Overture To Spaceis a major work by a world authority on aeronautics and astronautics. In this book, Martin Caidin has written the history of the first years of the Space Age, reviewing in broad but authoritative fashion the record of its achievements and failures, the problems and threats of the space race, national and world political aspects, and questions of policy now and for the precarious future.Here are the pioneers: From Gaston and Albert Tissandier, Dr. John Sheldon, Glaisher and Coxwell, balloonists who ascended, prior to 1800, higher than man had ever deemed possible, to Major David G. Simons, whose balloon ascent to 103,000 feet in 1958 made history. Here also are the test pilots of Edwards Air Force Base and Captain Charles Yeager’s heroic flights in the XS-1 and X1-A; the Russian cosmonauts Titov and Gagarin; America’s own astronauts Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Carpenter, and Schirra; and the satellites, Echo, Vanguard, Explorer, Telstar, Tiros; and the exploration of Venus by Mariner II.Far more than a cataloging of Space Age achievements, OVERTURE TO SPACE is a clear-eyed, hard-headed look at the implications for today and for the future of man’s new technology, new means of communication, new language, new problems of diplomacy and government—and the new breed of men called astronauts. If all our yesterdays were here on earth, all our tomorrows may be decided somewhere out in space. For those thinking people who would have some understanding of the age in which we now live, OVERTURE TO SPACE is vital, essential reading.I