Space Station

School Library Journal

Gr 5-7 The U.S. space program may be in disarray, but an orbiting station is still one of its big projects. Here Apfel de scribes the ``double keel'' design cur rently in favor, and, since apparently there isn't that much to say about it yet, she spends more than half of the book surveying the history of space flight or speculating about the future of perma nent settlements. The information is ac curate and clearly presented, although it is not completely up-to-datethe Chal lenger disaster is noted but not the sub sequent series of booster failures. The black-and-white photos are disappoint ingly few and murky. Apfel doesn't men tion the space station's military applica tions, but readers will find her discussion of the Space Race and some of the long-term effects of living and working in zero-G useful and concise. This is an improvement over Billings' Space Station: Bold New Step Beyond Earth (Dodd, 1986) and can be used to update or replace O'Leary's Project Space Station ( Stackpole, l983; o.p.). John Peters, New York Public Library