Space Science

On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory. In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center.

So you’ve fallen in love with space and now you want to see it for yourself, huh? You want to witness the birth of a star, or visit the black hole at the center of our galaxy? You want to know if there are aliens out there, or how to travel through a wormhole? You want the wonders of the universe revealed before your very eyes? Well stop, because all that will probably kill you.

Hazard King had always wanted to be an Imperial Fleet officer, just like his father. But he’s a Prince of the Realm, which make things a bit more… complicated. And when Hazard’s parents tell him that they don’t trust his older brother and want Hazard to be the Crown Prince—the heir to the throne—things go from bad to worse. Just when it seems they can’t get any worse, the Empress is attacked.

Save the cure. Kill the crew. That was the dying order of the captain of the starship Elixr. The ship followed the order. Then it lost its mind. Two decades later, the last chance to save billions of souls rests with the dead starship's only occupants: a pair of boys raised by a deranged robot. When Elixr crashes on a barren world, they join forces with an impoverished girl living on the edge of society to search for answers. Who are they? Why have they survived? And what could Elixr possibly do to save a world on the precipice of collapse? The more they learn, the greater the stakes become...

With impressive examples von Däniken illustrates some of the numerous cities that were dug underground as safe harbors from the destructive boulders. Miles and miles of underground passageways have been discovered around the world as they made space for villages and entire cities. To end the book, von Däniken presents his newest discoveries of an event: In 2017, the author was informed that strange mummified creatures were found near the Peruvian village of Nazca. One of the mummies, apparently several thousand years ago, had been implanted with a metal plate under the skin.

Ripples in Spacetime is an engaging account of the international effort to complete Einstein's project, capture his elusive ripples, and launch an era of gravitational-wave astronomy that promises to explain, more vividly than ever before, our universe's structure and origin. The quest for gravitational waves involved years of risky research and many personal and professional struggles that threatened to derail one of the world's largest scientific endeavors.

Long before space travel was possible, the idea of life beyond Earth transfixed humans. In this fascinating book, astronomer Jon Willis explores the science of astrobiology and the possibility of locating other life in our own galaxy. Describing the most recent discoveries by space exploration missions, including the Kepler space telescope, the Mars Curiosity rover, and the New Horizons probe, Willis asks listeners to imagine - and choose among-five scenarios for finding life.

How do you stage a mutiny when you're only awake one day in a million? How do you conspire when your tiny handful of potential allies changes with each job shift? How do you engage an enemy that never sleeps, that sees through your eyes and hears through your ears, and relentlessly, honestly, only wants what's best for you? Trapped aboard the starship Eriophora, Sunday Ahzmundin is about to discover the components of any successful revolution: conspiracy, code - and unavoidable casualties.

Stick and Rudder is the first exact analysis of the art of flying ever attempted. It has been continuously in print for 33 years. It shows precisely what the pilot does when he flies, just how he does it, and why. Because the basics are largely unchanging, the book therefore is applicable to large airplanes and small, old airplanes and new, and is of interest not only to the learner but also to the accomplished pilot and to the instructor himself.

In Saturn's Children, Freya is an obsolete android concubine in a society where humans haven't existed for hundreds of years. A rigid caste system keeps the Aristos, a vindictive group of humanoids, well in control of the lower, slave-chipped classes. So when Freya offends one particularly nasty Aristo, she's forced to take a dangerous courier job off-planet.

Fighter pilot Beau Ward was always willing to bend the rules to get the job done. His "independent" attitude got him bounced around the Federation Fleet for years—until he took it too far. A long-standing debt has been called in, and he's the one who must pay it back.

The lines. No ship can traverse the void without them. Only linesmen can work with them. But only Ean Lambert hears their song. And everyone thinks he's crazy.... Most slum kids never go far, certainly not becoming a level 10 linesman like Ean. Even if he's part of a small and unethical cartel, and the other linesmen disdain his self-taught methods, he's certified and working. Then a mysterious alien ship is discovered at the edges of the galaxy.

Humanity is struggling to hold out against a hostile takeover by an alien race that claims to be on a religious mission to bring all sentient life to its God at the End of Time. But while billions of cocooned humans fill the holds of the Olyix's deadly arkships, humankind is playing an even longer game than the aliens may have anticipated. From an ultra-secret spy mission to one of the grandest battles ever seen, no strategy is off the table. Will a plan millennia in the making finally be enough to defeat this seemingly unstoppable enemy?

A legendary hero, he is promoted to fleet admiral—even though the ruling council fears he may stage a military coup. Geary has never fought for the sake of glory. His new rank means only that he has the authority to negotiate with the Syndics, who have suffered tremendous losses and may finally be willing to end the war. With grim determination, Geary leads the fleet back out into Syndic space.

One mysterious farm... Five slaves with no memories of the past... A shocking discovery that none of them saw coming. *** "With elements of Lost, Westworld, and many classic scifi tales, The Farm is a simmering piece about the grey area of power relationships. Recommended for those looking for a contemplative sci-fi mystery." - Paul C In the distant future, mankind is nearly extinct. Those who remain work the farms. But it's just a matter of time before humans are no longer needed... The countdown to the end has begun. *** Waking up on a farm that appears to be out of the early 1800's, Cole...

City slickers should never underestimate a farmer . . . With Reynard Gliph out of the capital, Casper Slodovich remains behind, running the entire Southside Projects as his own personal fiefdom. He is known far and wide as Overlord. Casper enjoys revenue from gambling, prostitution and other gray areas. He also retains a tidy stash from a recent bank robbery. But he’s looking for more. A lot more. What Casper does not count on is the city’s guardian, Night Shadow. And she’s not alone. The world’s richest farmer backs her, along with an ever-expanding AI and many other assets . . . ...

He finally escaped the cycle of war and death only to find himself kidnapped, taken to a new universe where nothing makes sense. A world where nothing is familiar and insane robots, killer AI, and otherworldly beings he can hardly comprehend are the norm. He must learn to survive these constant threats to his very survival, all the while learning that these new experiences are changing him, molding him into something new...something extraordinary.

This is the way the world ends—not with a whimper, but a bang. It was the only thing running through Cedrick Jonkheer's mind when the alien pylons made landfall. The Intergalactic Imperium used their right of Eminent Domain to appropriate the planet to build a goddamned highway… and all Jonx got was a sarcastic AI and some superpowers. The end of times came, and mankind was not prepared. He watched his world burn, then hid himself away at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Sera leads a simple life. A little smuggling, some drinking contests, and captaining her star freighter, Sabrina. But when she picks up a mysterious shipping container on Coburn Station, things begin to go wrong. She finds herself at odds with The Mark, a dangerous pirate organization that wants the cargo on her ship. Inside the container she not only finds a woman, but a secret thought lost millennia ago.

Aiyana and Kendra Cassidy never anticipated becoming the key to humanity's survival. As leaders of the Heavy Lift Corporation, their objective is clear: secure humanity’s future among the stars. Politics? Who needs it, when the galaxy is calling? The consequences of failure are stark: three-quarters of Earth’s population face starvation within decades, and the Solarian Union’s dominance could become unassailable. Success, however, means a rebirth for humanity—a chance to explore the stars, establish new colonies, and reclaim control over their destiny.