Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier
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* Letter from Donald Wise, chief scientist and deputy director, Apollo Lunar Exploration Office, NASA, to Homer Newell, associate administrator, NASA, August 24, 1969. Reprinted in John M. Logsdon et al., eds., Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, vol. 5: Exploring the Cosmos, NASA SP-2001-4407 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2001), 185–86.
* Adapted from “Exoplanet Earth,” Natural History, February 2006.
* Adapted from “Why America Needs to Explore Space,” Parade, August 5, 2007.
* Adapted from “Is Anybody (Like Us) Out There?” Natural History, September 1996, and from “The Search for Life in the Universe: An Overview of the Scientific and Cultural Implications of Finding Life in the Cosmos,” congressional testimony presented before the House Committee on Science, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, July 12, 2001, Washington, DC.
* Adapted from interview with Sanjay Gupta, Anderson Cooper 360°, CNN, April 26, 2010.
* Adapted from “Coming Attractions,” Natural History, September 1997.
* Adapted from “The Conversation: Neil Tyson,” The New York Times video, conducted June 23, 2006, by Calvin Sims, produced by Matt Orr; posted online July 20, 2006, at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/conversation.html.
* Adapted from “Why Explore?” in Lonnie Jones Schorer (with a foreword by Buzz Aldrin), Kids to Space: A Space Traveler’s Guide (Burlington, Ontario: Collector’s Guide Publishing, 2006).
* Adapted from “Wonder,” posted at abc.com, October 30, 2006.
* First published in NASA 50th Magazine: 50 Years of Exploration and Discovery, 2008.
* Adapted from closing keynote speech at “50 Years of the Space Age,” a celebration sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation, UNESCO HQ, Paris, March 21, 2007.
* Adapted from “Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Need for a Space Program,” interview with Massimo Pigliucci and Julia Galef of New York City Skeptics, for “Rationally Speaking: Exploring the Borderlands between Reason and Nonsense”; released March 28, 2010, at http://www.rationallyspeakingpodcast.org.
* Adapted from “Paths to Discovery,” chapter 19 in Richard W. Bulliet, ed., The Columbia History of the 20th Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).
* Adapted from “To Fly,” Natural History, April 1998.
* Adapted from “Going Ballistic,” Natural History, November 2002.
* Adapted from “Fellow Traveler,” Natural History, October 2007.
* Adapted from “2001, for Real,” Op-Ed, The New York Times, January 1, 2001.
* Adapted from “Launching the Right Stuff,” Natural History, April 2004.
* Adapted from unpublished op-ed by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith, September 2004.
* Adapted from “For the Love of Hubble,” Parade, June 22, 2008.
* Adapted from Master of Ceremonies remarks, fortieth anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, July 20, 2009.
* Adapted from “Fueling Up,” Natural History, June 2005.
* Adapted from “Heading Out,” Natural History, July–August 2005.
* Adapted from “The Five Points of Lagrange,” Natural History, April 2002.
* Adapted from “The Science of Trek,” in Stephen Reddicliffe, ed., TV Guide—Star Trek 35th Anniversary Tribute: A Timeless Guide to the Trek Universe, 2002.
* Adapted from Q&A segment of “Cosmic Quandaries, with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson,” St. Petersburg College and WEDU, St. Petersburg, Florida, March 26, 2008.
* Adapted from an interview with Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Comedy Central, April 8, 2010, http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/270038/april-08-2010/neil-degrasse-tyson.
* Adapted from “Space: You Can’t Get There from Here,” Natural History, September 1998.
* Before 1968 both US and Soviet astronauts relied on pencils; it was the Fisher Pen Company, not NASA, that identified the need for a “space pen,” in part because of the zero-G environment but also because of the flammability of the pencil’s wood and lead in the pure oxygen atmosphere of the capsule. Fisher did not bill NASA for the development costs. Nevertheless, as the truth-seeking website Snopes.com opines in “The Write Stuff,” the lesson of this tale is valid, even though the example is fabricated.
* Adapted from “Reaching for the Stars,” Natural History, April 2003.
* Adapted from the keynote speech for the 48th Annual Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner, National Space Club, Washington, DC, April 1, 2005.
* Adapted from “Delusions of Space Enthusiasts,” Natural History, November 2006.
* Adapted from the keynote speech for the Space Technology Hall of Fame dinner, 23rd National Space Symposium, April 12, 2007, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* Adapted from the keynote speech for the Space Technology Hall of Fame dinner, 24th National Space Symposium, April 10, 2008, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
* Adapted from an unpublished ode written in 1986. EDITOR’S NOTE: The ode invokes words related to the names of all five space shuttles that existed in 1986—Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, Enterprise.
* Adapted from “Spacecraft Behaving Badly,” Natural History, April 2008.
* Adapted from Q&A, University of Buffalo Distinguished Speaker Series, March 31, 2010.
* Adapted from “The Cosmic Perspective,” Natural History, April 2007.
*Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
*Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
*Sources: Office of Management and Budget Historical Tables 1.1 (for federal government outlays) and 4.1 (for NASA outlays 1962–2010), as of April 2011; NASA Historical Data Book 1958–1968: Volume I, NASA Resources (for NASA outlays 1959–1961); Bureau of Economic Analysis (for GDP data).
*Source: The Space Report 2011, © The Space Foundation, used with permission.
*Source: The Space Report 2011, © The Space Foundation, used with permission.
*Source: The Space Report 2011, © The Space Foundation, used with permission.
Table of Contents
Editor’s Note
Prologue
Space Politics
PART I • WHY
1. The Allure of Space
2. Exoplanet Earth
3. Extraterrestrial Life
4. Evil Aliens
5. Killer Asteroids
6. Destined for the Stars
7. Why Explore
8. The Anatomy of Wonder
9. Happy Birthday, NASA
10. The Next Fifty Years in Spa ce
11. Space Options
12. Paths to Discovery
PART II • HOW
13. To Fly
14. Going Ballistic
15. Race to Space
16. 2001—Fact vs. Fiction
17. Launching the Right Stuff
18. Things Are Looking Up
19. For the Love of Hubble
20. Happy Anniversary, Apollo 11
21. How to Reach the Sky
22. The Last Days of the Space Shuttle
23. Propulsion for Deep Space
24. Balancing Acts
25. Happy Anniversary, Star Trek
26. How to Prove You’ve Been Abducted by Aliens
27. The Future of US Space Travel
PART III • WHY NOT
28. Space Travel Troubles
29. Reaching for the Stars
30. America and the Emergent Space Powers
31. Delusions of Space Enthusiasts
32. Perchance to Dream
33. By the Numbers
34. Ode to Challenger, 1986
35. Spacecraft Behaving Badly
36. What NASA Means to America’s Future
Epilogue
The Cosmic Perspective
Appendices
A. National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, As Amended
B. Selected Statut
ory Provisions Applicable to NASA
C. A Half Century of NASA Spending 1959–2010
D. NASA Spending 1959–2010
E. NASA Spending as a Percentage of US Federal Government Spending and of US GDP 1959–2010
F. Space Budgets: US Government Agencies 2010
G. Space Budget: Global 2010
H. Space Budgets: US and Non-US Governments 2010
Acknowledgments
Index