Frederick I. Ordway III
Visions of Spaceflight
Images from the Ordway Collection
Foreword by Sir Arthur C. Clarke

"A fascinating book, the result of a lifetime's research." — Arthur C. Clarke

Frederick Ordway's fascination with rockets and spaceflight began in the days long before there was a NASA. He stuck with his obsession, became one of the first to work in the fledgling space industry, and along the way amassed a world-class collection of images chronicling the evolution of astronautics and rocketry. Many of the pictures here are reproduced from original paintings and drawings at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Spanning five centuries and featuring hundreds of full-color reproductions, Visions of Spaceflight is the kind of book that resists easy explanation — it must be seen to be appreciated.

Some of the book's most stunning images fall within the nearly fifty pages dedicated to artwork that first appeared in Collier's and This Week magazines during the 1950s. These pictures influenced an entire generation of writers, artists, and filmmakers — not to mention capturing the imaginations of millions of ordinary people, some of whom ended up making spaceflight their careers.

Images of square-jawed astronauts maneuvering their craft in Mars orbit; fantastic vehicles hurtling toward unknown planets; fanciful attempts to escape the confines of Earth with slingshots, firecrackers, and hot-air balloons. From the wildly speculative to the rigorously scientific, from dewdrop propulsion to goose-powered moon travel, the images presented in Visions of Spaceflight do not simply chronicle one man's lifelong obsession — they tell the story of one of humanity's most enduring fascinations. It is our hope that this book will serve as inspiration for the next generation of dreamers who look to the stars and ask: How do we get from here to there?

Frederick I. Ordway III worked side-by-side with legendary rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, with whom he wrote A History of Rocketry and Space Travel (1966), The Rockets' Red Glare (1976), and other books. He is a former director and current member of the board of directors of the National Space Society and the National Space Institute, and was the technical advisor for Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. A member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the Planetary Society, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Physics, he lives in Arlington, Virginia.