The Dream of Spaceflight: Essays on the Near Edge of Infinity

If every politician in Washington had read this book we would not only have saved the Pluto-Kuiper Express mission but might well be revitalizing our whole space effort in the direction of actual exploration. Wachhorst gets beyond the nuts and bolts and tired histories to the real meaning of spaceflight-what it feels like to dream the dream. My wife and I are avid readers, and this is simply the best non-fiction writing we have ever encountered.

THE DREAM OF SPACEFLIGHT is a very sweet, romantic discussion of man's efforts to explore what's "out there." It provides a compelling, refreshing view of the Apollo missions (down to how many gallons of fuel it takes to move a rocket one inch closer to the moon), a wonderful telling of Kepler's life, and left me wishing America would once again try, in earnest, to get a man on Mars.

I wish I could afford a full-page ad in the New York Times to tell the world about this book. It should be read not only by everyone committed to the exploration of space, but by anyone with the capacity to appreciate lyrical prose and profound insight. This is not just for space buffs, but for every person who has ever looked into the night sky and felt a visceral surge of wonder and a longing to know. I have to believe that if this book were made known to everyone in the English-speaking world, there would be literally millions who would feel it was one of the ten best books they had ever read. Pick it up and read just one page--any page in the book--and you'll be compelled to read the rest.

Wachhorst's exquisite book on the dream of spaceflight resonates with my own life as a history buff and a mathematical physicist who worked on space programs during the peak years. I recommend this book to any scientist, policymaker, or ordinary citizen seeking to understand the place the space program has had in the national psyche.

The beautiful prose in Wyn Wachhorst's The Dream of Spaceflight : Essays on the Near Edge of Infinity, led me to a greater understanding of space exploration and invited me to meditate with the author on the deeper meanings waiting for us if we open ourselves to the mysteries of the universe. Reading this book reminded me of how I felt when I first read Chet Raymo's The Soul of the Night: that I was being taken on a journey to new places with a trustworthy guide. I love the way Wachhorst, like Raymo, looks at science through the lens of poetry. Throughout the essays in his book, whether he's writing about the history of spaceflight and the evolution of Western culture, philosophical concerns related to space exploration, or the workings of the human psyche, Wachhorst made me aware of how important it is not to lose the capacity for wonder and for the human race to keep dreaming of reaching the stars. As he focuses on what it means to explore other worlds, Wachhorst never loses sight of the inner, subjective meaning inherent in all our undertakings. The personal narrative that Wachhorst weaves through the book connects those inner and outer realities and celebrates a world that is infinite. These are essays I will return to often for their poetry, their intelligence, and their wisdom.