Marilyn Courtot: Many may dream of traveling into space and visiting another planet, but few have had the opportunity. McMahon recaps the existing space programs and then begins his discussion of the few space tourists to date. It is only those who have had plenty of money who have been able to buy a ticket on a Russian Soyuz capsule. Life on the International Space Station is not easy and it was not really designed for tourism. Now that the U.S. has retired the space shuttle, researchers have turned to other types of vehicles and their potential for space flight. There is an interesting spread describing what it was like waiting for the rockets to fire while in the space shuttle with comments from Anousheh Ansari, the world's first female space tourist and also comments from NASA astronaut Sunita Williams. Will we ever see space hotels, an elevator to orbit or vehicles powered by photons from the sun? There are significant issues not to mention costs in developing space tourism; and while we might all want to see it happen, it may be a long time before it does. What makes this book really interesting are the insets and experiments that bring an understanding of the effects of gravity, simulating weightlessness, understanding how a two stage rocket engine works and creating a dual-stage space plane. The text includes references to Internet sites for more information and instruction. The closing page contains a short glossary and an index. For those who want to be a part of future space travel, this is a good place to learn the basics. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot