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Chasing New Horizons
- Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
- Narrated by: Alan Stern, David Grinspoon
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Science & Engineering, Science
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Summary
This audiobook is the up-close inside story of the greatest space exploration project of our time, New Horizons’ mission to Pluto, as shared with David Grinspoon by mission leader Alan Stern and other key players.
On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than three billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long-mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond. Nothing like this has occurred in a generation - a raw exploration of new worlds unparalleled since NASA’s Voyager missions to Uranus and Neptune - and nothing quite like it is planned to happen ever again.
The photos that New Horizons sent back to Earth graced the front pages of newspapers on all seven continents, and NASA’s website for the mission received more than two billion hits in the days surrounding the flyby. At a time when so many think that our most historic achievements are in the past, the most distant planetary exploration ever attempted not only succeeded in 2015 but made history and captured the world’s imagination. How did this happen?
Chasing New Horizons is the story of the men and women behind this amazing mission: of their decades-long commitment and persistence; of the political fights within and outside of NASA; of the sheer human ingenuity it took to design, build, and fly the mission; and of the plans for New Horizons’ next encounter, one billion miles past Pluto in 2019. Told from the insider’s perspective of mission leader Dr. Alan Stern and others on New Horizons, Chasing New Horizons is a riveting story of scientific discovery and of how much we humans can achieve when people focused on a dream work together toward their incredible goal.
What listeners say about Chasing New Horizons
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ash
- 20-08-21
Really made me feel the action
Recently I've read books on the Voyager mission and Curiosity but Chasing New Horizons was on a different level. This book really made me feel the highs and lows of the incredibly long and difficult journey to get a mission launched, and the redemption of the final fly by. I loved it, I'd even consider listening to it again which is rare for me.
1 person found this helpful
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- Panda
- 17-04-21
Deep Space Revealed
An outstanding ebook, great story, well read and on one of my favourite topics Space Exploration, if you're a fan of Space Exploration you can't go wrong with this book, it has everything. Recommended!
1 person found this helpful
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- Robert Turner
- 10-07-19
Incredible
Loved the book and the story well narrated. A fantastic achievement in planetary exploration. Recommended
1 person found this helpful
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- mr jack owen hughes
- 15-04-19
Inspiring!
This book is a must for any space enthusiast. It’s a truly inspiring story extremely well told.
1 person found this helpful
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- Rob Sedgwick
- 17-08-18
Brilliant
This is a terrific production which enthrals from beginning to end. It's not overly long although it does cover several decades from when the idea of exploring Pluto was first contemplated right up to the fly-by and the subsequent visit to the Kuiper Belt.
1 person found this helpful
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- "robin9000"
- 20-06-18
You think?
a truely insperational inside account of the sheer detemination of a small team of explorers to overcome multiple trials and tribulation to bring to the world a discovery of epic proportions. an insperation and one of the most enjoyable reads of scientic discovery that ive come across
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- andrew william jones
- 16-05-18
Fascinating insights into the New Horizons journey
This book gives a great insight into the battles a deep space mission faces in getting off the drawing board and into space - and the ones that arise once in the void. The technical and political aspects of the development of New Horizons are fascinating, and you come away with a sense of wonder as to how the mission made it launch, never mind the brilliant science it carried out. The narration is a bit flat, but the story carries itself. Looking forward to learning about the mission's next target - 2014 MU69 - at the dawn of 2019.
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- Stuff Reviewer
- 19-06-18
Great Topic ... not great coverage
The good...First let me say I love the topic of this book. The achievement that the New Horizon's team made was a great one. Low budget outer planet mission that was on budget and that accomplished the great majority, if not all, of their objectives. The description of the mission planning was great. The trade offs they had to make, again great. Just wish that part of the book was longer.
The interesting....The story of the long and winding road to get the mission off the ground. However it was too much of the book, more than half. The competition with JPL was also interesting and I believe most of what they said was plausible but they actually provided very little proof that JPL was working behind the scenes to sabatoge their mission. Also they seemed to have no qualms about using behind the scenes political shinanigans when it benefitted their cause.
The bad...parts of the book were over the top. Comparing path to getting the mission approved to the Battan Death March... REALLY!That was just ignorant. I understand that this was their story and passion but there was not even an attempt to be take into account other opinions. Constantly comparing their accomplishments to Voyager and Apollo actually seemed like grand standing and just plain repatitive. How many times did they mention that the mission cost 1/5 as much as Voyager and that they had instruments that were so much better. You launched more than a quarter century after Voyager after all the technological advancements is it really that surprising that you had better instruments and a much lighter spacecraft? Mentioning it once or twice would have been fine but over and over? The underdog angle was over done. The public's enthusiasm was also over emphasized. Yes, they were able to take advantage of social media but then again cats playing the pianio have millions of views too.
For me the worst part we that the book was very light on technical details.
Overall it was not bad book but it could have been so much better and befitting of the accomplishments that they actually acchieved instead of trying to elivate their accomplishments to an almost absurd level.
But that's just one person's opinion.
10 people found this helpful
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- Kirk Briggs
- 19-05-18
Good story little science
This book tells the story of the effort to explore the Dwarf Planet Pluto. It is successful in doing so however I had hoped for much more on the actual science undertaken. I learn a lot about the backstory but little on the Pluto itself.
6 people found this helpful
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- J. Robins
- 26-05-18
Take this amazing story with a grain of salt
The story of the New Horizons spacecraft is an epic one, fraught with near misses and brushes with death all along its path. The exploration of Pluto is a moment I will remember until I die. While the story is a must hear, be wary that this perspective is from its champion, Alan Stern, who necessarily tells it in perhaps a more dramatic and self-serving way than may be true. Nonetheless, authors' biases aside, this is a great story and I would recommend it to anyone.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 14-01-21
Just Okay
It was okay but not nearly as good as similar books I have listened to.
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- DrRat
- 24-12-20
Everest of the 21st century
I felt like I was there. Every student (of any age) should read this book.
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- Bill in CT
- 23-03-20
An Important Litany of Modern Exploration Science
The miracle of New Horizons is well documented from the perspective of the lead science-administrator. This should be mandatory reading for aspiring scientists and engineers to provide basic grounding in industrial science. While some of the travails are painful listening, the dedication of the New Horizons team and ultimate payoff make this a worthy book. Non-scientists (especially elected and appointed government representatives) should also read this to fully appreciate where and how their tax dollars are being spent.
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- Anonymous User
- 20-03-20
excellent
if you're a space/science nerd, you'll love this account of the inner workings of NASA and this extraordinary mission
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- Maryland Girl
- 17-01-20
amazing perseverance!
Very inspiring battle against great odds. The team persevered and attained their goal and more.
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- monkeyboy
- 12-12-19
captivating
very interesting story. I had some idea how much was involved but this explore the whole story in depth
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- dylan d.
- 21-11-19
great book highly recommend!!!!
such a good book. I know Alan personally and this is a great way to get a InSight to what he had to gi through to make new horizons a reality!