ANIMAL ASTRONAUTS: They Opened the Way to the Stars

Meet the animal stars of space, some celebrities and some unsung, who have been man's vanguard stand-ins in the exploration of space. The United States has sed mice, monkeys, chimpanzees (most satisfactory because, like man, they can be tested for psychological as well as physical functioning in space); the Russians seem to prefer dogs, perhaps because of Pavlovian experience. The authors transmit the excitement of countdown, tracing with careful detail the first test of reaction orbital flight through to the follow-up testing of the animal pioneers. There is an excellent glossary of space terms and the illustrations are photographs. The book as a whole is a good and appealing introduction for young adults to space research.