Basics of Spaceflight for Space Exploration, Space Commercialization, and Space Colonization

Spaceflight is exciting again Robotic space probes have recently explored the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto; and a spacecraft has even landed on a comet. Commercial aerospace companies have successfully launched rockets to space and delivered cargo to the International Space Station. In the United States, new laws are being passed concerning the property rights on the Moon, and in anticipation of asteroid mining. In light of this surge in spaceflight activities, a basic appreciation of spaceflight issues would seem valuable to anyone wishing to better participate in discussions about this rapidly evolving scientific and technological field. This book is a college-level undergraduate textbook about spaceflight targeted at liberal arts students majoring in the humanities and the social sciences. It does not use calculus. The book would also be appropriate for readers with prior high-school knowledge of science and mathematics who have an interest in becoming more informed about spaceflight concepts and topics related to spaceflight.