Synopses & Reviews
The story of the men and women who drove the Voyager spacecraft missionand#151; told by a scientist who was there from the beginning.
The Voyager spacecraft are our farthest-flung emissariesand#151;11.3 billion miles away from the crew who built and still operate them, decades since their launch.
Voyager 1 left the solar system in 2012; its sister craft, Voyager 2, will do so in 2015. The fantastic journey began in 1977, before the first episode of Cosmos aired. The mission was planned as a grand tour beyond the moon; beyond Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; and maybe even into interstellar space. The fact that it actually happened makes this humanityand#8217;s greatest space mission.
In The Interstellar Age, award-winning planetary scientist Jim Bell reveals what drove and continues to drive the members of this extraordinary team, including Ed Stone, Voyagerand#8217;s chief scientist and the one-time head of NASAand#8217;s Jet Propulsion Lab; Charley Kohlhase, an orbital dynamics engineer who helped to design many of the critical slingshot maneuvers around planets that enabled the Voyagers to travel so far; and#160;and the geologist whose Earth-bound experience would prove of little help in interpreting the strange new landscapes revealed in the Voyagersand#8217; astoundingly clear images of moons and planets.
Speeding through space at a mind-bending eleven miles a second, Voyager 1 is now beyond our solar system's planets. It carries with it artifacts of human civilization. By the time Voyager passes its first star in about 40,000 years, the gold record on the spacecraft, containing various music and images including Chuck Berryand#8217;s and#147;Johnny B. Goode,and#8221; will still be playable.
Review
"A thrilling story of a thrilling episode in the history of space exploration." -- James A. Michener
Review
"A thrilling story of a thrilling episode in the history of space exploration." -- James A. Michener
Review
Praise for The Interstellar Age
"Bell and#160;(The Space Book), president of the Planetary Society, delivers a lucid account of the magnificent scientific accomplishments of the Voyager Missions with a cheerfulness that it deserves." --and#160;Publishers Weekly
and#8220;In THE INTERSTELLAR AGE Professor Jim Bell celebrates Voyager -- NASA's most famous space probe. In this task, Bell not only shines as a leading planetary scientist, you get the sneaky feeling he knew the probe personally, serving in this case as Voyager's personal biographer to the benefit of us all.and#8221; --Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, author of Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontierand#160;
and#8220;Come along with Dr. Bell on an extraordinary adventure. He loves to travel. He relishes a long voyage. He doesnand#8217;t mind leaving home forever and never coming back. If it involves a once in lifetime journey through the cold emptiness of space, so much the better, as long as the ports of call are planetsand#8212;up close and personal. These voyages changed what we know of the cosmos and our place within it. Jim Belland#8217;s story will change you, too.and#8221; --Bill Nye, CEO, the Planetary Society
and#8220;The Interstellar Age is dawning and this book recounts the saga of humanityand#8217;s greatest solar system exploration on the way out. Part scientific autobiography, part top-notch science writing, Jim Belland#8217;s book is a welcome addition to the history of the Voyager Missions.and#8221; --Jon Lomberg, space artist, science journalist, and co-creator of the Voyager Interstellar Record
and#8220;Everyone loves Voyager, and every few years the plucky spacecraft give us yet another reason to remind us why. Now that Voyager 1 has passed beyond the veil of the helioshere and plunged into interstellar space, Jim Bell takes up the narrative of what that mission has meant and makes his personal relationship, which dates from his days as a student, stand for the near-universal bond most of us feel. A timely, humane, and informative read.and#8221; --Stephen Pyne, historian, and author of Voyager: Seeking New Worlds in the Third Great Age of Exploration
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"The space mission that turned points of light into worldsand#8230; the Grandest Tour and#8230; Voyager. Over 35 years after it was launched, it's now sending back data from beyond our solar system. Live the incredible adventure in Jim Bell's personal yet sweeping and comprehensive account, the story of one of the greatest explorations in history and the extraordinary people who made it happen." -- Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon and A Passion for Mars
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Synopsis
NATIONAL BESTSELLER. Astronaut Jim Lovell and coauthor Jeffrey Kluger's harrowing account of the Apollo 13 disaster. Serving as the basis for Ron Howard's blockbuster Apollo 13, the book reveals true details not shown in the movie. Thrilling and evocative, you feel as though you're alongside Lovell in the lunar module.?
Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe. Minutes after a mid-flight explosion, the three astronauts are forced to abandon the main ship for the lunar module, a tiny craft designed to keep two men alive for just two days.?
As the hours tick away, the narrative shifts from the crippled spacecraft to Mission Control, from engineers searching desperately for a way to fix the ship to Lovell's wife and children praying for his safe return. The entire nation watches as one crisis after another is met and overcome. By the time the ship splashes down in the Pacific, we understand why the heroic effort to rescue Lovell and his crew is considered by many to be NASA's finest hour.?
Inspiring and astonishing, the story of Apollo 13 is a timeless tribute to the enduring American spirit and sparkling individual heroism.
Synopsis
In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only fifty-five hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, APOLLO 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe. Minutes after the explosion, the three astronauts are forced to abandon the main ship for the lunar module, a tiny craft designed to keep two men alive for just two days. As the hours tick away, the narrative shifts from the crippled spacecraft to Mission Control, from engineers searching desperately for a way to fix the ship to Lovell's wife and children praying for his safe return. The entire nation watches as one crisis after another is met and overcome. By the time the ship splashes down in the Pacific, we understand why the heroic effort to rescue Lovell and his crew is considered by many to be NASA's finest hour.
Now, thirty years after the launch of the mission, Jim Lovell and coauthor Jeffrey Kluger add a new preface and never-before-seen photographs to Apollo 13. In their preface, they offer an incisive look at America's waxing and waning love affair with space exploration during the past three decades, culminating only recently when the Apollo 13 spacecraft itself, long consigned to an aviation museum outside Paris, was at last returned to its rightful home in the United States. As inspiring today as it was thirty years ago, the story of Apollo 13 is a timeless tribute to the enduring American spirit and sparkling individual heroism.
Synopsis
The best-selling book that inspired the blockbuster movie
"A story of courage and#8212; in space, at NASA, and at the homes of those involved." and#8212; Houston Chronicle
A timeless tribute to the enduring American spirit, Apollo 13 tells the story of America's fifth mission to the moon, a mission that nearly ended in catastrophe in April 1970. Only fifty-five hours into the flight, disaster struck for Jim Lovell and two other astronauts after an explosion left them with a rapidly declining supply of oxygen and power. Lovell and Kluger vividly chronicle how the men were forced to abandon the main ship for the lunar module, a tiny craft designed to keep two men alive for only two days. At home, a nation watched the desperate efforts of Mission Control to bring the crew back in what many consider NASA's finest hour.
and#8220;A thrilling story of a thrilling episode in the history of space exploration.and#8221; and#8212; James A. Michener, author of Space
"Puts the reader in one of those [Apollo] slingshots, pulls, and lets go. What a moon shot. What a time. What a ride." and#8212; Baltimore Sun
and#8220;A tale of adventure to chill a readerand#8217;s spine.and#8221; and#8212; Atlantic Monthly
Jim Lovell joined NASA in 1962 and flew a total of four missions before retiring in 1973. He continues to lecture across the country, speaking about space exploration.
Jeffrey Kluger is a senior writer at Time and the author of several other books, including Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine.
About the Author
Jim Bell is currently a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, an adjunct professor in the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University, and president ofand#160;The Planetary Society. He and teammates have received more than a dozen NASA Group Achievement Awards for work on space missions, and he was the recipient of theand#160;2011 Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society, for excellence in public communication in planetary sciences. He is a frequent contributor to popular astronomy and science magazines likeand#160;Sky and Telescope,and#160;Astronomy, andand#160;Scientific American, and to radio shows and internet blogs about astronomy and space. He has appeared on television on the NBCand#160;Todayand#160;show, on CNN'sand#160;This American Morning, on the PBSand#160;NewsHour, and on the Discovery, National Geographic, Wall St. Journal, and History Channels. He is the author ofand#160;Postcards from Mars.