Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Abbreviations and Acronyms -- 1. Frontier Roots -- 2. Heartland Boyhood -- 3. The Making of a Scientist -- 4. Physicists to the War Effort -- 5. Enter Abigail Fithian Halsey -- 6. The Dawn of Space Exploration -- 7. The Mighty Little Aerobee -- 8. It's a Rocket! It's a Balloon! It's a Rockoon! -- 9. Sputnik and the Space Race -- 10. Countdown to Explorer I -- 11. Celebrity Scientist and the Birth of NASA -- 12. Discovery of the Radiation Belts -- 13. Space Shield for the Cold War -- 14. Space as a Cottage Industry -- 15. The Mariners -- 16. Pioneers to the Outer Planets -- 17. Space Politics -- 18. Journey to the Edge of the Solar System -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index.