It was all part of man's greatest adventure--landing men on the Moon and sending a rover to Mars, finally seeing the edge of the universe and the birth of stars, and launching planetary explorers across the solar system to Neptune and beyond.The ancient dream of breaking gravity's hold and taking to space became a reality only because of the intense cold-war rivalry between the superpowers, with towering geniuses like Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolyov shelving dreams of space t...

Originally a cavalryman, Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (1892-1918), nicknamed the Red Baron, transferred to the German Air Service in 1915. One of the first members of fighter squadron Jasta 2 in 1916, Richthofen quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, becoming leader of Jasta 11 in 1917 and later leading the larger fighter wing known as “The Flying Circus” or “Richthofen’s Circus” whose bright-colored aircraft moved from one area of Allied air activity to another, set...

Presents a realistic, workable plan for defusing a potentially lethal threat from a rogue asteroid or comet. The explosion of a large meteor over Chelyabinsk, Siberia, in February 2013 is just the latest reminder that planet Earth is vulnerable to damaging and potentially catastrophic collisions with space debris of various kinds. In this informative and forward-looking book, veteran aerospace writer William E. Burrows explains what we can do in the future to avoid far more serious impacts...

Using Space to Save EarthVeteran science journalist William E Burrows offers a bold new mission for the US space program: to protect the Earth from the ever-growing number of perils that threaten our way of life—and even our very survival.We are living through one of the most dangerous times in human history. Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons technology are proliferating, and missile technology is falling into more and more hands. Extreme natural disa...

A stunning investigation of the roots of the first moon landing forty years ago.This illuminating story of the dawn of the space age reaches back to the reactionary modernism of the Third Reich, using the life of “rocket scientist” Wernher von Braun as its narrative path through the crumbling of Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazi regime. Von Braun, a blinkered opportunist who could apply only tunnel vision to his meteoric career, stands as an archetype of myri...

Chief engineer Thomas J. Kelly gives a firsthand account of designing, building, testing, and flying the Apollo lunar module. It was, he writes, “an aerospace engineer’s dream job of the century.” Kelly’s account begins with the imaginative process of sketching solutions to a host of technical challenges with an emphasis on safety, reliability, and maintainability. He catalogs numerous test failures, including propulsion-system leaks, ascent-engine instability, stress corrosion of the alum...

A landmark work of narrative history, Paris 1919 is the first full-scale treatment of the Peace Conference in more than twenty-five years. It offers a scintillating view of those dramatic and fateful days when much of the modern world was sketched out, when countries were created—Iraq, Yugoslavia, Israel—whose troubles haunt us still.Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize • Winner of the PEN Hessell Tiltman Prize • Win...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREA mission to Mars. A freak accident. One man’s struggle to survive. From the author of Project Hail Mary comes “a hugely entertaining novel that reads like a rocket ship afire” (Chicago Tribune).“Brilliant . . . a celebration of human ingenuity [and] the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years . . . utterly compelling.”—The Wall Stre...

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The national bestselling author of The God Equation traverses the frontiers of astrophysics, artificial intelligence, and technology to offer a stunning vision of man's future in space, from settling Mars to traveling to distant galaxies.“Amazing … Kaku is in smooth perfect control of it the entire time.” —The Christian Science Monitor**We are entering a new Golden Age of space exploration. With irrepressible enthusia...

A thought-provoking and humorous collection on NASA and the future of space travel.Neil deGrasse Tyson is a rare breed of astrophysicist, one who can speak as easily and brilliantly with popular audiences as with professional scientists. Now that NASA has put human space flight effectively on hold—with a five- or possibly ten-year delay until the next launch of astronauts from U.S. soil—Tyson’s views on the future of space travel and America’s role in that future are especially tim...

"Exceptionally absorbing and thrilling. ... Masterful." — NatureA "magnificent" ( Scientific American), genre-defying narrative of the most ambitious science project ever conceived: NASA's deep space mission to Europa, the Jovian moon where might swim the first known alien life in our solar systemIn the spirit of Tom Wolfe and John McPhee, The Mission is an exuberant master class of creative nonfiction that reveal...

“The world's leading alien hunter” —New York Times MagazineFrom acclaimed Harvard astrophysicist and bestselling author of Extraterrestrial comes a mind-expanding new book on space exploration explaining why becoming an interstellar species is imperative for humanity’s survival and detailing a game plan for how we can settle among the stars.In the New York Times bestseller Extraterrestrial,