Ambassadors from Earth

Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft

Jay Gallentine

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781496228680
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Astronomy & Astrophysics

Rewind to the 1950s and ponder: was America's first satellite really built by a college student? How did a small band of underappreciated Russian engineers get pictures of the moon's far side—using stolen American film? As the 1960s progressed, consider: how the heck did people learn to steer a spacecraft using nothing but gravity? And just how were humans able to goose a spaceship through a thirty-year journey to the literal edge of our solar system? Ambassadors from Earth relates the story of the first unmanned space probes and planetary explorers—from the Sputnik and Explorer satellites launched in the late 1950s to the thrilling interstellar Voyager missions of the '70s—that yielded some of the most celebrated successes and spectacular failures of the space age. Keep in mind that our first mad scrambles to reach orbit, the moon, and the planets were littered with enough histrionics and cliffhanging turmoil to rival the most far-out sci-fi film. Utilizing original interviews with key players, bolstered by never-before-seen photographs, journal excerpts, and primary source documents, Jay Gallentine delivers a quirky and unforgettable look at the lives and legacy of the Americans and Soviets who conceived, built, and guided those unmanned missions to the planets and beyond. Of special note is his in-depth interview with James Van Allen, the discoverer of the rings of planetary radiation that now bear his name. Ambassadors from Earth is an engaging bumper-car ride through a fog of head-banging uncertainty, bleeding-edge technology, personality clashes, organizational frustrations, brutal schedules, and the occasional bright spot. Confessed one participant, "We were making it up as we went along."

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title Page
• Outward Odyssey
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Quote
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Aboard the Glacier
• 2. Problem Child
• 3. The Convict
• 4. Light Fuse, get away
• 5. New Moon
• 6. Let’s Make a Deal
• 7. The Creators and the Makers
• 8. Storming the Sea of Dreams
• 9. Moving at the Speed of Design
• 10. Job Number MA-11
• 11. The Science and the Cyclist
• 12. Get Off the Bus
• 13. Swing in Time
• 14. The Meeting and the Mechta
• 15. Think Like Gravity
• 16. Didn’t They Get It?
• 17. The Death and the Funeral
• 18. One Hundred Percent Failure
• 19. Three-Problem Shipley
• 20. Pete and Al’s Little Field Trip
• 21. Irradiated Plans
• 22. Embarking
• 23. Get It
• 24. Instant Science
• 25. Circles of Gold
• 26. Last Light
• 27. Continuum
• Sources
• Index
• In the Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight Series