Exploring the Solar System / Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology (PDF)

WILLIAM E. BURROWS New York University, USA
ANDREW J. BUTRICA Independent Scholar

ERIK M. CONWAY Jet Propulsion Laboratory
DAVID A. DEVORKIN Smithsonian Institution, USA
ANDREW K. JOHNSTON Smithsonian Institution, USA
AMY PAIGE KAMINSKI NASA Headquarters, USA

W. HENRY LAMBWRIGHT Syracuse University, USA
JOHN M. LOGSDON George Washington University, USA
ROBERT MARKLEY University of Illinois, USA
JOHN D. RULEY Indepdent Scholar
ARTURO RUSSO University of Palermo, Italy
PETER J. WESTWICK The Huntington Library, USA

"Today, the scientific community is concerned about NASA's declining budget and the corresponding impact on the future of planetary exploration. In this context, Exploring the Solar System, edited by Launius (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum), is a very timely work. The book's 14 essays focus on the history of NASA and solar system exploration from the earliest days of the space agency. The volume fills a unique niche in the literature since the essays on the scientific motivation behind and accomplishments of missions like Voyager, Galileo, Magellan, and Cassini are accompanied by others on the organization and management of NASA during the development and launch of these and other missions. These latter essays discuss the tensions between scientists, administrators, and the politicians who were responsible for the NASA budget, revealing many of the important issues that surround past, current, and future solar system exploration. This combination of aerospace history and planetary science provides the entire picture of the full life cycle of these missions - not just their most successful moments. Part of the 'Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology' series." - Chris Palma, Senior Lecturer, Pennsylvania State University, USA

"Fifty years after Mariner 2 flew past Venus, Exploring the Solar System, instrumented with some of the best scholars around, gives us a historical flyby of what has evolved since that first encounter. The book instantly claims standing in the canon." - Stephen J. Pyne, Regent's Professor in the School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, USA, and author of Voyager: Exploration, Space, and the Third Great Age of Discovery

"For anyone who wants to understand how planetary exploration actually occurs, this book is essential reading. It adroitly explains the management, science, imagination, and public policy that have produced spectacular revelations about our planetary neighbors." - Howard