Includes bibliographical references (p. [295]-306) and index.
Frontier roots -- Heartland boyhood -- The making of a scientist -- Physicists to the war effort -- Enter Abigail Fithian Halsey -- The dawn of space exploration -- The mighty little aerobee -- It's a rocket! It's a balloon! It's a rockoon! -- Sputnik and the space race -- Countdown to explorer I -- Celebrity scientist and the birth of NASA -- Discovery of the radiation belts -- Space shield for the Cold War -- Space as a cottage industry -- The mariners -- Pioneers to the outer planets -- Space politics -- Journey to the edge of the solar system.