To know and understand where you are it is important to know
where you started from and what path you have taken to arrive at
your destination. With respect to the International Space
Station ), the book ISScapades by Donald Beattie does an
admirable job of providing the reader with a reasonably detailed
overview of why we have the space station we have. ISScapades
covers the history of the space station program starting in 1982
with the first NASA internal studies through 1998 with the
launch of the first elements. A final chapter provides
highlights for each of the years 1999 - 2005. Donald A. Beattie,
the book's author, is a former senior manager at NASA who
initially worked on the Apollo program and rose to become the
NASA Headquarters program manager for Lunar Surface Experiments.
Relevant to the writing of this book, Beattie served on the
Space Station Advisory Committee from 1987 to 1994. He has
previously authored History and Overview of Solar Heat
Technologies and Taking Science to the Moon The chapt