{"product_id":"ambassadors-from-earth-pioneering-explorations-with-unmanned-spacecraft-9780803249233","title":"Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmbassadors from Earth\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that our first mad scrambles to reach orbit, the moon, and the planets were littered with enough histrionics and cliff-hanging turmoil to rival the most far-out sci-fi film. But it all really happened \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on original interviews with key players and bolstered by previously unpublished photographs, journal excerpts, and primary source documents, Jay Gallentine delivers a quirky and unforgettable look at the lives and legacy of the people who conceived, built, and guided our first unmanned spacecraft and planetary probes. From the Sputnik and Explorer satellites of the late 1950s, to the thrilling Voyager \"Grand Tour\" of the '70s and '80s, they yielded some of the most celebrated successes and spectacular failures of the space age.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eConfessed one participant, \"We were making it up as we went along.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGallentine fearlessly clambers to the bottom of a surprisingly bitter controversy over who first developed the technique of using gravity to steer a spacecraft. Also of special note are his candid discussions with James Van Allen, the discoverer of the rings of planetary radiation that now bear his name. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJay Gallentine is a space historian who strives to tell never-before-heard stories of the space age in a lightheartedly appealing, readable, and nontechnical style.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50328427725074,"sku":"9780803249233","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d01b8aed-07d0-49b6-95ad-52e651e8c358.jpg?v=1727739413","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/ambassadors-from-earth-pioneering-explorations-with-unmanned-spacecraft-9780803249233","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}