About the book

This book has appeared now for the very reason that it didn’t appear 20 centuries or half a century ago—because of speed. Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days required a speed of 500 kilometres a day. Outer Space and Man requires escape velocity at least.

Before the reader embarks on this book we should like to give him a warning. It has several qualities which, if not mentioned in advance, may escape his attention, and he may not like the book so much—which would be a pity.

We hope that this book will be easy to read. We should like the reader to smile occasionally and to stop and think occasionally, but never to wrinkle his brow trying to recall some for­ gotten textbook formula. We know that no one has tried to define cosmic humour, but we have

 seen Gagarin’s smile and we make so bold as lo claim that if people didn’t know how to laugh they would never have entered outer space.

But this is not a funny’ book. It has no formulas, but it does have numbers. It has words like “orbit”, “parsec”, and even “explo­ sive decompression”. When it was finished all the authors and editors reread it, and each one understood many things, and all together they understood everything. In any case, the reader will probably realize that outer space is not to

be trilled with.

The book is far from comprehensive. Many

things have not been reflected, described or even mentioned. But why speak of omissions? If it contained everything about outer space it would be another kind of book which we should be unable to judge.

When the authors got down to work they knew of only two Soviet cosmonauts. By the time they had finished there were eleven. The ink will dry on the printed pages, the reader will get to the last part and then how many will there be?

We can only guess how many new cos­ monauts there will be and what new exploits they will have performed.

Per aspera ad astra—through difficulties to the stars—the ancients used to say. They prayed humbly to their gods and dreamed meekly of heaven.