Chasing New Horizons
Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
About the book
On July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto at over 32,000 miles an hour, more than 3 billion miles from Earth. Planetary scientist Alan Stern, the mission's principal investigator, first proposed it in the early 1990s, and he and astrobiologist David Grinspoon tell its story from Stern's point of view. They cover the repeated cancellations, the contest with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to win NASA approval for a mission design, political fights inside and outside the agency, and the ingenuity needed to design, build and fly the probe, plus plans for a further encounter beyond Pluto. Two 16-page color inserts of images are included. A Physics World review praised it while noting a bias toward Stern.
Brad Feld singled it out as the one book to read from his vacation reading list, especially for anyone living in Boulder, and noted that both authors are at CU Boulder.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Brad Feld (Co-Founder/Foundry Group)
If you read one book from this list, read this one, especially if you live in Boulder. Alan Stern, the PI on the New Horizons mission to Pluto, wrote – with David Grinspoon – a riveting story that spans around 30 years. Both Alan and David are at CU Boulder, which plays a key role in the exploration of the last planet in our solar system (there – I said it – Pluto is a planet, the IAU be damned.) This book is a page tuner and will cause you to fall in love with Pluto. And, in late breaking news, Pluto may actually be a giant comet (ah – clickbait headlines …)
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