Space History

Escape from Earth is the untold story of the engineers, dreamers and rebels who started the American space programme. In particular, it is the story of Frank Malina, founder of what became Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the scientist who cracked the, as he called it, problem of escape from the Earth by rocket. It's a wild ride.

25 more places. 25 more...Historical, Interesting, and Sometimes Quirky places to visit, explore, and learn the history of all along Cape Cod, from Sandwich all the way to Provincetown. Many of the locals may know just a little or virtually nothing about these locations! They will be surprised at what you know about their own backyard. It's the perfect companion to Don's first book! Whether you have lived here all your life, have summered here since you were a kid or just been to Cape Cod a few times or never at all, you will love to discover and explore these hidden gems!! *Discover the ...

July 20, 1969. It’s a day that has earned a spot in history. It’s the day that America was the first nation to succeed in sending two astronauts - Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong - to the moon. But what led to this unforgettable event? What were the stakes riding on the Apollo 11’s safe landing? In acclaimed author Douglas Brinkley’s first young readers' edition, space fans will get the riveting and factual backstory of arguably the most significant achievement of the 20th century.

When Galileo looked to the sky with his perspicillum, or spyglass, roughly 400 years ago, he could not have fathomed the amount of change his astonishing findings a seemingly flat moon magically transformed into a dynamic, crater-filled orb and a large, black sky suddenly held millions of galaxies would have on civilizations.

The question of man’s place in the extended universe has been pondered by every known culture since the beginning of recorded history. Naturally, as technological advances and the creation of flying aircraft became realities, the sighting of UFOs increased, as did the interest in potential contact with aliens. While incidents like the one at Roswell led to conspiracies and a craze among those who insisted the government was hiding proof of extraterrestrials’ existence, governments across the world were actually secretly studying UFO sightings by the mid-20th century.

In 1954, the US Air Force launched an ambitious program known as WS-117L to develop the world's first reconnaissance satellite. The goal was to take photographic images from space and relay them back to Earth via radio. Because of technical issues and bureaucratic resistance, however, WS-117L was seriously behind schedule by the time Sputnik orbited Earth in 1957 and was eventually cancelled. Eyeing the Red Storm examines the birth of space-based reconnaissance from the perspective of WS-117L.

The 13th person to walk on the moon could soon be part of a crew establishing a base on the lip of a crater at the lunar south pole. The discovery of ice in the eternal shadows of the polar regions transforms our ability to live on the moon. From bases on the moon we can make the long, lonely and dangerous voyage to Mars, where there is also ice. The obstacles are many, not least the fragilities of the human body. And what type of world would the first Mars explorers find?

Humans are pattern-matching creatures, and astrology is our grandest pattern-matching game. In this ingenious work of history, data scientist Alexander Boxer examines a treasure trove of esoteric classical sources to expose the deep imaginative framework by which - for millennia - we made sense of our fates. Astrology, he argues, was the ancient world's most ambitious applied mathematics problem, a grand data-analysis enterprise sustained by some of history's most brilliant minds, from Ptolemy to al-Kindi to Kepler.

Nothing captivates the human imagination like the vast unknowns of space. Ancient petroglyphs present renderings of the heavens, proof that we have been gazing up at the stars with wonder for thousands of years. Since then, mankind has systematically expanded our cosmic possibilities. What were once flights of fancy and dreams of science fiction writers have become nearly routine. Space travel is a sometimes heroic, sometimes humorous, and always dangerous journey fraught with perils. Space Oddities brings unknown, offbeat, and obscure stories of space to life.

The fire of the First Galactic War has enveloped the inhabited region of space. More and more planets are being drawn into the conflict between the Terran Alliance and the Free Colonies. Weapons are being improved, and military artificial intelligence modules are being created. The war of humans is gradually transforming into a war of machines.

The war is now a storm long past, but the scars still linger, and they are deep. Sophia Trotsky has arrived to give an interview for a documentary on The Great War, where the memories hit as hard as the battles. However, the courage to face the memories once more comes from a chance encounter with a reflection of the tattered soul within.

Once known as the great project, a united Earth began colonizing the red planet in international unity. Any country that could afford to settle on Mars did so. It became the largest melting pot of the solar system since the formation of the United States. Of course, it was not to last. When the Great War between the Pacific Alliance and the European Union began twenty years ago, the United Martian settlements had a dilemma as they made up nations from both sides. Cries for independence went unheeded, and slowly but surely, the peaceful world was dragged into the conflict.

The Cavill Family is continuing their late time-traveling father’s mission to save humanity from a nuclear holocaust. In the course of doing this, they have made enemies. One of these enemies kidnapped Beatrice Cavill and brutally interrogated her. She was rescued but the aftermath of her ordeal has changed the course of her life. But the changing world continues to lurch towards violent conflict despite the Cavills attempts to refocus humanity’s attention towards space travel. Even as a colony is being established on Mars at the beginning of the 1970’s, dramatic events over the ...

Sarah Cruddas has been looking to the skies her entire life. Her childhood was spent staring at the moon and hearing stories of the space race, and she worked in a fruit factory to fund her love of the subject. Her subsequent career studying astrophysics and becoming a television host and space journalist has seen her report on space exploration and chase launches across the world. In Look Up Sarah explains why she has always been a passionate advocate for why space should matter - to everyone.

Ever wish you could have your very own lightsaber like Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Or that you could fly through space at the speed of light like Han Solo and Poe Dameron? Well, those ideas aren't as outlandish as you think. In The Physics of Star Wars, you'll explore the mystical power of the Force using quantum mechanics, find out how much energy it would take for the Death Star or Starkiller Base to destroy a planet, and discover how we can potentially create our very own lightsabers.

Today the Space Race is widely viewed poignantly and fondly as a race to the Moon that culminated with Apollo 11 “winning” the Race for the United States. In fact, it encompassed a much broader range of competition between the Soviet Union and the United States that affected everything from military technology to successfully launching satellites that could land on Mars or orbit other planets in the Solar System. The notion that America “won” the Space Race at the end of the 1960s overlooks just how competitive the Space Race actually was in launching people into orbit.

During the formative years of Egyptian civilization, each Cosmogony was present. Students from many regions and segments of society attended the Houses of Life, and royals regularly donated endowments for the temple's maintenance and activities. These circumstances suggest a theological harmony, suggesting that a group of religious centers must have been cohesive despite their distinctive teachings and practices. Regardless of time or place in popularity, each creation myth was integral to the Egyptians' worldview.

Mars has been a source of fascination and speculation ever since the ancient Egyptians observed its blood-red hue and named it for their god of war and plague. But it wasn't until the 19th century when "canals" were observed on the surface of the Red Planet, suggesting the presence of water, that scientists, novelists, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs became obsessed with the question of whether there's life on Mars. The Big Book of Mars is the most comprehensive look at our relationship with Mars - yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Welcome to the apocalypse, Norse style! In 2147, an insurgency prepares to strike at an occupying force that has warehoused most humans in orbital habitats. Across the post-American West of 2041, rival groups battle for control of a massive nuclear arsenal. On July 20, 1944, a group of German rebels are about to attempt the assassination of Hitler and launch a coup against the evil Nazi regime. A group hike in Iceland isn't supposed to make these three events intersect, much less end in the death of all Worlds. But that's exactly what six friends trigger when they accidentally breach the ...

Human exploration of Mars is the most ambitious and exciting scientific goal of the 21st century, and few people on earth know as much about this fascinating planet as Dr Larry Crumpler. As one of the long-term planning leads for the Mars Exploration Rover Project, he helped control the daily communications between NASA and the rovers roaming the planet to gather scientific data. In this magnificent compendium, Dr. Crumpler recounts the history of the red planet, from the earliest days when ancient astronomers turned their eyes to the heavens to the breakthrough discoveries.