本书选取了中国航天泰斗钱学森光辉一生中的突出事迹重点介绍：他在良好的家庭教育中成长，从小就树立了航空救国、航空强国的远大抱负；在美国求学期间，他历经辛苦、刻苦钻研，终于在自己的研究领域中出类拔萃；为了能回到祖国、为国效力，他毅然决然放弃了在美国优越的生活与研究条件，并与阻拦他回国的美当局不断周旋，斗争到底；回到祖国后，他为祖国的航空航天事业殚精竭虑，做出了不可估量的贡献。

钱学森是享誉海内外的杰出科学家、中国航天事业的拓荒者和奠基人，被誉为“火箭之王”“中国导弹之父”“中国航天之父”等。本书编撰“钱学森智库”是对钱学森生平及其重要思想进行专门研究的机构，掌握大量权威、翔实的第一手资料。作为人物传记本书对他传奇人生的不同阶段都有真实而完整的呈现，展现了他为中国航天事业殚精竭虑，做出不可磨灭的历史性贡献。本书兼具人物传记的严谨性和可读性。

Preface V
Chapter One
The Boy Who Cried Out to Conquer the Universe 1
Section I Origin of the Nickname "Chemistry Department" 3
Section II Fortunate to be Scouted for "Aerospace Studies" 8
Section III A Perfect Test Paper 13
Chapter Two
Under the Tutelage of Famous Aerodynamicist
Theodore von Kármán 19
Section I The Kármán-Tsien Equation 21
Section II The Proposal of "Hsue-shen Tsien Trajectory" 28
Section III "The Suicide Club" 33
Chapter Three
A Chinese Scientist Worth Five Army Divisions 39
Section I The Young Man who Frequented the Pentagon 41
Section II Participating in the US Army's "Operation Paperclip" 48
Section III Toward New Horizons 61
Chapter Four
Leaving America 67
Section I No Insurance 69
Section II Trumped-up Charges 77
Section III Diplomatic Mediation 90
Chapter Five
The Return of a Chinese Patriot 97
Section I General Chen Geng Attends a Meeting by Special Plane 99
Section II The Hsue-shen Tsien Fever 106
Section III Personally Compiling Rocket Teaching Materials 112
Section IV The Chinese People Can Now Be More Confident 123
Chapter Six
Soaring Rockets 129
Section I Replicating the Soviet Missile 131
Section II The Success of the "1059" Missile 139
Section III Failure is the Mother of Success 144
Section IV Two Missiles Stun the World 154
Chapter Seven
The Satellite Launches and the Music Plays 161
Section I The East Is Red Plays on a Satellite 163
Section II The Dazzling Qianxuesen Asteroid 177
Section III The Many Layers of Philosophy 181
Section IV A Thinker with New World Insights 187
Postscript 197