Recreates the story of the Apollo 11 moon mission through interviews, NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA documents.

An introduction to the cosmos provides information on the latest advancements in astrophysics, including why Pluto is no longer a planet, how stars live and die, and the prospects for intelligent life in the universe.

In this fascinating foray into the millennia-long relationship between science and military power, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and writer Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. “The overlap is strong, and it’s a two- way street,

The author of Stiff and Bonk describes the weirdness of space exploration and answers questions about the long-term effects of zero gravity on the human body and what happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk. Reprint. A best-selling book. 75,000 first printing. A BOMC selection.

Introduces physics as it analyzes the science behind "Star Trek," explaining the intricacies of warp speed and showing the difference between a holodeck and a hologram.

"In 1916, Einstein became the first to predict the existence of gravitational waves: sounds without a material medium generated by the unfathomably energy-producing collision of black holes. Now, Janna Levin, herself an astrophysicist, recounts the storyof the search, over the last fifty years, for these elusive waves--a quest that has culminated in the creation of the most expensive project ever funded by the National Science Foundation ($1 billion-plus). She makes clear the how the waves are created in the cosmic collision of black holes, and why the waves can never be detected by telescope. And, most revealingly, she delves into the lives and fates of the four scientists currently engaged in--and obsessed with--discerning this soundtrack of the universe's history. Levin's account of the surprises, disappointments, achievements, and risks of this unfolding story provides us with a uniquely compelling and intimate portrait of the people and processes of modern science"--

“Alan Lightman brings a light touch to heavy questions. Here is a book about nesting ospreys, multiple universes, atheism, spiritualism, and the arrow of time. Throughout, Lightman takes us back and forth between ordinary occurrences—old shoes and entropy, sailing far out at sea and the infinite expanse of space. “In this slight volume, Lightman looks toward the universe and captures aspects of it in a series of beautifully written essays, each offering a glimpse at the whole from a different perspective: here time, there symmetry, not least God. It is a meditation by a remarkable humanist-physicist, a book worth reading by anyone entranced by big ideas grounded in the physical world.

Recounts the virtual missions of the Mars Society space pioneer team, who while waiting for new technological advances in the space program, replicated and simulated the real-life challenges of exploring Mars on the harshest terrains on Earth. Reprint.

The moments of grandeur and weakness, the aspirations, and the problems of America's test pilots and first astronauts are revealed in an exploration of the dimensions of their inner lives in space and on the earth. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

"Blooms with such glorious rushes of exalted prose that I was dog- earing almost every page." --The New York Times Book Review As debate over the future of NASA heats up, award-winning author Stephen J. Pyne presents America's greatest space expeditions as the latest chapter in a continuous saga of discovery that goes back centuries. Pyne's luminous narrative not only recounts the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions, launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets, but also fixes their place in Western civilization's urge to explore-an impulse that links NASA's scientists with Magellan, Columbus, Cook, Lewis and Clark, and other intrepid seekers through the ages. Pyne's eye-opening look at what he calls the third age of discovery "reminds readers of the rich cultural history that underlies humankind's exploration of the cosmos" (Science News).