Europe's Space Programme: To Ariane and Beyond (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) [Paperback]

From the reviews: "The book is split into seven chapters, covering early rocket development, the European rocket and satellite organizations … and their resultant merger as ESA, the national programmes, specific spacecraft programmes, manned spaceflight and a look towards the future. … The book is well illustrated with black and white photos. … It is … a well written and accessible account of Europe’s achievements in space. … What the book does well is take the overview that a truly European programme deserves." (International Space Review, September, 2005) "Brian Harvey’s excellent retrospective looks beyond just the European Space Agency to cover all European space activities. … Harvey also shows how the multinational ESA finally made European space co-operation a reality, after years of trying." (Sean Blair, Astronomy Now, May, 2004) "This book is a comprehensive account of the development of the European Space Programme … . The book highlights the contribution of the European Space Agency’s scientific work and its continuing technological achievements … . Europe’s Space Programme gives a fascinating insight into the politics, science and organisation of the European Space work and the national enterprises involved. This is an important book … . This is a splendid book … . Everyone should read this book." (Richard Broughton, AURORA, November, 2003) "This is a fine book, a good example of how to write technical text. Its subject matter, the development of the European space programme, although full of interesting characters and Machiavellian plot lines, in less-able hands may well have been handled in a ploddingly dull manner. Harvey brings it to life, not with literary fire but with careful explanations and enough detail to tell the story but not so much that it becomes a moronic fact sheet." (Barry Kent, The Observatory, Vol. 123 (1177), 2003) "Europe’s Space Programme: To Ariane and Beyond is a book well worth having on your reference shelf. It gives a detailed but highly digestible account of the birth of the ESA (European Space Agency) and its activities right up to the end of 2002, and is both useful and entertaining. … A five-page list of acronyms and abbreviations near the beginning of the book is convenient … . There are around 120 illustrations, many of them of significant historical interest." (Anna Nolan, Astronomy & Space, July, 2003) "Europe’s Space Programme is a book of great ambition. It attempts to describe Europe’s achievements in space over the past 60 years, starting with the successful launch of the first V2 rocket … . Europe has witnessed such rapid and dramatic political and economic changes since then that Brian Harvey’s ambitious venture deserves our admiration … . the book succeeds in presenting the European space effort as a major success." (Roger-Maurice Bonnet, Physics World, September, 2003) "This is really a good reference book which fits nicely in the series of other space books that Springer has published in the last few years … . Brian Harvey’s book is recommended to the readers." (Jos Heyman, News Bulletin of the Astronautical Society of Western Australia, Vol. 28 (8), 2003)