OK, we aren't quite there yet. But with time and luck and good planning, maybe someday we will be. In the meantime, we do have several hundred years worth of astronomy and fifty years worth of manned and unmanned space exploration to look back on.
| Astronomy and Cosmology | The Manned Space Program | Whither next? |
These are books about the sciences of astronomy and cosmology, including books about other Sol-system planets, stars, galaxies, and the history of the Universe.
EXPLORATIONS: An Introduction to Astronomy
Arny, Thomas T.
c.1994, Mosby
ISBN: 0-8016-7423-9
A basic textbook about astronomy, from the Solar System to other stars, other galaxies, and a look at cosmology and the origins of the Universe.
PLANET QUEST
Croswell, Ken
c.1997, Harcourt Brace & Co.
ISBN: 0-15-600612
A look at everything that was known in 1997 about extrasolar planets -- that is, planets orbiting other stars.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN BOOK OF ASTRONOMY
various
c.1999, Scientific American
ISBN: 1-55821-966-8
A collection of articles from the magazine Scientific American about all aspects of astronomy.
These are books about the manned space program, from the initial explorations of suborbital space through the Mercury and Gemini orbital programs to the Apollo moon missions.
CHARIOTS FOR APOLLO
Charles Pellegrino and Joshua Stoff
c.1985, Avon Books
ISBN: 0-380-80261-9
A detailed look at how the Lunar Excursion Module was designed for the Apollo moon-landing missions. It's quite a story, and makes very clear just how very experimental Project Apollo was.
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
Kranz, Gene
c.2000, Berkley Books
ISBN: 0-425-17987-7
A look at space travel from the other side: the men who stay on the ground. Gene Kranz is a veteran of dozens of space missions, bhut he never went into space. He works in Mission Control on the ground: planning, tracking, technical support.
FIRST ON THE MOON
Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin
c.1970, Little, Brown
ISBN:
Descriptions of the Apollo 11 moon mission by the three astronauts who flew it.
FOR ALL MANKIND
Hurt III, Harry
c.1988, Morgan Entrekin
ISBN: 0-87113-170-6
JOURNEY BEYOND SELENE
Kluger, Jeffrey
c.1999, Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0-684-84765-5
A book about the unmanned space probes designed, built, and launched by JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
LIFE IN SPACE
c.1983, Little, Brown
ISBN: 0-316-85063-2
A pictorial review of the first 25 years of the manned space program, published by Life magazine.
LOST MOON: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13
Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger
c.1994, Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 0-395-67029-2
A detailed first-hand account of the near-disaster that befell the Apollo 13 mission, written by Mission Commander Jim Lovell. The movie Apollo 13 was based on this book.
ONCE AND FUTURE MOON, THE
Spudis, Paul D.
c.1996, Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1-56098-847-9
WE SEVEN
various
c.1962, Simon & Schuster
ISBN:
Essays by and about the seven astronauts who flew the Mercury missions.
Books about where we should take the space program next, from colonization of the Moon and Mars to travels into interstellar space. These tend to walk the line between science and science fiction.
ENTERING SPACE
Zubrin, Robert
c.1999, Penguin Putnam
ISBN: 1-58542-036-0
SKYLIFE: Space Habitats in Story and Science
various
c.2000, Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN: 0-15-100292-4
