Space Exploration and its History discussion

Recently mentioned in the January 15 edition of Science News: Trailblazing Mars: NASA's Next Giant Leap

Reviewed in the Universe Today blog is The Wright Stuff: The Century of Effort Behind Your Ticket to Space about efforts to create an industry for space tourism. For the complete review: http://www.universetoday.com/82968/th...

Just reviewed in The Space Review online newsletter: From Jars to the Stars: How Ball Came to Build a Comet-Hunting Machine. "...the Deep Impact mission that flew past comet Tempel 1, firing an impactor into the comet’s nucleus as it sped by... is skillfully recounted in Todd Neff’s From Jars to the Stars."

Reviewed in the February 14, 2011 The Space Review online newsletter: Reopening the Space Frontier. Read the full review here: http://www.thespacereview.com/article...

Thanks for your updates, Steve! And please keep adding more books as you find them :-) I'm grateful for your posts here.

Your welcome...nice to know someone is listening. Thanks.

Reviewed in the February 28 The Space Review online newsletter: John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon. Read the full review at http://www.thespacereview.com/article...
Here's the final paragraph: "Logsdon, four decades later, now believes that Apollo was perhaps something unique, a case where a set of factors “almost coincidentally converged to create a national commitment and enough momentum to support that commitment through to its fulfillment.” If that’s true, then “there is little to learn from the decision to go to the Moon relevant to twenty-first century choices.” Apollo, then, should be treated not as a model for future space efforts, but instead as an amazing achievement particular to the circumstances of its era, including the leadership provided by President Kennedy." Neil Armstrong said much the same thing, that Apollo was a rare triple-convergence of technical innovation, political necessity, and sufficient economic resources.

From the April edition of The Space Review online newsletter:

First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth

Excerpts from the review:

"Marc Kaufman surveys the state of astrobiology’s quest to discover life elsewhere in the universe in First Contact."

"It’s a good overview for those not familiar with astrobiology, although those who have been following the field, or at least some aspects of it, will likely desire more details than what’s included in this slender book."

"First Contact suggests that astrobiology has matured to the point where its practitioners now know how much they just don’t know about the subject. Kaufman devotes one chapter to a deceptively simple question: what is life?"

"Kaufman examines three possible options in the book’s final chapter: life only exists on Earth, life exists elsewhere but only Earth hosts complex life (the so-called “Rare Earth” hypothesis), and complex, even intelligent, life exists beyond Earth."

For the full review: http://www.thespacereview.com/article...

From The Space Review, March 28, 2011:

Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo

"While essential to human spaceflight, the spacesuit hasn’t gotten the attention that people, rockets, and spacecraft have received over the decades. Jeff Foust reviews a new book that puts the development of the spacesuit, in particular the one used for the Apollo missions, into a technical and cultural perspective."

Full review: http://www.thespacereview.com/article...

Just finished Trailblazing Mars: NASA's Next Giant Leap. I was disappointed. Rather than new and original material it was mostly a re-hash of space missions since Sputnik. I got a lot more out of Safe on Mars: Precursor Measurements Necessary to Support Human Operations on the Martian Surface, The Case for Mars and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. On the other hand if you haven't read much about the history of Mars exploration and the basic challenges to be faced for a manned mission, it's a decent summary. Here's my revew: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94540...