Pisacane (aerospace engineering, US Naval Academy and biomedical engineering, Johns Hopkins U.) gives students and professionals a better understanding of the environment of space and its effects on spacecraft design. Realistically, he begins by describing the failures caused by the space environment and the associated risks, overviews the solar system (including asteroids and comets, the sun and its activity), then proceeds to magnetic and electric fields, gravitational fields, the magnetosphere, the neutral environment, plasma interactions, radiation interactions, and spacecraft contamination. He closes with very interesting chapters on meteoroids and space debris and their effects on the design of spacecraft, and the ever present problem of thermal control. He focuses primarily on the earth's environment but includes significant material on the extraterrestrial and the effects of radiation on humans in space. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)