Space Exploration
A History in 100 Objects
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
A NASA science educator showcases important objects in space history from Galileo's telescope to the Curiosity rover: "Will fascinate readers of any age." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
This book examines 100 objects that forever altered what we know and how we think about the cosmos. From an ancient Mayan codex to Sputnik to Skylab and into the twenty-first century, some objects are iconic and some obscure—but all are utterly important.
The Nebra sky disk (1600 BCE) features the first realistic depiction of the sun, moon, and stars.The Lunar Laser Ranging RetroReflector finally showed us how far we are from the moon in 1969.In 1986, it was the humble, rubber O-ring that doomed the space shuttle Challenger.The Event Horizon Telescope gave us our first glimpse of a black hole in 2019. These 100 objects showcase the workhorse tools and game-changing technologies that have altered the course of space history—and the small steps and giant leaps we've made in our quest to explore the farthest reaches of the universe.
"Addictive . . . This diverse assortment of STEM milestones provides science, technology, and space enthusiasts plenty to ponder—and even debate." —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Astrophysicist Odenwald (Astrophysics in a Nutshell) surveys the history of space exploration in a captivating catalogue of artifacts and inventions. The 100 items depicted through colorful photos and concise explanations are "the workhorse tools and game-changing technologies" that have steered humanity to the stars, says Odenwald. They range from a 70,000-year-old etched stone artifact that bears the first known human drawing, and thus might be considered a "big bang of human ingenuity," to the huge Event Horizon Telescope that, in 2019, generated the first image of a black hole. Elsewhere, Odenwald describes how meteorites delivered clues about the early solar system directly to the Earth, before advances in electronics and rocketry gave humanity the ability to leave the planet and begin exploring space. The earliest known lens, from 750 BCE, presaged the development of telescopes, from Galileo's simple model to space-based leviathans like the Hubble and the exoplanet-hunting Kepler. Odenwald also includes everyday yet, for space exploration, pivotal items such as the slide rule, and novelties such as space food and Elon Musk's orbiting Tesla Roadster. This resource is fun as well as informative, a lightweight encyclopedia of intriguing objects that will fascinate readers of any age.
