Almost 50 years ago, Yuri Gagarin moved the world into a new era of exploration, that of manned spaceflight. Over the next five decades and over 250 missions later, almost 500 individuals from countries around the globe have followed him into space. Yet only 27 astronauts have ventured beyond Earth orbit and then only as far as the Moon. As we plan for a return to the Moon and onwards to Mars, it is timely to look back at these missions and review their successes and achievements, as well as their setbacks.

Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log is a comprehensive guide to all the space missions, from Gagarin to the ISS and the latest Chinese Shenzhou missions. A chronological sequence of orbital flights includes facts on the sub-orbital and ballistic flights that are a fundamental part of the quest for space. Also featured are: a summary of manned spaceflight mission profiles and programmes, 'space' flights of the X-15 rocket plane and X-Prize winner Spaceship 1 all manned missions to the Moon and to space stations sub orbital manned spaceflights, accidents, aborts and abandoned missions. This book is an invaluable companion to the range of manned spaceflight books from Springer-Praxis.