Countdown: A History of Space Flight

T. A. Heppenheimer's acclaimed chronicle of rockets, politics, and the pioneers who dared to reach beyond humanity's limits.

"The most comprehensive, up-to-date, and best written history of space flight there is."
—The Times (London)

"A lively account of the development of space activities in the U.S. and the Soviet Union . . . as good a one-volume overview of space as exists."
—Scientific American

"Countdown is by far the best history of space flight I have ever read. It is detailed, lucidly...