Plate-forme pour le cosmos

Albert Ducrocq
Year1962
PublisherRené Julliard
PlaceParis
LanguageFR
Pages360
Rating★★★☆☆ (3/5)
AudienceGeneral, Student
LevelIntermediate
Keywords
propulsioninterplanetary travelartificial satellitespace racespace biology
ThemesSpace Race, Launchers & Propulsion

Published in August 1962, Plate-forme pour le cosmos develops the concept of the orbital staging platform (a parking orbit from which future space expeditions will depart) and examines the technical and biological conditions for its implementation. Albert Ducrocq surveys recent Soviet manned flights (Titov, Vostok III and IV), orbital mechanics and interplanetary transfer calculations, then devotes individual chapters to the Moon, Venus and Mars as exploration targets. Later chapters address future propulsion systems (nuclear-thermal, ion and photon drives), the management of time and safety in extended spaceflight, the radiation problem and the prospects of space biology. The volume includes 24 tables, 49 figures, 11 photographs and a 33-page spatial index.

📖 Editorial Review

In August 1962, as Nikolayev and Popovich complete their tandem flights aboard Vostok III and IV, Albert Ducrocq publishes at Julliard his third major space book in five years. The "platform" of the title is both orbital (the parking orbit from which future expeditions will depart) and editorial: a 360-page …