Chasing new horizons : inside the epic first mission to Pluto / Alan Stern and David Grinspoon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stern, Alan, 1957- author.

Grinspoon, David Harry, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

New Horizons (Spacecraft).

Space flight to Pluto.

Pluto probes.

Pluto (Dwarf planet)--Exploration.

Pluto (Dwarf planet).

Exploration of outer space.

Genre:

Nonfiction.

Physical Description:

xv, 295 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), map ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Inside the epic first mission to Pluto

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : Picador, 2018.

Summary:

Shares a behind-the-scenes account of the science, politics, egos, and public expectations that shaped the New Horizons' mission to Pluto and beyond, citing the endeavor's boundary-breaking achievements and how they reflect the collective power of shared human goals.

"On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than 3 billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long-mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond. Nothing like this has occurred in a generation--a raw exploration of new worlds unparalleled since NASA's Voyager missions to Uranus and Neptune--and nothing quite like it is planned to happen ever again. The photos that New Horizons sent back to Earth graced the front pages of newspapers on all 7 continents, and NASA's website for the mission received more than 2 billion hits in the days surrounding the flyby. At a time when so many think that our most historic achievements are in the past, the most distant planetary exploration ever attempted not only succeeded in 2015 but made history and captured the world's imagination. How did this happen? Chasing New Horizons is the story of the men and women behind this amazing mission: of their decades-long commitment and persistence; of the political fights within and outside of NASA; of the sheer human ingenuity it took to design, build, and fly the mission; and of the plans for New Horizons' next encounter, 1 billion miles past Pluto in 2019. Told from the insider's perspective of mission leader Dr. Alan Stern and others on New Horizons, and including two stunning 16-page full-color inserts of images, Chasing New Horizons is a riveting account of scientific discovery, and of how much we humans can achieve when people focused on a dream work together toward their incredible goal."--Jacket.

Contents:

Preface: Inside the farthest exploration in history

Introduction: Out of lock

Dreams of a grand tour

The Pluto underground

Ten years in the wilderness

The undead

New Horizons at last?

Building the bird

Bringing it all together

A prayer before you go

Going supersonic

To Jupiter and the ocean of space beyond

Battle plan Pluto

Into unknown danger

On approach

July 4th fireworks

Showtime

Everest

Onward New Horizons

Coda: A final discovery

Appendix: The top ten science discoveries from the New Horizons exploration of the Pluto system.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781250098962

1250098963

OCLC:

1019840159

Publisher Number:

40028159525