30-Second Space Travel: 50 key ideas, inventions, and destinations that have inspired humanity toward the heavens

Description

As Space X works to reduce the barriers of access to space and Virgin Galactic forges a path to commercial spaceflight for the masses, we have begun to cross the realms of science fiction into the reality of humans viewing the cosmos with their own eyes. Part of an internationally bestselling series, 30-Second Space Travel sees a team of expert astronomers hand-pick the 50 most exciting topics and essential concepts in the field of space exploration and break down each subject into an easily accessible summary that takes just half a minute to understand. Beginning with Galileo and the early telescope explorers of the Renaissance, via the physics of orbital mechanics and the Apollo and Sputnik missions of the Space Race, and on to a future of space tourism and planetary colonisation, this book will open up a whole universe of space travel and leave you eager to research the field in more depth.

Charles Liu is a Professor of Astrophysics at the City University of New York's College of Staten Island, an Associate with the Hayden Planetarium, and of the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He is a regular co-host on the famous StarTalk show, and received the 2001 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for his book One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.