Wernher von Braun, Start in den Weltraum. Ein Buch über Raketen, Satelliten und Raumfahrzeuge. Bertelsmann. Im Bertelsmann Lesering.(ca. 1952–1958). Blue linen hardcover with full-color illustrated dust jacket, 320 pp. 21 x 15,3 cm.
Artwork
Includes color artwork Chesley Bonestell, Fred Freeman, and Rolf Klep, taken from the original American editions.
A 1950s look at the future of space travel
This visionary volume by Wernher von Braun offers a sweeping look at the future of space travel. Based on three key essays originally published in the early 1950s (Station im Weltraum, The Conquest of the Moon, and The Mars Project), Start in den Weltraum lays out a bold but technically plausible roadmap for building space stations, landing on the Moon, and eventually sending manned missions to Mars.
The book is enriched with contributions by Willy Ley, the popular science writer and early advocate of spaceflight, who offers valuable context and commentary. An afterword by Heinz Gartmann, aerospace engineer and editor, adds technical and political insight from the postwar German space community.
Lavishly illustrated with detailed renderings and visionary artwork by Bonestell, Freeman, and Klep, the book blends serious engineering with speculative imagination, an ideal entry point into the dreams and realities of space exploration in the 1950s.
Condition
A very good + copy in a good + dust jacket. Front side of DJ shows a 2cm tear and fold in upper left corner and a smaller 1 cm tear in lower left corner. Upper edge of back cover a bit wrinkled and soiled, else very good.
Sources
The book contains multiple translations into German of texts originally published in English. The texts taken from the volumes "Station im Weltraum" and "Die Eroberung des Mondes"first appeared in English in 1952 in Collier’s Magazine. The texts taken from the volume Die Erforschung des Mars were first published in English under the title The Exploration of Mars by The Viking Press. The translation was done by Heinz Gartmann.
Contributors
With contributions by Willy Ley. Afterword by Heinz Gartmann. Richly illustrated .
Content
- Der Auftakt: Bau der Weltraumstation
- Die Ausrüstung der Weltraumstation
- Die Mondschiffe
- Die Kugelkabinen
- Der Flug nach dem Mond
- Der Stützpunkt auf dem Mond
- Die Erforschung des Mondes
- Die Fahrt zum Krater Harpalus
- Der Rückflug zur Erde
- Der rote Planet
- Das Marsprojekt
- Operation Space Lift
- Die menschliche Seite des Problems
- Der Flug nach dem Mars
- Tabellen des Marsprojektes
Contents (English translation)
- The Beginning: Construction of the Space Station
- Outfitting the Space Station
- The Moon Ships
- The Spherical Cabins
- The Flight to the Moon
- The Base on the Moon
- Exploring the Moon
- The Journey to Crater Harpalus
- The Return Flight to Earth
- The Red Planet
- The Mars Project
- Operation Space Lift
- The Human Side of the Problem
- The Flight to Mars
- Mars Project Data Tables