book and mag

Donna and Steve gave me an astronomy-themed book for a Christmas gift. It is called Entering Space: An Astronaut's Odyssey. It is written by Joe Allen, a NASA astronaut. I don't recognise him but he's been to the International Space Station recently.

I look forward to reading a current astronaut's treatment (although I think I saw the book is circa 1985). The photography is very nice. Apparently, a number of these photos were taken by Joe.

Mom gave me an astronomy-themed "magazine." I hesitate to use that term. It is from National Geographic. But this is a special edition. The Once and Future Frontier Space. Wonderful photography of course. It includes a forward by Ray Bradbury.

NG is celebrating our 50 years in space.

There is a very cool chart showing the various missions orbiting the Earth and travelling to the Moon, essentially a bar chart where the height of the bar indicates the distance from Earth, over the last 50 years, differentiated by country.