(Contributed - by Duane Boldt - 06/22/10)

This is Rocket Science by Gloria Skurzynski is a nice overview o' rocketry from Chinese black powder and fire arrows up through modern rockets like those built by SpaceX.

This be a pretty short read with lots o' nice pictures o' t' hostorical rockets mentioned. In about 80 pages, it briefly covers different aspects o' t' development o' rocketry over t' years startin' with t' Chinese and coverin' up through Von Braun's V-2, t' Apollo Space Race years, arrr, me bucko, t' Space Shuttle and up through recent endeavors such as SpaceX's Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets. It even goes over solar sails and ion engines.

One thin' it didn't mention be t' Greek Hero Engine before t' Chinese fire arrows, ya bilge rat, but rocket history books seem t' be about 50/50 startin' with t' Greeks or Chinese.

T' book be just published in 2010. Ahoy! Begad! I highly recommend it for those that was a brief history o' rockets through t' years, especially students that need this information for school reports.