The only work to date to collect data gathered during the American and Soviet missions in an accessible and complete reference of current scientific and technical information about the Moon.

"A balanced biography of Gerard P. Kuiper and his critical role in the emergence of modern planetary science"--Provided by publisher.

Discusses the geology and geophysics of Venus; the lunar highlands and regolith; magmatic processes of the moon and meteorites; remote sensing of the moon and Mars; chondrites, cosmic dust, and comets; ammonia-water mixtures; and the evolution of volcanism, tectonics, and volatiles on Mars. Attention is given to volcanism on Venus, pristine moon rocks, the search for Crisium Basin ejecta, Apollo 14 glasses, lunar anorthosites, the sources of mineral fragments in impact melts 15445 and 15455, and argon adsorption in the lunar atmosphere. Also high-pressure experiments on magnesian eucrite compositions, the early results of thermal diffusion in metal-sulfide liquids, preliminary results of imaging spectroscopy of the Humorum Basin region of the moon, high-resolution UV-visible spectroscopy of lunar red spots, and a radar-echo model for Mars. Other topics include nitrogen isotopic signatures in the Acapulco Meteorite, tridymite and maghemite formation in an Fe-SiO smoke, and the enigma of mottled terrain on Mars.