Principia (Newton), 113
Project Prometheus, 169–70
propulsion:
alternate fuels for, 157–59
antimatter drive and, 170–71
chemical fuel for, 163
electricity and, 165
in-space, 170
ion-thruster engine and, 164–65, 170
nuclear power and, 159, 168–69
rocket equation and, 153–54, 157
and slowing down, 155–56
solar sails and, 159, 165–67, 170
third law of motion and, 153, 158
xenon gas and, 164–65
Proxima Centauri, 195–96
Ptolemy, Claudius, 34, 65
pulsars, 29
Qatar, 5
quasars, 91
R-7 rocket, 126
racism, 66–67
radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), 168–69
radio telescopes, 91
radio waves, 28–29, 30, 31, 39, 90–91
radium, 96
RAND Corporation, 218
Ranger 7 spacecraft, 70
Reagan, Ronald, 5, 6
relativity, general theory of, 94–95, 101, 248, 250
relativity, special theory of, 195–96
Republicans, 4–5, 15, 17, 224–25
Resnik, Judith, 243
robots, 129, 134
in space exploration, 57, 89–90, 128, 130–32, 187, 198, 199, 202
rocket equation, 153–54, 157
rockets:
flybys and, 157
liquid-fueled, 192
phallic design of, 222–23
propulsion of, see propulsion
Rodriguez, Alex, 114
Röntgen, Wilhelm, 94, 96, 135
Royal Society, 216
Russia, xiv, 6, 22, 162, 168
ISS and, 319
Star City training center of, 73, 74, 207
Sagan, Carl, 27, 28, 43, 193, 256
Salyut space module, 6
Sarge (comedian), 234
satellites, xiii, xiv, 60, 71, 94
communication, 129
first US, 124–25
Saturn, 31, 82, 112, 115, 119, 138, 157, 168, 210, 225, 245
radio emissions from, 90–91
Saturn V rocket, 15, 127, 154, 158, 172, 214, 219, 220, 229
as a wonder of the modern world, 232–33
Schmitt, Harrison, 69, 132
Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 153
science, 206, 226
Arabs and, 205–6
discovery and, 98
emerging markets and, 209–10
literacy in, 57–59, 230–31, 235–36
multiple disciplines and, 209–10
Scientific American, 223
scientific method, 86
Scobee, Dick, 242
Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy of a Great Nation, 146
Senate, US, 5, 146, 328
Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee of, 272
and appointments to Commission on Future of Aerospace Industry, 316
Appropriations Committee of, 321, 329
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee of, 288, 321, 323, 324, 329
sense of wonder, 64–65
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 206
Sesame Street (TV show), 257
SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), 41, 325
Shapley, Harlow, 98–101
Shatner, William, 180
Shaw, Brewster, 221
Shepard, Alan B., 114
short-period comets, 46
Siberia, 50
Sims, Calvin, 55–62
Sirius, 178
Skylab 1 (space station), 214
slingshot effect, 119–20
Smith, George O., 175
Smith, Michael, 242
Smithsonian Institution, 216
solar sails, 159, 165–67, 170
solar system, 34, 259
many-body problem and, 117–18
perturbation theory and, 118
solar wind, 176, 235, 245
solid rocket boosters, 155
Soter, Steven, 256
sound, speed of, 108–9
sound barrier, 109
South Africa, xiv
South Pole, 76
Soviet Union, xiii, 8, 94, 133, 194, 215, 218
US rivalry with, 5–6, 59, 79, 87, 121–27, 133, 192, 219
see also Sputnik
space, space exploration:
colonization of, 57, 60, 102–3
cosmic microwave background in, 92, 94–95
cross-discipline endeavor in, 24–25, 230
culture and, 72–74, 147–48, 210–11
early attitudes toward, 217–18
economic motivation for, 200–201
factions against, 8–10
in Galef/Pigliucci interview of author, 75–83
inventions statute and, 311
justification for funding of, 78–81
militarization of, 60
numbers employed in, 236–37
politics and, 3–5
proposed programs and missions for, 201–2
robots and, 57, 89–90, 128, 130–32, 187, 198, 199, 202
significance of, 102
Soviet achievements in, 122–26
special interests and, 5, 236–37
stellar nurseries in, 93
technological innovation and, 12
US-Soviet rivalry and, 5–6, 59, 79, 87, 121–27, 133, 192, 219
war as driver of, 219–20
Space Cowboys (film), 162
Space Exploration Initiative, 8
Space Foundation, 221–22
Spaceguard Survey, The: Report of the NASA International Near-Earth Object Detection Workshop, 50
space junk, 176
space shuttle, 7, 12, 25, 109, 160–62, 165, 201, 202, 228, 281
contingency funding for, 321–22
fuel of, 158
launch costs of, 320–22
main parts of, 154–55
pricing policy for, 314
retirement of, 14–16, 143, 214
speed of, 222
use policy for, 312–13
weight of, 155
see also specific vehicles
Space Station Freedom, 6, 8
Space Studies Board, 169
Space Technology Hall of Fame, 221, 230–31, 237
Space Telescope Science Institute, 10, 23, 135–36
Space Transportation System, 314
space travel, 191–98
coasting in, 247
in Colbert–author interview, 186–88
danger of, 198
financing of, 193–94
in Hollywood movies, 194–95
Moon missions and, 192–93
robots and, 198
special relativity and, 195–96
Space Travel Symposium, 111
Spain, 7, 87
spectroscopy, 30
Spirit (Mars exploration rover), 130–33, 138
Spitzer Space Telescope, 139
Sputnik, xiii, 5, 59, 79, 113–14, 133, 192, 218
50th anniversary of, 226
US response to, 122–24
Star City (training center), 73, 74, 207
Stars & Atoms (Eddington), 107
Star Trek (TV series), 3, 164, 170
45th anniversary of, 178–81
human behavior and, 180
technology of, 179
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (film), 37–38
Star Wars (film series), 131
State Department, US, 312
Stewart, Jon, 4
Stone, Sharon, 203
subatomic particles, 94
Sugar, Ron, 221
Sun, 27, 28, 29, 33, 46, 58, 72, 97, 112, 117, 118, 138, 195, 245
Copernican principle and, 34
energy emitted by, 93
fusion in, 101
neutrinos emitted by, 94
Superconducting Super Collider, 6–7, 80–81
Sweden, 7
Swift, Philip W., 223
Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer, 139
Switzerland, 7
Sykes, Wanda, 17
Systems of the World, The (Newton), 113
Taj Mahal, 88
Tamayo-Méndez, Arnaldo, 122
TASS, 123
Taylor, Charles E., 219
technology, 89, 200, 226
aero-space integration plan for, 323–24
in alien observation of Earth, 29–32
CRDAs policy on transfer of, 304–6
energy conservation and, 96
engineering, 95
Industrial Revolution and, 95
information, 95
leadership and, 23
multiple disciplines and, 135–37
nonsectarian philosophies and, 206
predicting future of, 215–16
progress in, 218–19
space exploration and, 135
of Star Trek, 179
US lag in, 21–22
telescopes, 71, 82, 85–86, 94, 141, 225
microwave, 91–92
radio, 91
ultraviolet, 93
Tereshkova, Valentina, 122
Texas, 6
Thompson, David, 221
three-body problem, 116–17
Three Gorges Dam, 22, 233
Three Mile Island meltdown, 168
Titan, 31
Huygens probe to, 138–39
methane on, 138–39
Today Show (TV show), 210–11
Tonight Show (TV show), 144–45
Toth, Viktor, 250
Townsend, W. W., 215–16
transportation, 95
Treasury Department, US, 328
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, 310
Trojan asteroids, 117, 176
Truax, Robert C., 218
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich, 153–54, 157
Tunguska River, 50
Turyshev, Slava, 250
2001: A Space Odyssey (film), 35, 128–29, 194, 229
Tyrannosaurus rex, 51, 201
UFOs, 182–85
Ukraine, xiv, 168
ultraviolet light, 71, 90, 93
ultraviolet telescope, 93
Ulysses spacecraft, 168
UNESCO, 226
Unitary Wind Tunnel Plan Act of 1949, 272
United Kingdom, xiv, 7
United Nations, 86–87
United States, xiii, 202
bald eagle symbol of, 107–8
crumbling infrastructure of, 236–37, 253
educational system of, 58
first satellite of, 124–25
foreign students in, 21–22
maritime and territorial jurisdiction of, 309–10
reaction to Sputnik in, 122–24
scientific literacy in, 57–59
Soviet rivalry with, 5–6, 59, 79, 87, 121–27, 133, 192, 219
space budgets of, 306–9
space policy of, 60–61
transportation in, 95–96
universe, cosmic perspective and, 258–61
Uranus, 119, 157
discovery of, 247–48
US Space and Rocket Center, 220
V-2 rocket, 110–11, 114, 126, 153–54, 158, 217
van Leeuwenhoek, Antoni, 85, 92
Vega, 178
Venus (goddess), 227
Venus (planet), 115, 122, 167, 184, 225, 245
cratering on, 52
greenhouse phenomenon of, 39–40, 201, 227
orbit of, 115
Venus Equilateral (Smith), 175
Verne, Jules, 170
Versailles Palace, 88
Vietnam War, 178–79
Viking program, 169
Viking 1, 168
Viking 2, 168
Vision for Space Exploration, 13–14, 16, 25, 59–60
von Braun, Wernher, 67, 95, 114, 126–27, 194
Voyager program, 27, 43, 168, 169, 198
Voyager 2, 112, 168
Voyager 6, 38
Wall Street (film), 228
Wall Street Journal, 218
War of the Worlds (film), 42
water, 28, 30, 49, 78, 92, 129
comets and, 48
extraterrestrial life and, 39–40
on Mars, 48, 134, 138, 201, 227
molecules of, 258
Webb, James, 67
see also James Webb Space Telescope
weightlessness, 119
Weinberg, Steven, 10, 81
“What Are We Waiting For?” (Collier’s), 111
White, Edward B., 66
Wilkins, John, 21
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), 176
Wilson, Robert, 92
“Wind from the Sun, The” (Clarke), 166
Wise, Donald U., 10–11
Woods, Tiger, 114
Woolley, Richard van der Riet, 217–18
World War I, 217
World War II, 125, 224
Wright, Orville, 23, 97, 109–12, 215–16, 218–19
Wright, Wilbur, 23, 97, 109–10, 112, 215–19
Wright Flyer, 110, 196, 218–19
xenon gas, 159, 164–65
X-rays, 71, 90, 93–94, 96, 135, 139,
141
Yang Liwei, 7
Yeager, Charles E. “Chuck,” 109, 112
Yeah, I Said It (Sykes), 17
“Zone of Avoidance,” 100
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
About the Author
Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist, was born and raised in New York City, where he was educated in the public schools clear through to his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. He earned his BA in physics from Harvard and his PhD in astrophysics from Columbia. Tyson has served on two presidential commissions—one in 2001 on the future of the US aerospace industry, and a second in 2004 on the future of NASA—and on NASA’s Advisory Council. Among his nine previous books are his memoir, The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist; the playful and informative Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, which was a New York Times best seller; and The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet. Tyson is the recipient of fourteen honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by the agency to a nongovernment civilian. His contributions to the public appreciation of the cosmos have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union in their official naming of asteroid 13123 Tyson. On the lighter side, he was voted “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive” by People magazine in 2000. Tyson is the first occupant of the Hayden Planetarium’s Frederick P. Rose directorship. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
About the Editor
Avis Lang is a writer, a freelance editor, and a lecturer in English at the City University of New York. She also collaborates with Neil deGrasse Tyson. From 2002 through 2007, as a senior editor at Natural History magazine, she oversaw Tyson’s monthly column, “Universe.” Originally trained as an art historian, Lang has written many essays on art and curated several large group exhibitions. Before moving to New York from Vancouver in 1983, she lectured for fifteen years at universities and art colleges across Canada.
Copyright © 2012 by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Editor’s Note © copyright 2012 by Avis Lang
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tyson, Neil deGrasse.
Space chronicles : facing the ultimate frontier / Neil deGrasse Tyson ; edited by Avis Lang. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-393-08210-4 (hardcover)
1. Astronautics and state—United States. 2. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 3. Manned space flight—Forecasting. 4. Outer space—Exploration. I. Lang, Avis. II. Title.
TL789.8.U5T97 2012
629.40973—dc23
2011032481
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