The Exploration of Space

I've been reading a book written in 1951 by Arthur Clarke. The book is about what he believes will be the requirements for space travel and how man will eventually get to other heavenly bodies. It's VERY accurate. Like a prophet, or something. Granted, it was written very close to the time that space travel began, it was still very knowledgeable for the time.

Clarke predicted multi-stage rockets, and also that man would probably not get to the outer planets very soon at all. He predicted that there would be 3 types of space craft: the launch and return vehicle, the ferry, the long-range vessel, how each would look, and how they would be propelled, stating that the ion thruster would be a good, low-weight method of space travel for ships not entering the atmosphere.

It's an interesting read, so far.