American propulsion engineer Peter James introduces his 1974 book Soviet Conquest from Space as a side by side comparison of the US and USSR space technology race that in 1974, the date of publication by Arlington House, the Soviets seemed poised to win. And not only the space race for manned exploration and military applications, but using that fine edge to initiate a nuclear war-and win it. Such were the concerns when the US Space Shuttle fleet was on drawing boards and the Russians were developing their own N-1 Super Moon Booster, Scramjets, Orbit to Orbit Shuttles, laser weapons and unmanned explorations that after the Cold War, declassified information brought these super secret systems to light. Conceivable if the USSR had not fallen due to their economics in the late 1980s causing many of these systems to be cancelled. A must read for space political history fans.