Designs on Space: Blueprints for 21st Century Space Exploration

This book provides a summary of all the current and planned space exploration projects, both manned and unmanned and at the time of publication it was fairly up to date. The timetable presented for the International Space Station is outdated, but the expected launch dates for the planetary missions are correct. The book also provides a summary of many of the commercial space adventures which I have not seen anywhere else.There are no photos anywhere in this book, but each section contains several drawings or more of each piece of hardware. The drawings are intended to look like the old blueprint drawings (hence the subtitle name), however, as an engineer who works for NASA, we don't use blueprints anymore.On a sad note, due to the recent budgetary cutbacks associated with the new Bush Administration, many of the projects presented in this book have been canceled or deferred, so this new and exciting book is unfortunately already out of date. Get it anyway; it's still a good book and the drawings are top notch.

Excellent book, great graphics, a great explanation of the technology. I am tired of reading books written in the 60's and 70's about future space designs that didnt happen. Everything in this book can and will happen, and as an engineering student I will work hard to make these designs a reality. Thanks for providing a fresh, and modern view of what will happen in this century.