"An Owl Book."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-327) and index.

Shortly after the first Sputnik launch in 1957, an American scientific team proposed Project Orion, an enormous interplanetary spaceship propelled by exploding hundreds of nuclear bombs. The project commenced during the golden age of support for U.S. scientific research, but the team struggled to find ongoing funding. Civilian NASA found Orion unpalatable because of its inextricable link with nuclear weapons, while the military regarded the team's ultimate goal exploration of the solar system as peripheral to their own space research program. As public opposition to atmospheric nuclear testing grew, making even a small-scale test shot politically unfeasible, the project died for lack of support. The author, son of physicist Freeman Dyson (himself an Orion consultant), interviewed team members and tracked down scores of technical reports to compile this unique history.