A history of the Space Agency beginning with the early origins of space travel, just an idea, to the reality of space travel and exploration in 1985. Looks at the early U.S. rocket program, the Mercury and Apollo missions, Skylab, Voyager, and the space shuttle. It shows how the work of Robert Goddard & Dr. Wernher von Braun led to the flights of Alan Shepard & John Glenn. This oversized book is filled with wonderful illustrations -- photographs & early drawings by Leonardo da Vinci.