rocket

Published in 2005, this work celebrates 50 years of space exploration, from its Cold War beginnings of satellites and manned missions into space, to orbiting space stations and unmanned exploratory missions to other planets in our solar system. Published by Smithsonian Books, this beautifully illustrated work features histories from participants in both the Soviet Union and the United States space programs. It was written by science journalist and space historian Piers Bizony, with a foreword by Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

Written by former National Air and Space Museum curator for rocketry Frank H. Winter, this Smithsonian publication is considered to be the first comprehensive history of the use of rockets as artillery in the late-18th and 19th centuries. Englishmen William Congreve and William Hale developed and refined the rocket as a piece of technology. Gunpowder rockets have been used in a variety of military and non-military applications, including life-saving (rescues at sea), whaling, and torpedoes.