Lunar Outpost: The Challenges of Establishing a Human Settlement on the Moon (Springer Praxis Books)

This is a well written book and the quality of the printing is very good.Most of the content of the book is based on the 2004 NASA Vision for Space Exploration.List of Contents:1 Vision for Space Exploration2 Racing to the Moon3 Next-generation launch vehicles4 Designing the Crew Exploration Vehicle5 Lunar outpost6 Astronaut selection and medical requirement7 From launch to landing8 Alternative mission architectures9 Lunar exploration objectives10 Lunar space tourismEpilogueGlossaryIndexThe main body of the text is 264 pages long.The first 120 pages are about the description of the launcher ARES and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).The chapter 5 is about the Lunar outpost but it is only 29 pages long.The chapters 6 and 9 about the Astronaut selection and medical requirement and Lunar exploration objectives are also of some interest.If you want to have a more detailed and complete description of the implementation of the ''Vision for Space Exploration'' you should download the ''Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) Final Report from NASA:Go to the NASA web page and make a search for ESAS. You will then be able to download the pdf file of the complete 2005 ESAS final report (NASA-TM-2005-214062) of 758 pages.The present book by Erik Seedhouse fails short on the Lunar Outpost.If you are more specifically interested in the Lunar Outpost aspects I strongly recommend to buy the 2nd edition of the following book (also from Springer/Praxis):The Moon, Resources, Future, Development, and Settlement (2nd edition)by David Schrunk, Burton Sharpe, Bonnie Cooper and Madhu Thangavelu>

Even though the Constellation Project has been canceled, this book gives great background information on how the project was developing and on the goals to be achieved on the moon. The information on Moon bases is still valuable and could still be used if the new SLS (Space Launch System) is used for Moon missions in the future.

This book was published in late 2008, just as the Obama administration was taking over the White House... unfortunately, the book mainly focuses on the Bush Administration's VSE (Vision for Space Exploration), and the associated Constellation Program, both of which Obama tried to completely erase. Obama was only half-successful in killing off the complete Constellation Program -- Orion survived, for instance, while the Ares concept has evolved into the simpler Space Launch System (SLS).While the current Administration's "beyond Earth Orbit" plans do not envision returning humans to the surface of the moon (they do include a manned trip around the moon in 2021; however), I believe these "plans" will get re-written again, once the White House changes hands in 2013, and we will see renewed commitment to return humans to the surface of the Moon within the next 12-15 years.

Was a good book and I would recommend it. It did not provide as much detail into the scientific areas of study as I would have liked though.