Clarke A.C. Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics

Harper & Brothers, Great Britain, 1950. 187 p.A short, modestly technical introduction to space exploration written by Arthur C. Clarke with many illustrations and drawings. This is his first book and the material is accessible to readers with a high-school level of science and technical education. It covers the elements of orbital mechanics, rocket design and performance, various applications of Earth satellites, a discussion of the more interesting and accessible destinations in the Solar System (such as they were understood at the time of writing), and, in a final chapter, the rationale and value of human expansion off the Earth.Historical survey
The earth's gravitational field
The rocket
The problem of escape by rocket
The earth-moon journey
Interplanetary flight
The atomic rocket
Spaceships and space stations
Subsidiary problems
Opening frontiers