Much has been written in the West on the history of the Soviet space program but few Westerners have read direct first-hand accounts of the men and women who were behind the many Russian accomplishments in exploring space. The memoir of Academician Boris Chertok, translated from the original Russian, fills that gap. In Volume 1 of "Rockets and People," Chertok described his early life as an aeronautical engineer and his adventures as a member of the Soviet team that searched postwar, occupied Germany for the remnants of the Nazi rocket program. In Volume 2, Chertok takes up the story after his return to the Soviet Union in 1946, when Stalin ordered the foundation of the postwar missile program at an old artillery factory northeast of Moscow. Chertok gives an unprecedented view into the early days of the Soviet missile program. With a keen talent for combining technical and human interests, Chertok writes of the origins and creation of the Baykonur Cosmodrome in a remote desert region of Kazakhstan. He devotes a substantial portion of Volume 2 to describing the launch of the first Sputnik satellite and the early lunar and interplanetary probes designed under legendary Chief Designer Sergey Korolev in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He ends with a detailed description of the famous R-16 catastrophe known as the "Nedelin disaster," which killed scores of engineers during preparations for a missile launch in 1960.

NASA SP-4113. The NASA History Series. Provides a biography of Dr. William H. Pickering. The dust jacket states: "More than any other individual Bill Pickering was responsible for America's success in exploring the planets, an endeavor that demanded vision, courage, dedication, expertise, and the ability to inspire two generations of scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory," a quote from Thomas P. Everhart.

NASA SP 2010-4319. NASA History Series. This scholarly look at the Altitude Wind Tunnel covers the transformations the wind tunnel made in its long history from a wind tunnel doing full-scale testing for wartime applications, to a vacuum chamber supporting the Vision for Space Exploration, and even a brief period as home to Mercury astronaut training. The book also addresses the attempts to resurrect the facility and its eventual decommissioning and demolition.

NASA SP-2009-1704. Steven J. Dick, Editor. Based on a symposium held on October 28-29, 2008 at NASA. Scholars turn a critical eye toward NASA's first 50 years.

At a May 1981 "Proseminar in Space History'' held at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC, historians came together to consider the state of the discipline of space history. It was an historic occasion. The community of scholars interested in the history of spaceflight was not large; previously, well-meaning but untrained aficionados consumed with artifacts had dominated the field, to the exclusion of the larger context. At a fundamental level, this proseminar represented a "declaration of independence'' for what might be called the "new aerospace history.'' In Retrospect, it may be interpreted as marking the rise of space history as a recognizable subdiscipline within the field of U.S. history. Bringing together a diverse collection of scholars to review the state of the art in space history, this proseminar helped in a fundamental manner to define the field and to chart a course for future research. Its participants set about the task of charting a course for collecting, preserving, and disseminating the history of space exploration within a larger context of space policy and technology. In large measure, the course charted by the participants in this 1981 proseminar aided in advancing a very successful agenda of historical research, writing, and understanding of space history. Not every research project has yielded acceptable results, nor can it be expected to do so, but the sum of the effort since 1981 has been impressive. The opportunities for both the exploration of space and for recording its history have been significant. Both endeavors are noble and aimed at the enhancement of humanity. Whither the history of spaceflight Only time will tell. But there has been an emergent "new aerospace history'' of which space history is a central part that moves beyond an overriding concern for the details of the artifact to emphasize the broader role of the spacecraft. More importantly, it emphasizes the whole technological system, including not just the vehicle but also the other components that make up the aerospace climate, as an integral part of the human experience. It suggests that many unanswered questions spur the development of flight and that inquisitive individuals seek to know that which they do not understand.

NASA-SP-2009-4802. NASA History Series. Edited by Steven J. Dick and Mark L. Lupisella. Authors with diverse backgrounds in science, history, anthropology, and more, consider culture in the context of the cosmos. How does our knowledge of cosmic evolution affect terrestrial culture? Conversely, how does our knowledge of cultural evolution affect our thinking about possible cultures in the cosmos? Are life, mind, and culture of fundamental significance to the grand story of the cosmos that has generated its own self-understanding through science, rational reasoning, and mathematics? Book includes bibliographical references and an index.

First published in 2002 as volume 24 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1997 as volume 6 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 2000 as volume 20 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1999 as volume 16 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1996 as volume 5 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1999 as volume 14 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1999 as volume 13 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 2003 as volume 30 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1998 as volume 8 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1994 in the NASA Monograph in Aerospace History series. From the introduction: "On 25 May 1961 President John F. Kennedy announced to the nation a goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. This decision involved much study and review prior to making it public, and tremendous expenditure and effort to make it a reality by 1969. Only the building of the Panama Canal rivaled the Apollo program's size as the largest non- military technological endeavor ever undertaken by the United States; only the Manhattan Project was comparable in a wartime setting. The human spaceflight imperative was a direct outgrowth of it; Projects Mercury (at least in its latter stages), Gemini, and Apollo were each designed to execute it. It was finally successfully accomplished on 20 July 1969, when Apollo 11's astronaut Neil Armstrong left the Lunar Module and set foot on the surface of the Moon." Illustrated.

First published in 1995 as volume 4 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 2002 as volume 27 in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 2005 as a volume in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 2009 as a volume in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 2002 as a volume in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 1998 as a volume in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.

First published in 2003 as a volume in the NASA "Monograph in Aerospace History" series. This study contains photographs and illustrations.