The Complete Book of Spaceflight, 2003 Edition.pdf

The Complete Book of Spaceflight by David Darling is exactly that, an encyclopedia of space exploration, from Apollo to zero gravity. I have to be honest though; I didn't read this book cover to cover. It's got 3,000 detailed listings in alphabetical order, so it's not exactly light reading material - imagine reading an encyclopedia. I have; however, been using it as a reference book for several months, and it's in that capacity that it really shines.
Darling clearly had the non-technical reader in mind when he wrote up his descriptions, as he steers well clear of jargon (in a jargon-laden industry), and I appreciate that he kept some descriptions very short. For spaceflight terms the book functions as a dictionary, and the explanations are kept to a few sentences. For other topics, the book functions more like an encyclopedia; in some cases several pages are dedicated to a single topic (Gemini Program, spacesuits, etc).
If Darling were standing in front of me, and asked me... "well, what do you think? Is it complete?" I'd have to say yes. It's complete. Everything that has anything to do with spaceflight is in there.