Chasing New Horizons: Inside Humankind's First Mission to Pluto

Alan Stern

☆☆☆☆☆

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This insider account is "thoroughly captivating . . . Suffused with . . . scientific wonder. . . . a top-notch documentation of intrepid planetary exploration" ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review). On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than three 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. 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 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. Told from the insider's perspective of mission leader Dr. Alan Stern and others on New Horizons, and including two stunning sixteen-page full-color inserts of images, Chasing New Horizons is a riveting account of scientific discovery. "Spellbinding." — Scientific American "Riveting. . . . Even though we know the final outcome, the story continues to be a nail-biter." ― The Wall Street Journal "Remarkable. . . .take[s] you on an uplifting, exhilarating, fascinating journey, all without leaving the comfort and oxygen of our planet." ― Chicago Tribune "Thrilling . . .a future classic of popular science." — Publishers Weekly