Supernovae and supernova remnants.- The Solar System.- 42. Acceleration processes of heliospheric particle populations.- 43. Reconnection.- 44. The solar interior.- 45. The solar atmosphere.- 46. The active Sun.- 47. The solar wind.- 48. The heliosphere.- 49. The dusty heliosphere.- 50. The interaction of the heliosphere with the interstellar medium.- 51. Comets: coma and beyond.- 52. The morphology of cometary nuclei.- 53. The constituents of cometary nuclei.- 54. The Moon and terrestrial planets: geology and geophysics.- 55. Radiometric chronology of the Moon and Mars.- 56. Chemical evolution of the Moon and the terrestrial planets.- 57. The atmospheres of the terrestrial planets.- 58. Jupiter.- 59. The planets beyond Jupiter.- 60. The satellites of the outer planets.- 61. Planetary and lunar magnetism.- The Earth and its Plasma Environment.- 62. The magnetosphere as a plasma laboratory.- 63. Earth’s magnetosphere.- 64. Earth’s ionosphere.- 65. Oceanography.- 66. Satellite geodesy and geosciences.- 67. Chemistry and physics of the atmosphere.- Appendices.- A basic chronology of the space age.- Catalog of space science launches 1957–2000.- Indices.- Abbreviations and acronyms.- Index of cited authors.- Name index.

Reviews

From the reviews:
"Exploration is a risky business. You may fail, but when you succeed, a revolution occurs! And this happened in the 20th century with space exploration. Not all missions worked as expected: some failed completely but others were fabulously successful and pushed the border of the unknown further away, more than any other technique was ever able to do. "The Century of Space Science" strikingly evinces the role that new technologies played in deepening our insight into the ways cosmic structures form, evolve and interact. The tremendous expansion of knowledge is clearly the merit of those who restlessly, never gave up in the face of risk and technical or managerial adversity."
(Roger M. Bonnet, Former Director of ESA's Scientific Programme, currently Directeur Général Adjoint Scientifique of CNES, Paris)
"Revolutionary developments in space science, in the second half of the 20th century, were marked by a spirit of international cooperation. From the early years, when the world was politically divided, space scientists from all over the world worked together in the pursuit of space science. Important vehicles of that collaboration have been COSPAR and IACG, the latter consisting of American, European, Japanese, and Soviet (later Russian) space agencies. I am pleased to see that the vast knowledge and deep understanding of space harvested from the monumental cooperation are adeptly presented in "The Century of Space Science". The wealth of information contained in this volume should be among the richest of the legacies that the 20th century gave for the future."
(A. Nishida, Retired Director General, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science)
"Presenting a comprehensive summary of the accomplishments of space science in the final decades of the twentieth century, this extraordinary book is deep as well as broad. Its chapters include historical overviews and cover the full range of topics from fundamentalphysics and cosmology to the terrestrial environment &endash; with a rich selection of stellar, galactic, and extragalactic astrophysics in between. Research students and scientists in any of these fields will find the volume both thorough and accessible, even outside their own areas of specialty."
(Joseph H. Taylor, Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Physics, Princeton University)
"Some books are so big that they are hard to pick up, let alone put down. This magnificent two-volume reference work, which provides an authoritative overview of space science, weighs in at a whopping 7.5 kg! The vast size of this work is a sign of the many achievements in space science during the past century."
(Physics World, January 2003)
"The publishers of The Century of Space Science, found not just one but three well known space scientists to edit the project, and these remarkable men did the job with aplomb. The authors of these well-written and well-illustrated essays include many of the pioneers of space science, as well as many of today's most prestigious practitioners. The result is ... a truly unique publishing accomplishment: a splendid collection of authoritative reviews that transcends academic disciplines. Although the notion of this publishing project would have seemed improbable to me, I have now seen it, lifted it (with some difficulty), and recommend it as an important milestone along the amazing road of space science."
(Paul Hodge in Nature, 421 (January 2003)
"This set, nearly 2000 pages, has information and pictures to satisfy anyone's interest in space science. The list of contributors reads like an international who's who in space science. The articles are authoritative and scholarly, and this resource will be invaluable to readers in the fields of astronomy, cosmology, space science, and the history of science. Summing up: Highly recommended. Upper division undergraduates through professionals."
(Choice, May 2003)
"This massive two volume set is very readable and immensely informative. It is a vast resource of detailed accurate information. If you want to know what a century of space science has brought us look no further. Very highly recommended for content and accuracy."
(Spaceflight, 45:12 (2003)
"This is a monumental pair of volumes by any measure. Purchase of it is a "must" for libraries in universities that have departments of astronomy or astrophysics. [...] The editors are to be congratulated on putting together a collection of 67 articles, largely authored by people who are household names, that give a broad coverage of many topics addressed using space techniques. [...] a splendid pair of volumes. [...] I strongly recommend this text as an important reference source for all workers in astrophysics and astronomy."
(Alan A. Watson in Astronomy and Geophysics, 44:3)
"...every imaginable aspect of space science is carefully explained by a highly qualified expert in that field. ...filled with important facts and figures, full-color pictures and illustrations, timelines, appendices and indices to help the reader absorb and interpret the copious information that each chapter contains. ...it surely belongs in any library that boasts reference material on space science."
(Phillip Davis in Science and Theology News, September 2003)
"the first comprehensive attempt in English to address this field of study... Members of the space research communities of the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Hungary, Russia, Switzerland, and Japan trace the evolution of all major sub disciplines of this complex topic in sixty-seven well organized and detailed articles accompanied by lengthy bibliographies. This work can function equally well as a reference work for libraries wishing to have state-of-the-art data on the status of space research as of the early twenty-first century, or as part of collections on astronomy, chemistry and particle physics."
(Robert R. Ridinger in (e-streams, 6:6)