Launch vehicles -- The missiles -- The Shuttle -- Back to expendables -- Heavyweights -- Lightweights -- Boom and bust -- The Chinese experience -- The current crop -- Satellites and space probes -- Failure and redundancy -- Propulsion system failures -- Attitude control system failures -- Electrical failures -- Environmental failures -- Structural failures -- Failures on the ground -- Operator…
Peering at Mars -- A close look -- The Vikings -- What is life? -- A multiplicity of missions -- The water dilemma -- Spirit -- Opportunity -- Future prospects."Why explore Mars? The simple answer is, we’re going to Mars to search for life. We’re following the water because on Earth where you find liquid water, organic material, and energy, you find life." u find life" Ed Weiler, NASA's Ass…
Getting started -- Routine operations -- A step towards continuous occupancy -- A base block for modular construction -- An astrophysical laboratory -- A microgravity laboratory for hire -- Expansion or abandonment? -- Shuttle-Mir -- The final chapter -- In retrospect.This successor edition picks up the story where the first edition left off in 1997, and runs through to Mir’s de-orbiting in M…