Russian spacesuits is a unique contribution to space science. The authors, part of the original Zveda team that manufactured spacesuits for the first Russian space flights, still play an integral role in spacesuit research and development. Thus there is no-one better to describe the technical innovations of the past 40 years, which enabled Gagarin's first flight in 1961, the first space walk in 1965 and the Mir missions of the 1980s and 1990s, and which have culminated in today's International space Station. The authors also describe how the political climate within the Soviet Union and internationally has affected the development of the space programme and their work. Many documents are published for the first time that, together with photographs, detailed descriptions of the events of the time and the authors' personal memories, provide a fascinating review of a previously unknown aspect of space science

David Harland describes the historical development of particle physics, and explains, in a non-mathematical way, how particle physics has influenced the structure of the Universe from the very beginning of time. He demonstrates the close links between discoveries in particle physics and in cosmology up to the present. He describes how our understanding of the Universe has developed from the discovery that the Universe is expanding, to the idea that all matter originated in a hot, Big Bang, then explains the many subtle improvements to the basic theory that have been necessary to understand how the very smallest particles and earliest structures (the 'microscale') in the Universe evolved to produce the Universe as it is now (the 'macroscale'). The author also describes how scientists are attempting to develop a 'Theory of Everything' that would explain how an instant after the Big Bang a single primordial force was transformed into the four forces of nature that we observe today, which hitherto were believed to be 'fundamental'.

In Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft, authors Rex Hall and Dave Shayler review the development and operations of the Soyuz family of spacecraft. This includes the lesser-known military and unmanned versions of this reliable spacecraft. While most works on Soviet/Russian space operations focus on space station activities, the story of the Soyuz spacecraft has been largely neglected. An integral element of Salyut and Mir space station operations, the small ferry has been the mainstay of cosmonaut transportation since 1967. In addition, since 1978 the unmanned freighter version called Progress has provided a means in which to regularly re-supply a space station and so prolong its orbital lifetime. Using authentic Soviet and Russian sources this book is the first known work in the west dedicated to revealing the full story of the Soyuz series, including a complete listing of vehicle production numbers.

The author does not attempt to give a general survey of early astronomy; rather, he chooses to present a few "episodes" and treats them in detail. However, first he provides the necessary astronomical background in his descriptive account of what you can see when you look at the sky with the naked eye, unblinkered by received knowledge, but with curiosity and wit. Chapter 1 deals with the arithmetical astronomy of ancient Mesopotamia where astronomy first was made an exact science. Next are treated Greek geometrical models for planetary motion, culminating in Ptolemy's equant models in his Almagest. Ptolemy does not assign them absolute size in this work, but, as is shown here, if we scale the models properly, they will yield good values, not only of the directions to the planets, but of the distances to them, as well. Thus one can immediately find the dimensions of the Copernican System from parameters in the Almagest - we have evidence that Copernicus did just that. Further, Islamic astronomers' modifications of Ptolemy's models by devices using only uniform circular motion are discussed, as are Copernicus's adoption of some of them. finally, it is made precise which bothersome problem was resolved by the heliocentric hypothesis, as it was by the Tychonic arrangement. Next, the Ptolemaic System, the first cosmological scheme to incorporate quantitative models, is described as Ptolemy himself did it in a recenlty recovered passage from his Planetary Hypotheses. Here he does assign absolute size to his models in order to fit them into the snugly nested spherical shells that made up his universe. This much maligned system was, in fact, a harmonious construct that remained the basis for how educated people thought of their world for a millennium and a half. Finally, after a brief review of the geometry of the ellipse, the author gives an elementary derivation of Kepler's equation, and shows how Kepler solved it, and further proves that a planet moves very nearly uniformly around the empty focus of its orbit. Thus an eccentric circular orbit with the empty "focus" as the equant point gives a good approximation to Kepler motions. The result of combining two such motions is then shown to be close to Ptolemy's planetary model. This book provides a fascinating look at the night sky and the techniques that early civilizations, particularly Babylonian and Greek, used to model planetary motions¿Aaboe does a masterful job of covering a wide array of intriguing topics in a relatively short book, and any effort expended on reading it will be well rewarded¿ talented students at the high school age and college students who are interested in these topics would likely find this book very enjoyable and enriching¿Overall, the book is fascinating to read for several reasons, including its observational astronomical viewpoint, its rich historical and cultural content, and, of course, its exposition and explanation of ancient techniques of celestial predictions and modeling. ?MAA ONLINE

Humanity has always looked to the stars, but it hasn't been until relatively recently that we have managed to travel into space. Carolyn Collins Petersen takes us on a journey from the first space pioneers and their work, through the First World War-led technological advances in rocketry that formed the basis for the Space Age, to the increasing corporate interest in space. This detailed examination of our steps into space is viewed from our potential future there - on Mars to be exact - and considers how we will reach that point. The author concludes with our current advances and our immediate ambitions in space exploration. The future and its scientific possibilities are enthralling: who will be the first to step on Mars? Will matter/antimatter annihilations take us to the Kuiper Belt, or will it be ion propulsion? What is the Alcubierre Warp Drive? Will it take us to the stars?

This book summarizes and presents the scientific search for life in the universe, and the current level of scientific understanding of how life begins, grows, and becomes intelligent in our Solar System and beyond. This engaging book promises to appeal not only to the general reader but to scientists as well, many of whom strive to acquire an informed perspective on the search for extraterrestrial life in fields not their own.

The structure of Apollo - The Lost and Forgotten Missions follows the development and in flight testing of the Apollo lunar spacecraft prior to Apollo 11 as well as missions planned following that first landing. Drawing upon combinations of archival documentation from the first four manned Apollo missions and future mission plans evolved in the summer of 1969 Apollo - The Lost and Forgotten Missions will fill this void. The text explains how the machines and the men were prepared for the landing on the moon and what would have followed the initial landings.

'Extraordinary' Leonard Susskind 'A rare event' Sean Carroll _____ When leading theoretical physicist Professor Michael Dine was asked where you could find an accessible and authoritative book that would teach you about the Big Bang, Dark Matter, the Higgs boson and the cutting edge of physics now, he had nothing he could recommend. So he wrote it himself. In This Way to the Universe, Dine takes us on a fascinating tour through the history of modern physics - from Newtonian mechanics to quantum, from particle to nuclear physics - delving into the wonders of our universe at its largest, smallest, and within our daily lives. If you are looking for the one book to help you understand physics, written in language anyone can follow, this is it. _____ 'A tour de force of literally all of fundamental physics' BBC Sky at Night magazine 'Everything you wanted to know about physics but were afraid to ask' Priyamvada Natarajan, author of Mapping the Heavens

In the tradition of Flatland, and with an infectious enthusiasm, Clifford Pickover tackles the problems inherent in our 3-D brains trying to visualize a 4-D world, muses on the religious implications of the existence of higher-dimensional consciousness, and urges all curious readers to venture into 'the unexplored territory lying beyond the prison of the obvious'.

This text presents numerous illustrations of the observed variability of cataclysmic variable stars. It provides a clear explanation and thorough up-to-date overview of this phenomena at a level accessible to the advanced amateur or undergraduate student.

Most scientists now agree that some sixty-five million years ago, an immense comet slammed into the Yucatan, detonating a blast twenty million times more powerful than the largest hydrogen bomb, punching a hole ten miles deep in the earth. Trillions of tons of rock were vaporized and launched into the atmosphere. For a thousand miles in all directions, vegetation burst into flames. There were tremendous blast waves, searing winds, showers of molten matter from the sky, earthquakes, and a terrible darkness that cut out sunlight for a year, enveloping the planet in freezing cold. Thousands of species of plants and animals were obliterated, including the dinosaurs, some of which may have become extinct in a matter of hours. In Impact, Gerrit L. Verschuur offers an eye-opening look at such catastrophic collisions with our planet. Perhaps more important, he paints an unsettling portrait of the possibility of new collisions with earth, exploring potential threats to our planet and describing what scientists are doing right now to prepare for this awful possibility.
Every day something from space hits our planet, Verschuur reveals. In fact, about 10,000 tons of space debris fall to earth every year, mostly in meteoric form. The author recounts spectacular recent sightings, such as over Allende, Mexico, in 1969, when a fireball showered the region with four tons of fragments, and the twenty-six pound meteor that went through the trunk of a red Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, New York, in 1992 (the meteor was subsequently sold for $69,000 and the car itself fetched $10,000). But meteors are not the greatest threat to life on earth, the author points out. The major threats are asteroids and comets. The reader discovers that astronomers have located some 350 NEAs ("Near Earth Asteroids"), objects whose orbits cross the orbit of the earth, the largest of which are 1627 Ivar (6 kilometers wide) and 1580 Betula (8 kilometers). Indeed, we learn that in 1989, a bus-sized asteroid called Asclepius missed our planet by 650,000 kilometers (a mere six hours), and that in 1994 a sixty-foot object passed within 180,000 kilometers, half the distance to the moon. Comets, of course, are even more deadly. Verschuur provides a gripping description of the small comet that exploded in the atmosphere above the Tunguska River valley in Siberia, in 1908, in a blinding flash visible for several thousand miles (every tree within sixty miles of ground zero was flattened). He discusses Comet Swift-Tuttle--"the most dangerous object in the solar system"--a comet far larger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs, due to pass through earth's orbit in the year 2126. And he recounts the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994, as some twenty cometary fragments struck the giant planet over the course of several days, casting titanic plumes out into space (when Fragment G hit, it outshone the planet on the infrared band, and left a dark area at the impact site larger than the Great Red Spot). In addition, the author describes the efforts of Spacewatch and other groups to locate NEAs, and evaluates the idea that comet and asteroid impacts have been an underrated factor in the evolution of life on earth.
Astronomer Herbert Howe observed in 1897: "While there are not definite data to reason from, it is believed that an encounter with the nucleus of one of the largest comets is not to be desired." As Verschuur shows in Impact, we now have substantial data with which to support Howe's tongue-in-cheek remark. Whether discussing monumental tsunamis or the innumerable comets in the Solar System, this book will enthrall anyone curious about outer space, remarkable natural phenomenon, or the future of the planet earth.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a permanently manned earth-orbiting complex where astronauts carry out research into a wide range of scientific activities. It comprises modules built in the USA, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. Author David Baker examines how the ISS was built, the logistics modules and freighters operated by its user nations, how the ISS works as an integrated facility, life on board, what the ISS does, the research carried out and who benefits.

Paul Davies' The Eerie Silence: Searching For Ourselves in the Universe is an engaging and lucid guide to the 'Fermi Paradox' - why isn't the universe teeming with alien life? If aliens ever contact us, it will be the single most significant event in human history. And Paul Davies will be responsible for saying something back. For fifty years the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence has been scanning the skies. Now Davies, head of SETI's Post-Detection Task Group, with 'a rare talent for making physics mind-bogglingly vivid and exciting' (Times Higher Education), explores what the mysterious silence it has encountered could mean. Here he looks at exciting new ways to make contact with extra-terrestrial life. He considers what form advanced alien intelligence is likely to take if it exists. And more importantly, what exactly it would mean if it didn't - how extraordinary it would be if we were alone, to be human and here in this staggering, eerie silence... 'A magnificent cosmic tour of what might be out there in space' Sunday Times 'Rather wonderful' New Scientist 'Conveys excellently the fascination of the quest' The Times 'An authoritatively written, immensely clear, lay person's guide to the many things we don't know about the rest of the universe' Guardian Paul Davies is Director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, and co-Director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. An internationally-acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster, Davies is the author of some twenty award-winning books, including The Eerie Silence: Searching for Ourselves in the Universe, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? and The Mind of God: Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning.

Completely revised and updated, this new edition provides a readable, beautifully illustrated journey through world cultures and the vibrant array of sky mythology, creation stories, models of the universe, temples and skyscrapers that each culture has created to celebrate and respond to the power of the night sky. Sections on the archaeoastronomy of South Asia and South East Asia have been expanded, with original photography and new research on temple alignments in Southern India, and new material describing the astronomical practices of Indonesia, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. Beautiful photographs of temples in India and Asia have been added, as well as new diagrams explaining the alignment of these structures and the astronomical underpinnings of temples within the Pallava and Chola cultures. From new fieldwork in the Four Corners region of North America, Dr. Penprase has included accounts of Pueblo skywatching and photographs of ceremonial kivas that help elucidate the rich astronomical knowledge of the Pueblo people. The popular "Archaeoastronomy of Skyscrapers" section of the book has been updated as well, with new interpretations of skyscrapers in Indonesia, Taiwan and China.With the rapid pace of discovery in astronomy and astrophysics, entirely new perspectives are emerging about dark matter, inflation and the future of the universe. The Power of Stars puts these discoveries in context and describes how they fit into the modern perspective of cosmology, which has arisen from the universal human response to the sky that has inspired both ancient and modern cultures.

Comet presents the amazing story of the Rosetta space probe and its interstellar voyage to the comet Tchoury. Its mission - to find clues to the origins of our solar system and the emergence of life on Earth. Following a ten-year voyage and a journey spanning millions of kilometres through our Solar System, the Rosetta entered the comet's orbit. Its lander, Philae - a miniature science laboratory - landed directly on Tchoury's surface and was able to take the photographs presented here. This triumph of scientific endeavour brought back a raft of incredible new photographs, the best of which are featured here. The book is built around the various phases in Rosetta's journey: leaving Earth, breaching its atmosphere and watching the lights of home recede; skirting the Moon and coming close to Mars; plunging into the cosmos' starry void and approaching the comet; and, finally, landing on Tchoury. The photographs are accompanied by a text that reflects on the objectives of the mission and the accomplishment of such a technological feat for humanity. Detailed captions provide the reader with accessible scientific information, enabling them to get to the heart of the subject.

Have you ever found yourself looking up at the starry night, wondering and wanting to know more?

Congratulations! You're a stargazer.

Unlike its more scientific sister astronomy, stargazing requires no equipment--except perhaps something comfortable to sit on and a star map. The Stargazer's Guide provides these maps and shows you what there is to see in the sky, why it's interesting, and how previous generations viewed and interpreted it. Organized by month, The Stargazer's Guide takes you through the night sky's stories--mythological, historical, and scientific--offering simple diagrams that enable you to easily identify the constellations. Let expert stargazer Emily Winterburn enthrall you with true stories of romantic and scientific endeavors, and mythic tales of beasts and battles that led to the naming of the stars. With this enchanting, accessible, and fun guide to the heavens, you'll discover and revel in the beauty and wonder of the night sky.

With this book Immanuel Velikovsky first presented the revolutionary results of his 10-year-long interdisciplinary research to the public, founded modern catastrophism - based on eyewitness reports by our ancestors - shook the doctrine of uniformity of geology as well as Darwin's theory of evolution, put our view of the history of our solar system, of the Earth and of humanity on a completely new basis - and caused an uproar that is still going on today. Worlds in Collision - written in a brilliant, easily understandable and entertaining style and full to the brim with precise information - can be considered one of the most important and most challenging books in the history of science. Not without reason was this book found open on Einstein's desk after his death. For all those who have ever wondered about the evolution of the earth, the history of mankind, traditions, religions, mythology or just the world as it is today, Worlds in Collision is an absolute MUST-READ

Rocket Science. Two words which are synonymous with complexity. Two words which for many people signify the zenith of human genius. A phrase which has entered the English lexicon to describe the toughest discipline in human endeavour. Author Alfred Zaehringer has a unique perspective on both the phrase and the discipline. In this book, his first about space in nearly forty years, Alfred Zaehringer uses his lifetime of experience to take the mystery out of the phrase he coined. Beginning with a short history of the birth of rocketry he moves into an explanation of the physics that makes it possible to use rockets to fly in space. Leaving no stone unturned he moves on to the politics and economics of space-flight before providing a detailed cross-section of mans different uses of the reaction rocket to fly into the heavens. Finally he looks at the proposals for future methods of space transportation and looks at the many promising new technologies which may offer cheaper access to space.

In this thought-provoking follow-up to his acclaimed StarTalk book, uber astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles the world's most important philosophical questions about the universe with wit, wisdom, and cutting-edge science. For science geeks, space and physics nerds, and all who want to understand their place in the universe, this enlightening new book from Neil deGrasse Tyson offers a unique take on the mysteries and curiosities of the cosmos, building on rich material from his beloved StarTalk podcast. In these illuminating pages, illustrated with dazzling photos and revealing graphics, Tyson and co-author James Trefil, a renowned physicist and science popularizer, take on the big questions that humanity has been posing for millennia--How did life begin? What is our place in the universe? Are we alone?--and provide answers based on the most current data, observations, and theories. Populated with paradigm-shifting discoveries that help explain the building blocks of astrophysics, this relatable and entertaining book will engage and inspire readers of all ages, bring sophisticated concepts within reach, and offer a window into the complexities of the cosmos.

Two thousand years ago, according to the Bible, a star rose low in the east and stopped high above Bethlehem. Was it a miracle, a sign from God to herald the birth of Christ? Was there a star at all, or was it simply added to the Bible to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy concerning the birth of the Messiah? Or was the Star of Bethlehem an actual astronomical event? For hundreds of years, astronomers as prominent as Johannes Kepler have sought an answer to this last baffling question. In The Star of Bethlehem, Mark Kidger brings all the tools of modern science, years of historical research, and an infectious spirit of inquiry to bear on the mystery. He sifts through an astonishing variety of ideas, evidence, and information--including Babylonian sky charts, medieval paintings, data from space probes, and even calculations about the speed of a camel--to present a graceful, original, and scientifically compelling account of what it may have been that illuminated the night skies two millennia ago. Kidger begins with the stories of early Christians, comparing Matthew's tale of the Star and the three Magi who followed it to Bethlehem with lesser-known accounts excluded from the Bible. Crucially, Kidger follows the latest biblical scholarship in placing Christ's birth between 7 and 5 B.C., which leads him to reject various phenomena that other scientists have proposed as the Star. In clear, colorful prose, he then leads us through the arguments for and against the remaining astronomical candidates. Could the Star have been Venus? What about a meteor or a rare type of meteor shower? Could it have been Halley's Comet, as featured in Giotto's famous painting of the Nativity? Or, as Kidger suspects, was the Star a combination of events--a nova recorded in ancient Chinese and Korean manuscripts preceded by a series of other events, including an unusual triple conjunction of planets? Originally published in 1999. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Jonathan Ward takes the reader deep into the facilities at Kennedy Space Center to describe NASA's first computer systems used for spacecraft and rocket checkout and explain how tests and launches proceeded. Descriptions of early operations include a harrowing account of the heroic efforts of pad workers during the Apollo 1 fire. A companion to the author's book Countdown to a Moon Launch: Preparing Apollo for Its Historic Journey, this explores every facet of the facilities that served as the base for the Apollo/Saturn missions. Hundreds of illustrations complement the firsthand accounts of more than 70 Apollo program managers and engineers. The era of the Apollo/Saturn missions was perhaps the most exciting period in American space exploration history. Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center were buzzing with activity. Thousands of workers came to town to build the facilities and launch the missions needed to put an American on the Moon before the end of the decade. Work at KSC involved much more than just launching rockets. It was a place like none other on Earth. Technicians performed intricate operations, and hazards abounded everywhere, including lightning, fire, highly-toxic fuels, snakes, heat, explosives, LOX spills, and even plutonium. The reward for months of 7-day workweeks under intense pressure was witnessing a Saturn V at liftoff. For anyone who ever wished they had worked at Kennedy Space Center during the Apollo era, this book is the next best thing. The only thing missing is the smell of rocket fuel in the morning.

Two thousand years ago, according to the Bible, a star rose low in the east and stopped high above Bethlehem. Was it a miracle, a sign from God to herald the birth of Christ? Was there a star at all, or was it simply added to the Bible to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy concerning the birth of the Messiah? Or was the Star of Bethlehem an actual astronomical event? For hundreds of years, astronomers as prominent as Johannes Kepler have sought an answer to this last baffling question. In The Star of Bethlehem, Mark Kidger brings all the tools of modern science, years of historical research, and an infectious spirit of inquiry to bear on the mystery. He sifts through an astonishing variety of ideas, evidence, and information--including Babylonian sky charts, medieval paintings, data from space probes, and even calculations about the speed of a camel--to present a graceful, original, and scientifically compelling account of what it may have been that illuminated the night skies two millennia ago. Kidger begins with the stories of early Christians, comparing Matthew's tale of the Star and the three Magi who followed it to Bethlehem with lesser-known accounts excluded from the Bible. Crucially, Kidger follows the latest biblical scholarship in placing Christ's birth between 7 and 5 B.C., which leads him to reject various phenomena that other scientists have proposed as the Star. In clear, colorful prose, he then leads us through the arguments for and against the remaining astronomical candidates. Could the Star have been Venus? What about a meteor or a rare type of meteor shower? Could it have been Halley's Comet, as featured in Giotto's famous painting of the Nativity? Or, as Kidger suspects, was the Star a combination of events--a nova recorded in ancient Chinese and Korean manuscripts preceded by a series of other events, including an unusual triple conjunction of planets? Originally published in 1999. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Book & DVD. This is the story of Colonel Gerald P Carr USMC (retired), and centres around the mission commanding the American space station Skylab 4. For 84 days, over 2,000 straight hours, Carr orbited the Earth on board Skylab 4, setting a new record for time in space. Carr could have been the 16th man to walk on the Moon if the Apollo 19 mission hadn't been cancelled. In addition to Skylab 4, this book recounts the achievements of Colonel Carr both before entering the astronaut program and after leaving it. With the full assistance of his family and colleagues, his very special journey is shared with the reader. On the DVD: aSkylab 4 photo gallery; a tour around the Skylab mock-up by Jerry Carr; film clips of Skylab 4 activities and more.

April 12, 2011 was the 50th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering journey into space. To commemorate this momentous achievement, Springer-Praxis has produced a mini-series of books that reveals how humanity's knowledge of flying, working and living in space has grown in the last half century.

The fifth and final volume in the miniseries focuses on The Twenty-First Century, in which the construction of the International Space Station, from the launch of its first element (the Russian Zarya control module) in 1998 to the end of the Shuttle-focused construction effort (with the Tranquility Node-3, the cupola and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) in 2011. All the expeditions up to the 2011 anniversary of Gagarin are explored in detail, the make-up of crews, the shift from three-crew to two-crew, the effect of the STS-107 tragedy on the project and the eventual push to a six-person permanent occupancy. The final Hubble repair mission, STS-125, provides an opportunity not just to discuss the flight itself, but also to explore the mechanics and principles behind having rescue missions on standby and will spur a discussion of the changing focus of Shuttle operations in the wake of Columbia. The remarkable arrival of the Chinese Shenzhou on the scene and its whirlwind of achievements in such a short space of time is explored, as its potential for contributions in the future. Similarly, the arrival of the first space tourists with Dennis Tito in 2001 is considered and the future of such projects are discussed, including Virgin Galactic. The future in space is considered: ongoing Russian projects, Orion, the return to the Moon and on to Mars and this book closes with a snapshot of where humanity may be on the hundredth anniversary of Gagarin."