About the Book
This book provides an insight into what an astronaut does, the experience of space flight, the equipment he uses, and what it takes to become an astronaut. Although concentrating on contemporary astronaut selection and flight, especially with NASA, ESA and Russia, it also covers astronaut experiences of pioneering missions of the past and some proposed for the near future, such as lunar flight and landing, asteroid rendezvous and travel to Mars. The engaging text, illustrated with a wide range of photographs and illustrations, and featuring unique insight from astronauts past and present, takes the reader on a fascinating journey through an astronaut's career - from selection and training, through experiences in space, to returning to life on Earth after experiencing the vastness of space. Essential reading for space enthusiasts and anybody interested in learning about what it takes to become an astronaut.
Table of Contents:
*Featuring interviews and insight from astronauts who have flown on Apollo, Soyuz, Shuttle and ISS missions.*Beginnings - the origins of the word 'astronaut', and astronauts in science fiction, literature and poetry.*Selection and recruitment - previous astronaut intakes, types of astronaut jobs, interviews, tests and selection/rejection, NASA's 45-page application form.*Astronaut missions - sub-orbital, Earth orbit, rendezvous and docking, ISS, lunar orbit, Moon landing, driving on the Moon, future missions, Mars.*Space suits - purpose, design, components, evolution, potential dangers.*The astronaut's equipment - spacewalk equipment, equipment operated from inside the spacecraft, personal equipment.*Training for Earth orbit - training for weightlessness, spacewalk training, airlock, mission simulation, training for emergencies.*Training for beyond Earth - landing on the Moon, driving the Lunar Rover, asteroid capture, geology fieldwork training, one-sixth gravity mobility training, Mars mission simulations.*The experience of space - arriving in space, views from space, The Earth, Moon rise, the stars, the Earth at night, the aurora borealis, daily life in orbit, the effects of weightlessness.*Working in orbit - experiments, repairs, astronomy, breakdowns.*Personal time in space - leisure, exercise, photography, communications. * Epilogue - returning to Earth. * Appendices - astronauts' accomplishments, glossary/abbreviations.
About the Author :
Dr Ken MacTaggart is Co-Editor (with David Woods) of the Apollo 11 Flight Journal, NASA’s official record of the mission, with accompanying technical commentary. He is also a long -standing contributor to NASA’s Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. He has written for national newspapers and magazines about many space topics, including Apollo, the Space Shuttle, the MMU, Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 13 accident, the Russian Interkosmos programme, etc. He lives in Inverness, Scotland
