This eagerly awaited and extensively updated publication celebrates both the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight, when Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth on April 12, 1961, and the 40th anniversary of the first flight of NASA's Space Shuttle on that same day in 1981. We look back at those impressive events and forward to the building of the International Space Station, concluding with a look at what may be coming up in the next few decades including the dawn of commercial space travel. Along the way we chart the history of great adventures in space including the Hubble Space Telescope and preview the return of the first woman and the next man to the Moon.
