Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier (52 page)

CRDAs policy on transfer of, 304–6

energy conservation and, 96

engineering, 95

Industrial Revolution and, 95

information, 95

leadership and, 23

multiple disciplines and, 135–37

nonsectarian philosophies and, 206

predicting future of, 215–16

progress in, 218–19

space exploration and, 135

of
Star Trek,
179

US lag in, 21–22

telescopes, 71, 82, 85–86, 94, 141, 225

microwave, 91–92

radio, 91

ultraviolet, 93

Tereshkova, Valentina, 122

Texas, 6

Thompson, David, 221

three-body problem, 116–17

Three Gorges Dam, 22, 233

Three Mile Island meltdown, 168

Titan, 31

Huygens probe to, 138–39

methane on, 138–39

Today Show
(TV show), 210–11

Tonight Show
(TV show), 144–45

Toth, Viktor, 250

Townsend, W. W., 215–16

transportation, 95

Treasury Department, US, 328

Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, 310

Trojan asteroids, 117, 176

Truax, Robert C., 218

Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich, 153–54, 157

Tunguska River, 50

Turyshev, Slava, 250

2001: A Space Odyssey
(film), 35, 128–29, 194, 229

Tyrannosaurus rex,
51, 201

UFOs, 182–85

Ukraine, xiv, 168

ultraviolet light, 71, 90, 93

ultraviolet telescope, 93

Ulysses spacecraft, 168

UNESCO, 226

Unitary Wind Tunnel Plan Act of 1949, 272

United Kingdom, xiv, 7

United Nations, 86–87

United States, xiii, 202

bald eagle symbol of, 107–8

crumbling infrastructure of, 236–37, 253

educational system of, 58

first satellite of, 124–25

foreign students in, 21–22

maritime and territorial jurisdiction of, 309–10

reaction to Sputnik in, 122–24

scientific literacy in, 57–59

Soviet rivalry with, 5–6, 59, 79, 87, 121–27, 133, 192, 219

space budgets of,
306–9

space policy of, 60–61

transportation in, 95–96

universe, cosmic perspective and, 258–61

Uranus, 119, 157

discovery of, 247–48

US Space and Rocket Center, 220

V-2 rocket, 110–11, 114, 126, 153–54, 158, 217

van Leeuwenhoek, Antoni, 85, 92

Vega, 178

Venus (goddess), 227

Venus (planet), 115, 122, 167, 184, 225, 245

cratering on, 52

greenhouse phenomenon of, 39–40, 201, 227

orbit of, 115

Venus Equilateral
(Smith), 175

Verne, Jules, 170

Versailles Palace, 88

Vietnam War, 178–79

Viking program, 169

Viking 1, 168

Viking 2, 168

Vision for Space Exploration, 13–14, 16, 25, 59–60

von Braun, Wernher, 67, 95, 114, 126–27, 194

Voyager program, 27, 43, 168, 169, 198

Voyager 2, 112, 168

Voyager 6, 38

Wall Street
(film), 228

Wall Street Journal,
218

War of the Worlds
(film), 42

water, 28, 30, 49, 78, 92, 129

comets and, 48

extraterrestrial life and, 39–40

on Mars, 48, 134, 138, 201, 227

molecules of, 258

Webb, James, 67

see also
James Webb Space Telescope

weightlessness, 119

Weinberg, Steven, 10, 81

“What Are We Waiting For?” (
Collier’s
), 111

White, Edward B., 66

Wilkins, John, 21

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), 176

Wilson, Robert, 92

“Wind from the Sun, The” (Clarke), 166

Wise, Donald U., 10–11

Woods, Tiger, 114

Woolley, Richard van der Riet, 217–18

World War I, 217

World War II, 125, 224

Wright, Orville, 23, 97, 109–12, 215–16, 218–19

Wright, Wilbur, 23, 97, 109–10, 112, 215–19

Wright Flyer, 110, 196, 218–19

xenon gas, 159, 164–65

X-rays, 71, 90, 93–94, 96, 135, 139,
141

Yang Liwei, 7

Yeager, Charles E. “Chuck,” 109, 112

Yeah, I Said It
(Sykes), 17

“Zone of Avoidance,” 100

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

About the Author

Neil deGrasse Tyson
, an astrophysicist, was born and raised in New York City, where he was educated in the public schools clear through to his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. He earned his BA in physics from Harvard and his PhD in astrophysics from Columbia. Tyson has served on two presidential commissions—one in 2001 on the future of the US aerospace industry, and a second in 2004 on the future of NASA—and on NASA’s Advisory Council. Among his nine previous books are his memoir,
The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist
; the playful and informative
Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries
, which was a
New York Times
best seller; and
The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet
. Tyson is the recipient of fourteen honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by the agency to a nongovernment civilian. His contributions to the public appreciation of the cosmos have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union in their official naming of asteroid 13123 Tyson. On the lighter side, he was voted “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive” by
People
magazine in 2000. Tyson is the first occupant of the Hayden Planetarium’s Frederick P. Rose directorship. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

About the Editor

Avis Lang
is a writer, a freelance editor, and a lecturer in English at the City University of New York. She also collaborates with Neil deGrasse Tyson. From 2002 through 2007, as a senior editor at
Natural History
magazine, she oversaw Tyson’s monthly column, “Universe.” Originally trained as an art historian, Lang has written many essays on art and curated several large group exhibitions. Before moving to New York from Vancouver in 1983, she lectured for fifteen years at universities and art colleges across Canada.

Copyright © 2012 by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Editor’s Note © copyright 2012 by Avis Lang

All rights reserved

First Edition

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Production manager: Devon Zahn

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tyson, Neil deGrasse.

Space chronicles : facing the ultimate frontier / Neil deGrasse Tyson ; edited by Avis Lang. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-393-08210-4 (hardcover)

1. Astronautics and state—United States. 2. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 3. Manned space flight—Forecasting. 4. Outer space—Exploration. I. Lang, Avis. II. Title.

TL789.8.U5T97 2012

629.40973—dc23

2011032481

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