with an introduction by Hugo and Nebula award-winning author David Brin

and an exclusive CDROM showing the future of manned space exploration

The glorious space age has come and gone. So what now? What's next? To go further, to go faster, we must take the next step. Space is still full of mystery and challenges humankind as much as ever. Ideas on what the next step, or steps are vary greatly and there is no shortage of concepts for the future of space transportation. Concepts include new engines, new strategies, harnessing gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear and more. This book will take you on a guided visual tour of the future of space transportation. From Earth to Orbit to In-Space transportation, you will sample what is being considered and get an easy-to-understand explanation of what the spacecraft will do and how it will work. This book is the culmination of years of work with NASA and hours of interviews with leading propulsion scientists and aerospace innovators. Decades ago Dr. Wernher von Braun teamed with Walt Disney to animate a mission to Mars and inspired a generation. Today multimedia, animation and video serve a similar communication need. The CD-ROM included contains official NASA videos, vehicle concept animation, and dynamic multimedia. View spacecraft concepts in 3D, see mission animation and hear first hand what the visionaries of the aerospace industry hope to accomplish.