New Scientist - The Essential Guides

The Essential Guide series brings together the best recent coverage from New Scientist specially curated into beautiful compendiums about the most exciting themes in science and technology today. Written and edited by some of the world’s best science writers, these guides will leave you with everything you need to know about subjects from nutrition to the solar system and more.

NEW SCIENTIST ESSENTIAL GUIDE SPACE EXPLORATION

New Scientist - The Essential Guides

CHAPTER 1 INTO SPACE

THE SPACE RACE • The space race in the 1950s and 60s was driven by cold war politics. Without the Soviet Union and the US battling to outmanoeuvre each other, we wouldn’t have had Sputnik, Vostok or Apollo. Here are some key events that marked our first ventures into the realm beyond Earth.

APOLLO 11: THE FIRST FOOTSTEPS ON THE MOON • On 21 July 1969, Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words “that’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” as he took his momentous “small step” onto the lunar surface.

HIDDEN FIGURE • Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician whose calculations helped the US get an astronaut into orbit and were crucial for the first moon landing.

THE SPACE SHUTTLE • NASA’s Space Shuttle programme heralded a new era of space flight and exploration, whose fruits we still enjoy today. Over 30 years, 135 flights were made by five shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

SPACE STATIONS: FROM SALYUT TO THE ISS • These orbiting homes-from-home have helped us master the basics of survival in space and revealed the challenges we face if we want to travel to other planets.

“ WHEN YOU LOOK DOWN ON THE EARTH, YOU CAN’T SEE THE POLITICAL BOUNDARIES” • Some three decades after her historic space flight, Helen Sharman sat down with us to talk about the experience and her concerns for the future of our planet

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? • Nine space missions have reached the icy depths of the outer solar system. Some are still broadcasting from interstellar space.

CHAPTER 2 THE MOON

RETURN TO THE MOON: WHY ARE WE RESTARTING HUMAN LUNAR EXPLORATION NOW? • NASA and SpaceX are among the key players leading a surge of missions to the moon, including crewed ones. Here’s what is special about this moment – and why it is happening

AMATEUR ASTRONOMY: HOW TO SPOT THE APOLLO LANDING SITES AND DRAMATIC CRATERS ON THE MOON

WHY NASA IS RETURNING TO THE MOON FOR THE WRONG REASONS • Former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver helped create the now-booming private space industry. But she says NASA is still too focused on using its moon programme to provide jobs for US workers.

WHY MILITARY FORCES SEE THE MOON AS A NEW STRATEGIC PRIORITY • The US Space Force is already taking steps to protect future bases on the moon. Could this lead to other powers like China escalating their own military activities up there too?

WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO BUILD A PERMANENT MOON BASE • The US wants to build a long-term human outpost on the moon by around 2030. Here is all the tech that will be needed, from a space station in lunar orbit to a way to avoid ‘space hay fever’.

“ I GO TO WORK TO DO COOL THINGS WITH MY FRIENDS, LIKE GO TO THE MOON” • Christina Koch, who will become the first woman to go to the moon with the Artemis II mission, on what space smells like, why it is difficult to return to Earth and how astronauts play human bowling.

CHAPTER 3 THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM

MISSION ICARUS: TOUCHING THE SUN • The Parker Solar Probe was sent to unlock the secrets of our star by flying into its fiery atmosphere – a mission that pushed technology to the limit.

AMATEUR ASTRONOMY: HOW TO SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

MERCURY AND VENUS: A PAIR OF SIZZLING COALS • You could be...