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As one would expect, the book opens with a historical overview of the world's first space stations: NASA's Skylab and the Russian's Salyut 1, and covers the lessons learned from these early endeavors. After these introductory chapters, the next section examined the successful Russian Salyut series of space stations that set many endurance records and demonstrated that complex on-orbit repairs are possible. In contrast to the Russian effort during this time, the NASA space station efforts were directly primarily at numerous paper studies.
The book next moves into the development of the US Space Station Freedom (SSF) projects, from the go ahead directive given by President Ronald Reagan, through the first George Bush years till its finale during the first year of the Clinton administration and covers all the early designs like the Dual Keel through the various Clinton redesign Options. While many may view the SSF project as mainly a paper study, it is clear that this project had a significant impact on the final design, development and operation of the ISS.
Again, in contrast to NASA's paper studies, the Russian space program had successful on-orbit programs with the Salyut space station and the Mir. These programs continued to show that humans could easily work in space by performing routine maintenance and emergency repairs. It should be noted that the cosmonauts aboard Mir still hold the endurance record over a full and continuous year in space. I should point out, as is documentation here, that a lot more has happen in the Russian space program, both good and bad, than is ever reported in the press.
The final section of the book, which is approximately half of the book, examines the construction of the ISS from the Shuttle-Mir partnership to the final mission of 2001. This portion of the book thoroughly examines the inclusion of the Russians into the NASA project and the various problems that occurred during the early stages of this joint venture including funding and numerous cultural differences. Once these problems had been over come, the book chronicles, in great detail, each ISS construction mission from liftoff to landing (or burn up for the Progress resupply missions). For each mission, the authors cover liftoff and any associated problems, the crew, the Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVAs), what was added, maintenance, crew rotation, etc. This book is so complete that I expect it will become the standard outlining the construction of the ISS for years to come.
A few final thoughts. As is typical of the Springer-Praxis series of astronomy and space exploration books, this book also contains many numerous high quality photographs and drawings, which I come to expect from this publisher. Furthermore, it avoids most of the NASA-ese use of acronyms to describe just about every piece of hardware. I found only one minor error and that was only related to the naming of an EVA construction tool. And finally, since the ISS is a work in progress, the book only covers those missions completed by the end of 2001 and in the future will either need to be updated or have a second volume.
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Admittedly, I was skeptical about the authors' project, which seemed like a desperate attempt to bridge two subjects, pragmatism and Confucianism, that are both equally unprofitable, with a popular item in the news, China. I wanted an appealing interpretation of Confucianism, that would allow me to understand the cultural divide between east and west more easily. I was also interested in any study about pragmatism, which, as the authors also argue, deserves more respect. Last, I wanted a framework to understand Korean and western dialogue, since Korean interpretations of Confucianism are also relevant to Chinese reform historically, and are also a factor in Korea's relations with western countries. The book satisfied my demands more than satisfactorily.
Some readers may be angered by the authors' use of Deweyan Pragmatism to criticize traditional liberalism, but the authors have good reason. Dewey did have a small role in Chinese educational reform before the Communist Party assumed control in 1949. Dewey, and pragmatism in general, are both better exemplars of distinct American realities than liberalism. Also, using pragmatic terms, the authors couch Confucian concepts in a way more palatable and approachable.
The authors argue, that a Confucian interpretation of democracy is possible. This Confucian democracy is useful as a tool for political reform. And then, by using Deweyan thought, it is possible for Chinese and American reformers to share ideas for reform in both countries. The book, therefore, is ultimately a practical one.
The authors eschew nationalistic and philosophical bias, which is necessary for productive dialogue. This is not a book that celebrates western values over eastern ones. It has relevance also in Korea, yet, ironically, it will not convince Americans of the need for reform in their own country, especially if readers refuse to abandon implicit faith in liberal thinking. This is not a book about dead things, but a very lively, well-written, timely offering..