Les planètes artificielles

les navettes spatiales, les stations orbitales, la colonisation de l'espace

Wim Dannau, James M. Beggs (intro.), Michel Bignier (intro.), Tatsuzo Obayashi (intro.)
Year1985
PublisherBordas
PlaceParis
LanguageFR
ISBN9782040127169
Pages192
SeriesEncyclopédie Visuelle
Rating★★★☆☆ (3/5)
AudienceGeneral
LevelIntermediate
Keywords
European space cooperationspace utopiamilitarization of spacespace colonizationSpace Shuttlespace station
ThemesHuman Spaceflight, Space Imaginaries

A large illustrated volume in Bordas's "Encyclopédie Visuelle" series, Wim Dannau's forward-looking book surveys the future of human spaceflight over a "1985-2035" horizon. Its three parts (space shuttles, orbital stations and the colonization of space) are each introduced by a signed essay from Michel Bignier (ESA), James M. Beggs (NASA) and Tatsuzo Obayashi (Tokyo), with a foreword by French President François Mitterrand. The text covers the US Space Shuttle and Europe's projected Hermès spaceplane, Spacelab and the planned Columbus station, the Soviet Salyut stations and the Intercosmos programme, astronauts' daily life and space medicine, and finally L5-type space-colony projects inspired by Gerard O'Neill. It is richly illustrated with photographs and panoramic paintings by Erik Viktor, and rounded out with technical sections, a glossary and an index.

📖 Editorial Review

Published by Bordas in its "Encyclopédie Visuelle" series, Wim Dannau's lavish album does not recount the history of spaceflight: it imagines its future, over a "1985-2035" horizon. Poised between careful reportage and avowed anticipation, the book owes as much to its institutional backing as to its imagery. …