The TASCHEN coffee table book "The NASA Archives" is more than just a fascinating graphic history of the U.S. space program. It is also a profound meditation on why we choose to explore space and how we will pursue this greatest adventure in the years to come.
On Oct. 1, 1958, the world's first civilian space agency opened its doors as an emergency response to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik a year earlier. Within a decade, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly known as NASA, had evolved from modest research teams experimenting with small converted rockets into one of the largest technological and managerial enterprises ever, capable of sending humans to the moon aboard giant rockets and sending robotic explorers to Venus, Mars and worlds far beyond. Despite occasional, tragic setbacks in NASA's history, the Apollo moon landing project remains synonymous with American ingenuity; the winged space shuttles spearheaded the International Space Station and a dizzying array of astronomical satellites and robotic landing vehicles, and Earth observation programs transformed our understanding of the cosmos and the fragile place of our home world within it.
Throughout NASA's 60-year history, images have played a central role. Who today does not know the mesmerizing images of the universe from the Hubble Space Telescope or the razor-sharp panoramas of Mars from NASA's surface rovers? And who can forget the photographs of the first humans walking on the moon?
Curated in collaboration with NASA, this collection contains more than 400 historic photographs and rare concept views, scanned and remastered using the latest technology and reproduced in extra-large format.
Specifications
Title: The NASA Archives: 60 Years in Space
Author: Andrew Chaikin
Publisher: TASCHEN
Size: 359 x 396 x 63 mm
Size: 468 pages
Weight: 7.4 kg
Language: English
Material: Hardback
ISBN: 9783836569507
