Journey Beyond Selene: Remarkable Expeditions Past Our Moon and to the Ends of the Solar System [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Kluger (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684847655 | ISBN-13: 978-0684847658 | Publication Date: July 20, 1999

Kluger tells the riveting stories of scientists and spacecraft on the cutting edge of exploration, as they probe the billions of miles that separate Earth from the moons of other planets. of photos.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Earth's moon, called Selene by the Greeks, is a gray, lifeless place, interesting geologically but perhaps a little disappointing to those of us looking for strange, colorful new worlds. But our moon is only one of more than 60 planetary satellites in the solar system, most of which are entirely unexplored. In Journey Beyond Selene, Jeffrey Kluger chronicles these unsung places and the heroes who explore them: the Jet Propulsion Lab's staff of dedicated adventurers, who build and fly sleek, unmanned spacecraft to investigate other moons. "When astronauts finally did reach the moon," Kluger writes, "the lean, fleet ships of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory had already gone elsewhere."

Why explore the satellites of other planets when the planets themselves remain mysterious? Kluger describes astronomers' first realization that in contrast to the lifeless gas giant Jupiter, its moons were a veritable scientific playground:

There were big moons and small moons, patterned moons and plain moons, brightly colored moons and pasty-pale moons.... There were moons that could have atmospheres, water, and even, perhaps, a spark of internal heat. Put them together, and you had moons that could, in theory, harbor life.

Journey Beyond Selene chronicles the history of a little-understood aspect of humanity's quest to discover new worlds. From the early Ranger orbiters through the incredible journeys of Voyager and Galileo, Kluger gives credit where credit is long overdue. They may not be astronauts, but these space jockeys have the right stuff. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly

Unmanned spaceships have investigated all the planets in our solar system except Pluto. More significant to NASA's search for extraterrestrial life, these spaceships have also beamed back vivid closeups of 63 moons. For it is on moons like Jupiter's ice-covered satellite Europa that scientists believe we may discover primitive forms of life. Kluger, a writer for Time magazine and coauthor of the bestselling Lost Moon, does a terrific job of tracing the history of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose scientists have directed the unmanned exploration of space from the first failed attempts to land on earth's moon (Selene) to the Pioneer and Voyager missions that captured the public's imagination with their color photos of giant gas planets and bizarre moons. Kluger wisely doesn't dwell on the bureaucracy and infighting always present in an institution as large as JPL, but he does portray enough of it for readers to appreciate how pressured the staff were to produce a spacecraft that could reach the moon and send back pictures. Kluger's explanations of the technical hurdles faced in guiding a tiny spaceship close to as many planets as possible without either hitting them or being set off course by their gravity can be followed easily by anyone with a general science background. His descriptions of our small galactic neighborhood convey scientists' excitement about what we may find when a probe lands on one of these strange worlds. An enticing narrative of scientific exploration, this book is strongly recommended to anyone interested in the search for life in space. 8-page color insert. Agent, Joy Harris. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684847655
• ISBN-13: 978-0684847658
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,317,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even Better Than "The Race"!, August 4, 2000

By 

Alex Leslie (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journey Beyond Selene: Remarkable Expeditions Past Our Moon and to the Ends of the Solar System (Hardcover)

This book focuses entirely on unmanned missions and all the human participants are entirely earth-based, so you might imagine that the story could be quite dry and clinical but Jeffrey Kluger brings the story to life in a most engaging and entertaining way. This book is a real page-turner -- you'll feel compelled to read it from cover-to-cover in one sitting! He brings the characters to life and the long cast involved on some of these amazingly longlived missions. It's a fascinating story with lots of amazing facts that I never knew before the read. And, it's an even better read than "The Race" which has garnered a lot of praise and also a very good book in its own right.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Read, May 22, 2004

By 

DH - See all my reviews

This review is from: Journey Beyond Selene: Remarkable Expeditions Past Our Moon and to the Ends of the Solar System (Hardcover)

I think most people remotely interested in astronomy will find Kluger's book a worthwhile and informative read. Unmanned space flight is the poor cousin to human exploration of space but the story behind JPL's many probes sent into space is fascinating. Those not interested in space may find the book hard going. The end result however, is a greater understanding of the planetary bodies in our solar system and some of the men behind our greatest astronomical discoveries. The book would have merited five stars had Mr Klugar included more photographs and diagrams.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lively, anecdote-filled history of JPL, August 26, 2000

By 

Kevin W. Parker (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Journey Beyond Selene: Remarkable Expeditions Past Our Moon and to the Ends of the Solar System (Hardcover)

This is a lively, often anecdotal account of many of the lunar and planetary missions developed by NASA/Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The prologue in particular is overdramatic, but fortunately it settles down after that. The focus is on two projects: JPL's first program, the Ranger lunar missions, and the spectacular Voyager missions to the outer planets. The latter in particular is covered with great thoroughness from program conception to the final flyby, and beyond. It provides some interesting insight into the politics and pragmatism behind these great adventures.

If I have a criticism of this book, it's a simple one: there aren't enough pictures. There are only eight pages worth of color pictures, which isn't enough to do justice even to the Voyager missions. I can only think it was a misguided attempt to save costs.

Overall, though, it's an easy (for this space buff, anyway) and fascinating read about some of the most significant unmanned projects of the space age so far.