This newly reissued debut book in the Rutgers University Press Classics Imprint is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety

Contents
In Re John D. Clark - foreword by Issac Asimov
Preface
 1    How It Started
 2    Peenemunde and JPL
 3    The Hunting of the Hypergol . . .
 4    . . . and Its Mate
 5    Peroxide - Always a Bridesmaid
 6    Halogens and Politics and Deep Space
 7    Performance
 8    Lox and Flox and Cryogenics in General
 9    What Ivan Was Doing
10    "Exotics"
11    The Hopeful Monoprops
12    High Density and the Higher Foolishness
13    What Happens Next
Glossary
Index