Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics

Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics is a short, modestly technical introduction to space exploration written by Arthur C. Clarke, and published in 1950. It includes material accessible to readers with a high-school level of science and technical education, covering the elements of orbital mechanics, rocket design and performance, various applications of Earth satellites, a discussion of the more interesting and accessible destinations in the Solar System, and in a final chapter covering the rationale and value of human expansion off the Earth.

Overview

The book includes ten chapters:

Historical Survey
The Earth's Gravitational Field
The Rocket
The Problem of Escape by Rocket
The Earth-Moon Journey
Interplanetary Flight
The Atomic Rocket
Spaceships and Space Stations
Subsidiary Problems
Opening Frontiers

A short mathematical appendix is provided, plus a bibliography and index, for a total of 164 pages. It includes also many figures and diagrams, and 15 plates.