Moon Base : First Colony in Space

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-These utilitarian volumes may not ignite that sense of wonder that flashier surveys of space and space exploration do, but both offer solid groundings in their respective topics. Cole reports on the unmanned Galileo's wildly indirect course past Venus, the Moon, Earth (twice), through the asteroid belt, and into the Jovian system, pausing for thumbnail profiles of several scientists who worked on the mission and capturing a strong sense of their triumph at its successes. The scenario for our planned Moon base makes drier reading, largely because it is so abstract (e.g., "During the two-week lunar day, the crew will take turns exploring the area in two-person teams. The first two astronauts will slide into their space suits and venture outside through the habitat's airlock"), but the base's initial construction and purposes are clearly laid out. In both books, small, sharp color illustrations-mostly photos in Galileo, mostly artists' renderings in Moon Base-enhance the narrative, and in both the perfunctory indexes (major topics, such as the detailed account of the Moon base's solar power array, are missed) are balanced by full endnote citations, as well as lists of books and Web sites. Any collection serving assignment-driven readers will benefit from these up-to-date introductions.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.