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The Exploration of Space
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
About the author
Arthur C. Clarke
1,664 books11.8k followersStories, works of noted British writer, scientist, and underwater explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, include
2001: A Space Odyssey
(1968).
This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.
Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.
He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.
This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.
Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.
He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 21, 2022
This is a wonderful time capsule of an era in which there still existed great optimism and a quaint naivete with regard to the future of space travel. If that were the only thing to recommend it, this book might be better left to the past, but it is also useful as a companion to the speculative fiction of its age, a sort of literary calibration unit by which readers of the sci-fi of the 1950s can help put those writings into historical context. Therefore, anyone who is a fan of science fiction from the '50s is likely to find this a rewarding read. (Note that this book was originally published in 1951, but the version reviewed here is the 1959 second edition.)
Clarke gets quite a few things right. After introducing the reader to all the basic challenges of space travel, most, if not all, of which are still applicable today, he proceeds to speculate widely about the future of space exploration. He rightly identifies the Moon as the most likely first target. He accurately predicts the usefulness of space stations, although he is overly optimistic about their proliferation and extent. And he accurately predicts the future of communications by means of relay satellites placed in geostationary orbits, as well as the importance of space exploration to astronomy. Beyond that point, however, his vision for the future fails to track with its subsequent history.
For example, Clarke predicts the establishment, not only of numerous large space stations in Earth orbit, but of a permanent outpost (possibly a full-blown colony) on the Moon. This, he rightly reasons, would help facilitate the subsequent exploration of the rest of our solar system. Unaware at the time of the specifics of the surface conditions on our sister planet, Venus, he erroneously predicts that it would be the first target for an outpost on another planet, followed quickly by Mars and Mercury. We now know, of course, that Venus is too inimical to the needs of human life to, perhaps, ever be visited directly, as it has been hard enough to even land unmanned probes there. Mars is still our most likely target planet, yet our hopes of reaching it have diminished considerably, not so much due to the impossibility of such a mission, but due to the shifts in political and economic priorities which arose in the 1970s and never quite turned back again, billionaires with delusions of grandeur excepted. Mercury seems like an even less likely target than Venus given the hostility of its environment.
The author then lays out his case for exploration of the outer planets (including Pluto, which was still elevated to planetary status at the time of writing). With regard to the gas giants, he acknowledges that their moons represent the only fit destinations for human exploration, but his optimism is unbridled in that regard. It must have been a wonderful time to be alive for any scientist interested in the exploration of space, and for that brief, shining moment of hopefulness, even lowly Pluto did not seem beyond our grasp. Clarke then goes on to examine the considerable challenges of interstellar travel, and here his optimism, perhaps, strained the credulity of even the most starry-eyed advocate of space exploration at the time.
As always, Clarke's prose is lucid and beautifully written. He explains the most complex concepts using simple analogies which even the most dunderheaded of us can grasp, and he imparts to the reader the deep sense of
excitement which he, and so many others like him, harbored during the 25 years after World War II. Fans of '50s sci-fi and fans of Clarke may find this a fascinating read. Others are advised to stick with "2001."
Clarke gets quite a few things right. After introducing the reader to all the basic challenges of space travel, most, if not all, of which are still applicable today, he proceeds to speculate widely about the future of space exploration. He rightly identifies the Moon as the most likely first target. He accurately predicts the usefulness of space stations, although he is overly optimistic about their proliferation and extent. And he accurately predicts the future of communications by means of relay satellites placed in geostationary orbits, as well as the importance of space exploration to astronomy. Beyond that point, however, his vision for the future fails to track with its subsequent history.
For example, Clarke predicts the establishment, not only of numerous large space stations in Earth orbit, but of a permanent outpost (possibly a full-blown colony) on the Moon. This, he rightly reasons, would help facilitate the subsequent exploration of the rest of our solar system. Unaware at the time of the specifics of the surface conditions on our sister planet, Venus, he erroneously predicts that it would be the first target for an outpost on another planet, followed quickly by Mars and Mercury. We now know, of course, that Venus is too inimical to the needs of human life to, perhaps, ever be visited directly, as it has been hard enough to even land unmanned probes there. Mars is still our most likely target planet, yet our hopes of reaching it have diminished considerably, not so much due to the impossibility of such a mission, but due to the shifts in political and economic priorities which arose in the 1970s and never quite turned back again, billionaires with delusions of grandeur excepted. Mercury seems like an even less likely target than Venus given the hostility of its environment.
The author then lays out his case for exploration of the outer planets (including Pluto, which was still elevated to planetary status at the time of writing). With regard to the gas giants, he acknowledges that their moons represent the only fit destinations for human exploration, but his optimism is unbridled in that regard. It must have been a wonderful time to be alive for any scientist interested in the exploration of space, and for that brief, shining moment of hopefulness, even lowly Pluto did not seem beyond our grasp. Clarke then goes on to examine the considerable challenges of interstellar travel, and here his optimism, perhaps, strained the credulity of even the most starry-eyed advocate of space exploration at the time.
As always, Clarke's prose is lucid and beautifully written. He explains the most complex concepts using simple analogies which even the most dunderheaded of us can grasp, and he imparts to the reader the deep sense of
excitement which he, and so many others like him, harbored during the 25 years after World War II. Fans of '50s sci-fi and fans of Clarke may find this a fascinating read. Others are advised to stick with "2001."
September 6, 2012
Though it was a tad outdated, seeing as this was published about nine years before the moon landing, it was a fun read. I learned several things about physics and space I didn't know before. And the work Enigmatic.
August 16, 2023
A few months ago, I read Last Night at the Telegraph Club, and the main character in that book is obsessed with this book and the promises of space exploration it brings. Given that I've enjoyed plenty of Clarke's science fiction, I figured I'd check out his science writing. And while this is obviously somewhat out of date due to being 70 years old, I really enjoyed it and I can see why it would give somebody visions of the stars.
Clarke in his introduction explains that he wrote this as a companion to a more technical work on space flight to have something for the man on the street to read. There isn't much in the way of complex equations or difficult math here. Instead, there's a lot of neat information about how rockets work, their potential for spaceflight, and all the things that could be done in orbit, on the moon, and on the planets.
I know plenty about rockets simply from having been fascinated with the space program as a kid, but this book does a great job of explaining how they work. There's an analogy to a man on a trolley that demonstrates how rockets work, the issues of needing to carry fuel, and how to make them go faster. As a sign of when this was written, Clarke also has to explain that yes, rockets do work in a vacuum and thus will be just fine in outer space. There's also some great discussions of orbital mechanics and the ways that it can be harder to get to some parts of the solar system than others. It helps me to better understand all the stuff with gravity assists and such that have been done to send probes to the outer planets.
Clarke's discussion of the worlds of the solar system is these days more of historical than scientific interest. After all, he's writing when Pluto is still a planet and we didn't know how hellish Venus is. The ideas about colonizing the planets and the moon and what can be done there are great but feel naive from the point of view of 2023, when we've only been to the moon a handful of times and never further. There's some nice insight into how Clarke thinks about space here and throughout the book. His discussion of spacecraft for interplanetary travel helps to show why the Discovery in 2001 looks the way it does. And it's great to see him discussion communication satellites and the other uses of Earth orbit space exploration.
The book wraps up with a brief discussion of stars, the possibility of exoplanets, and the difficulty of actually reaching other solar systems. It's funny seeing how frequently he cites the possibilities of atomic rockets, both because those have yet to materialize and because they make me think of the Project Daedalus concept that emerged from the British society that Clarke was a part of. I appreciate that for all he was a sci-fi writer, Clarke is firm about the problems of interstellar flight. He does leave room for us making some discovery that makes FTL possible on the simple basis that you can't really prove a negative, but it's clear that for all practical purposes that's fantasy. And it's cool seeing a discussion of exoplanets well before they were definitely a real thing.
Overall, this was a really fun read. I feel like I learned new things about the science of space travel as well as the history of how that science is perceived. And it definitely makes me want to read more contemporary sources at some point to see the details of how we solved the issues Clarke raises. So I get why this book would blow the minds of people in the 50s and inspire many of them to want to get involved in space exploration.
Clarke in his introduction explains that he wrote this as a companion to a more technical work on space flight to have something for the man on the street to read. There isn't much in the way of complex equations or difficult math here. Instead, there's a lot of neat information about how rockets work, their potential for spaceflight, and all the things that could be done in orbit, on the moon, and on the planets.
I know plenty about rockets simply from having been fascinated with the space program as a kid, but this book does a great job of explaining how they work. There's an analogy to a man on a trolley that demonstrates how rockets work, the issues of needing to carry fuel, and how to make them go faster. As a sign of when this was written, Clarke also has to explain that yes, rockets do work in a vacuum and thus will be just fine in outer space. There's also some great discussions of orbital mechanics and the ways that it can be harder to get to some parts of the solar system than others. It helps me to better understand all the stuff with gravity assists and such that have been done to send probes to the outer planets.
Clarke's discussion of the worlds of the solar system is these days more of historical than scientific interest. After all, he's writing when Pluto is still a planet and we didn't know how hellish Venus is. The ideas about colonizing the planets and the moon and what can be done there are great but feel naive from the point of view of 2023, when we've only been to the moon a handful of times and never further. There's some nice insight into how Clarke thinks about space here and throughout the book. His discussion of spacecraft for interplanetary travel helps to show why the Discovery in 2001 looks the way it does. And it's great to see him discussion communication satellites and the other uses of Earth orbit space exploration.
The book wraps up with a brief discussion of stars, the possibility of exoplanets, and the difficulty of actually reaching other solar systems. It's funny seeing how frequently he cites the possibilities of atomic rockets, both because those have yet to materialize and because they make me think of the Project Daedalus concept that emerged from the British society that Clarke was a part of. I appreciate that for all he was a sci-fi writer, Clarke is firm about the problems of interstellar flight. He does leave room for us making some discovery that makes FTL possible on the simple basis that you can't really prove a negative, but it's clear that for all practical purposes that's fantasy. And it's cool seeing a discussion of exoplanets well before they were definitely a real thing.
Overall, this was a really fun read. I feel like I learned new things about the science of space travel as well as the history of how that science is perceived. And it definitely makes me want to read more contemporary sources at some point to see the details of how we solved the issues Clarke raises. So I get why this book would blow the minds of people in the 50s and inspire many of them to want to get involved in space exploration.
January 21, 2026
4.4/5: an optimistic and fun time capsule
I'll start out by saying, as a plus rather than a minus as far as readability goes, that this book is a time capsule. If you want 100% accuracy about space and space travel, there are books that came out after 2020. This one came out in 1951, before Webb, before Hubble, before those 2 cute satellites that are now past Pluto, before we knew anything about Pluto besides its basic existence, before Pluto was kicked outta the club, before Apollo, before even Sputnik. You'll see ideas in here like "yeah you could probably colonize Venus pretty easily, what are those clouds really made of anyway?" Mars is drawn with grass. The (beautiful) paintings scream 1950's.
All of this, again, is great, because (1) they show how far science has come along in 75 years, (2) they show some fascinating theories astronomers had before higher quality telescopes, and (3) it's cool to see all the stuff that Clarke got right. Even further, it's a great primer for science fiction stuff as a whole. If this book wasn't a catalyst for sci-fi ideas like human cultures evolving on non-planetary objects (Hyperion, Simmons), underground/tunnel usage on planets (Red Planet, Heinlein), and spaceships using centripetal force for gravity (2001, some guy named Arthur), it probably at least helped things along. Strangely enough, he's phenomenal at explaining these literally out-of-this-world concepts, but it's the explanation of concepts on Earth that get bogged down. The basic explanation on how rockets work ("there's a guy on a trolley! And they guy has bricks!") starts to bury itself, while an explanation on time via the theory of relativity hits perfectly. The man definitely wanted to be out in space, pronto.
I'll start out by saying, as a plus rather than a minus as far as readability goes, that this book is a time capsule. If you want 100% accuracy about space and space travel, there are books that came out after 2020. This one came out in 1951, before Webb, before Hubble, before those 2 cute satellites that are now past Pluto, before we knew anything about Pluto besides its basic existence, before Pluto was kicked outta the club, before Apollo, before even Sputnik. You'll see ideas in here like "yeah you could probably colonize Venus pretty easily, what are those clouds really made of anyway?" Mars is drawn with grass. The (beautiful) paintings scream 1950's.
All of this, again, is great, because (1) they show how far science has come along in 75 years, (2) they show some fascinating theories astronomers had before higher quality telescopes, and (3) it's cool to see all the stuff that Clarke got right. Even further, it's a great primer for science fiction stuff as a whole. If this book wasn't a catalyst for sci-fi ideas like human cultures evolving on non-planetary objects (Hyperion, Simmons), underground/tunnel usage on planets (Red Planet, Heinlein), and spaceships using centripetal force for gravity (2001, some guy named Arthur), it probably at least helped things along. Strangely enough, he's phenomenal at explaining these literally out-of-this-world concepts, but it's the explanation of concepts on Earth that get bogged down. The basic explanation on how rockets work ("there's a guy on a trolley! And they guy has bricks!") starts to bury itself, while an explanation on time via the theory of relativity hits perfectly. The man definitely wanted to be out in space, pronto.
May 29, 2024
A very fun read, for nerds like me, at least. This is a book that was written nearly 75 years ago. It's not science fiction, which of course Clarke is best known for; it's non-fiction. In it, he's doing what all good hard SF writers do: examine the status quo and ask what can be reasonably extrapolated.
Of course, it is most entertaining when you come across something that the master got completely wrong. Crewed landings on Venus! Green plants on Mars! Prolonged exposure to zero-g will have no harmful effects!
But, to be fair, based on what was known in 1950, these were not crazy thoughts. They only seem funny because of what we have learned since.
Overall, his batting average was remarkably high, and it would be even higher were it not for various political obstacles that have cropped up between then and now.
One more funny thing: Clarke does spend a fair amount of time imagining what daily life would be like for someone on a prolonged journey on a spaceship or stay on a space station, right down to considerations of food and water. He does not, however, even hint at what it might be like to poop and pee. I am sure he thought all about it, but given the time in which he was writing, decided that was not a fight worth having.
Of course, it is most entertaining when you come across something that the master got completely wrong. Crewed landings on Venus! Green plants on Mars! Prolonged exposure to zero-g will have no harmful effects!
But, to be fair, based on what was known in 1950, these were not crazy thoughts. They only seem funny because of what we have learned since.
Overall, his batting average was remarkably high, and it would be even higher were it not for various political obstacles that have cropped up between then and now.
One more funny thing: Clarke does spend a fair amount of time imagining what daily life would be like for someone on a prolonged journey on a spaceship or stay on a space station, right down to considerations of food and water. He does not, however, even hint at what it might be like to poop and pee. I am sure he thought all about it, but given the time in which he was writing, decided that was not a fight worth having.
August 12, 2021
It was quite a bit outdated, but explored many interesting ideas about space travel and outer space itself. I kind of hope that some of the concepts about living on other planets in the solar system may one day come true.
January 23, 2025
Interesting book well written, not to read from a scientific perspective as all outdated and incorrect now but more as a science fiction book seeing the predictions from 50 years as to how space travel would be now and how little it had actually progressed.
August 7, 2025
A fun read, comparing the things Clarke got right about space travel and the things he got very wrong.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews