A wonderful look at spacecraft, including Russian, European and Chinese, with more than 200 stunning illustrations and engaging detailed text. 5 of 5 Stars.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine. Pub Date 04 Sep 2018. #Spacecraft #NetGalley

This book is filled with detailed information and illustrations of spacecraft. The book begins with Sputnik and continues to present day. I really enjoyed reading about the Russian, European and Chinese craft as I am not familiar with them. The cross section sketches include a lot of details. Even though a lot of scientific detail is included I found the book easy to read. Enjoy this armchair travel to the Universe.

Part of me didn't want to give this book five stars because I'm not in love with it.
On the other hand, it delivers exactly what it promises, so it's earned the five stars.
What does it promise?
It's in the subtitle: "100 Iconic Rockets, Shuttles, and Satellites That Put Us in Space"

WHO WOULD LOVE SPACECRAFT:

- Geeks, nerds, and engineers. It's filled with simplified engineering diagrams of 100 spacecrafts.

- You want to know about Soviet/Russian efforts. This is the best part of the book. Most American space books focus on American extraterrestrial accomplishments. You'd think that the US was almost the only player. The truth, as this book clearly shows, is that the Soviets led the way for the first 15 years of the Space Race.

WHY I DIDN'T LOVE SPACECRAFT:

- It's a geeky coffee table book. It's not filled with photos of space in action. There are many photos, but there are far more diagrams/blueprints of the spacecraft. If that's your interest, you'll love this.

- There's no narrative. It's effectively an Encylopedia. Which is fine, but not thrilling.

- It ends abruptly - like an Encyclopedia would.

- There's practically no speculation about spacecrafts in the future. C'mon! This book is great for reviewing the past, but anyone who loves spacecrafts also loves FUTURE spacecrafts!

We're tourists and we want to go!

As a writer, I dislike when critics rate my pan one of my books because it was not what they wanted it to be rather than judging based on what I said it would be about.

For instance, if you bought Bob Woodward's Fear book expecting that it would discuss Donald Trump's childhood, you'd be disappointed. You might give it a one-star review.

That would be unfair to Bob Woodward since he never promised to write about Trump's childhood.

Similarly, just because Gorn didn't publish the Spacecraft book that I wish he had written, doesn't mean that it's bad. Gorn delivers exactly what he promised. He covers 100 spacecrafts. He does that well. Given the book's scope and expectations, it deserves nine out 10 stars for achieving its objective.

However, if you're looking for a space book with a passionate narrative and that delves into the realm of space tourism, then consider other books.

This book provides a very good overview of manned and unmanned spacecraft and rockets. The illustrations are exceptional, probably some of the best I've ever seen, and very comprehensive with both external and internal depictions. While the text is not in-depth and does not break new ground, it's informative and more than made up by the illustrations.

I find space travel totally fascinating, but this book was definitely not for the beginner rocket scientist. Unfortunately, the content and drawings were way over my head. However, I think this would be perfect for anyone with a genuine interest in the science and engineering behind rockets and space flight as long as they have some intermediate level knowledge. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

It's hard to imagine that mankind has been traveling to space for over half a century. During that time, hundreds of different spacecrafts have been used to carry people and things into space. Michael Dorn and Giuseppe de Chiara's book Spacecraft: 100 Iconic Rockets, Shuttles, and Satellites That Put Us in Space introduces readers to 100 of those spacecraft.

Spacecraft is a great intro to human space exploration, with the spacecraft we use serving as touchpoints along the way. De Chiara and Gorn include a few photos, but most of the spacecraft are illustrated with detailed drawings. It's interesting to see how the designs evolved, as well as to observe the differences and similarities between the designs used by NASA and by the USSR and other space agencies.

More than anything, Spacecraft got me excited about what's next. My parents' and grandparents' generations have seen unfathomable changes in the way humans travel and interact with our world and in space. I can't begin to imagine what my grandchildren will see in their lifetimes.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!