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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Space travel & exploration
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.
With plans to launch hotels into orbit and experiments in
suspending and reanimating life for ultra-long-distance travel,
private companies and entrepreneurs have outpaced NASA as the
leaders in the new space race. With accessible prose and relentless
curiosity, Chris Impey reports on China's plan to launch its own
space station by 2020, proves that humans could survive on Mars and
unveils cutting-edge innovations such as the space elevators poised
to replace rockets at a fraction of the cost. Setting mankind's
urge towards exploration in the context of all human history and
space travel thus far, he shows that the present-day scientists
mapping billions of Earth-like exo-planets are the descendants of
the first humans to venture out of Africa. We must forge ahead,
argues Beyond, because exploration is in our DNA.
Stenciled on many of the deactivated facilities at Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station, the evocative phrase "abandoned in place"
indicates the structures that have been deserted. Some structures,
too solid for any known method of demolition, stand empty and
unused in the wake of the early period of US space exploration. Now
Roland Miller's color photographs document the NASA, Air Force, and
Army facilities across the nation that once played a crucial role
in the space race. Rapidly succumbing to the elements and
demolition, most of the blockhouses, launch towers, tunnels, test
stands, and control rooms featured in Abandoned in Place are
located at secure military or NASA facilities with little or no
public access. Some have been repurposed, but over half of the
facilities photographed no longer exist. The haunting images
collected here impart artistic insight while preserving an
important period in history.
Explore the curiosities of our galaxy with this comprehensive,
digestible guide to astronomy! Too often, textbooks obscure the
beauty and wonder of outer space with tedious discourse that even
Galileo would oppose. Astronomy 101 cuts out the boring details and
lengthy explanations, and instead, gives you a lesson in astronomy
that keeps you engaged as you discover what's hidden beyond our
starry sky. From the Big Bang and nebulae to the Milky Way and Sir
Isaac Newton, this celestial primer is packed with hundreds of
entertaining astronomy facts, charts, and photographs you won't be
able to get anywhere else. So whether you're looking to unravel the
mystery behind black holes, or just want to learn more about your
favorite planets, Astronomy 101 has all the answers-even the ones
you didn't know you were looking for.
Living with the Stars tells the fascinating story of what truly
makes the human body. The body that is with us all our lives is
always changing. We are quite literally not who we were years,
weeks, or even days ago: our cells die and are replaced by new ones
at an astonishing pace. The entire body continually rebuilds
itself, time and again, using the food and water that flow through
us as fuel and as construction material. What persists over time is
not fixed but merely a pattern in flux. We rebuild using elements
captured from our surroundings, and are thereby connected to
animals and plants around us, and to the bacteria within us that
help digest them, and to geological processes such as continental
drift and volcanism here on Earth. We are also intimately linked to
the Sun's nuclear furnace and to the solar wind, to collisions with
asteroids and to the cycles of the birth of stars and their deaths
in cataclysmic supernovae, and ultimately to the beginning of the
universe. Our bodies are made of the burned out embers of stars
that were released into the galaxy in massive explosions billions
of years ago, mixed with atoms that formed only recently as
ultrafast rays slammed into Earth's atmosphere. All of that is not
just remote history but part of us now: our human body is
inseparable from nature all around us and intertwined with the
history of the universe.
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Asteroids
(Hardcover)
Clifford J Cunningham
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R784
R641
Discovery Miles 6 410
Save R143 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Grounded in historical studies of asteroids from the nineteenth
century, Asteroids is a fully up to date view of these remarkable
objects. Without resorting to any technical plots or mathematics,
the author shows that asteroids are not just rocks in space, but
key to understanding the life and death on Earth of both animals
and humans. From space missions to the asteroids' starring role in
literature and film, Clifford J. Cunningham precisely and
entertainingly looks at the place asteroids have in our solar
system and how they affect our daily lives.
Increasing discoveries of new planets beyond our solar system are
invigorating the quest for new knowledge and understanding of the
birth of stars and planets. This new volume in the Space Science
Series, with 249 contributing authors, builds on the latest results
from recent advances in ground and space-based astronomy and in
numerical computing techniques to offer the most detailed and
up-to-date picture of star and planet formation, including the
formation of our own solar system. This book emphasizes the
cross-disciplinary aspects of the field, with a particular focus on
the early evolution of our solar system. Protostars and Planets V
is the new foundation for further advancement in the fields of
stellar and planetary formation, making it an indispensable
resource for researchers and students in astronomy, planetary
science, and the study of meteorites.
Dieses Buch zeigt, wie spannend Astronomie sein kann. Mit einfachen
Beobachtungen kann man wichtige Fragen der Menschheit eroertern:
Wie ist das Universum entstanden und wo ist unser Platz darin? Der
Leser erhalt praktische Informationen, um die Faszination des
Nachthimmels selbst zu erleben: Welches Teleskop ist geeignet,
welche Details lassen sich damit auf den Himmelskoerpern erkennen
u.v.m.. Der Autor beschreibt die Planetenbewegungen und wann
selbige zu beobachten sind. Tipps zur Fotografie der Himmelskoerper
mit Digitalkameras oder Webcams werden ebenfalls gegeben. Neben
Anleitungen zu eigenen Beobachtungen erhalt der Leser auch
astrophysikalisches Hintergrundwissen zu den Fragen "Wie entstehen
Sterne und Planeten?", "Gibt es auf den neu gefundenen Exoplaneten
Leben?" und "Was ist Dunkle Materie?". Mit diesem Buch werden die
Wunder des Universums rasch zu einer Freude. Aber Vorsicht:
Sternegucken kann suchtig machen.
This witty and amusing exploration of the physical universe
explains fundamental concepts in language that is clear to anyone
with little or no scientific background. Tyson transforms everyday
experiences into venues of cosmic enlightenment as he probes the
philosophy, methods, and discoveries of science, including stellar
evolution, the conservation of energy, the electromagnetic
spectrum, gravity and thermodynamics. Deftly demystifying
astronomical terms and concepts such as the Big Bang, black holes,
redshifts, syzygy, and Kirkwood Gaps, "Universe Down to Earth"
traces the life of the stars from birth to death; presents the
Periodic Table of Elements, highlighting noteworthy elements such
as titanium, iron, and hydrogen; gives an unorthodox yet
entertaining tour of famous constellations; and tackles modern-day
astrology.
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