Milestones of Space ― Eleven Iconic Objects from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Throughout the whole of human history, across all of Earth’s cultures and landscapes, countless individuals have gazed with wonder in the same direction: upwards. Getting to space was no easy task, and our curiosity with the surrounding universe has long been a source of earthly pride and competition. At the bottom of this international technological rivalry, though, lies one unifying purpose, which is to understand the impossibly vast heavens. In Milestones of Space, Michael Neufeld and select curators of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum present a gorgeous photographic celebration of some of the most groundbreaking artifacts that played key parts in giving humanity its first steps into the cosmos. Focusing on the most iconic objects and technology—such as Friendship 7,the Lunar Module 2, Neil Armstrong’s Lunar Suit, the Hubble Space Telescope, and Space Shuttle Discovery—this book extensively profiles eleven of the NASM’s most important breakthroughs in space technology. The NASM curators feature each object in incredible detail with compelling timelines, sidebars and captions, and over 150 archival images that provide new and little-known insights into their development and historical context. We are still a long way from grasping our universe . . . but for now, Milestones of Space magnificently commemorates the individuals and inventions that have taken us this far.

Michael J. Neufeld is a museum curator in the space history division of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum. He was educated at the University of Calgary and Johns Hopkins University, where he received his doctorate in history. He is the author of The Rocket and the Reich (The Free Press, 1995), Von Braun: Dreamer of Space and Engineer of War (Random House, 2007).