From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7-The further reading and annotated address/Web site lists at the end are all that's above average in this mistitled survey. What Spangenburg and Moser present is not a history of NASA, but yet another standard account of the U.S. space program, with a particular focus on the space race. The authors tally satellites and space probes, capsules and shuttle missions, but never give readers more than glimpses of the organization that surmounted so many daunting political and scientific challenges to get them off the ground. Furthermore, events after early 1999, such as the failure of the Mars Polar Lander, are mentioned without discussion in the appended (unindexed) chronology but not in the main text. Minor errors, like the repeated assertion that gravity has no effect in space, plus a stingy selection of small photos and a glossary that opens with two incorrect definitions, further weaken the presentation. With titles such as Carmen Bredeson's Our Space Program (Millbrook, 1999) and Carole Stott's Space Exploration (Knopf, 1997) already available, and new treatments of the subject coming out in a steady stream, this one should be left on the launch pad.
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.
