Flight to Mercury

Fülszöveg

Flight to Mercury
Bruce Murray and Eric Burgess
This fascinating bool< documents a recent mission in the exciting story of space exploration, the flight of Mariner 10, the automated spacecraft launched in November 1973 to obtain the first photographs of the planet Mercury. The closest planet to the Sun, Mercury's features cannot be seen from Earth with even the most powerful telescopes, and until now astronomers have known very little about the planet. The superior-quality, high-resolution Mariner 10 photographs provided the first close look at the surface of Mercury, revealing previously unknown aspects of its surface features and geology.
The first definitive book about Mercury, this work places particular emphasis on the human challenges involved in planning and implementing a mission to another world. Written by Bruce Murray, who was largely responsible for Mariner 10's brilliantly successful photographs, and by a veteran writer on spaceflight, Eric Burgess, this is an... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Flight to Mercury
Bruce Murray and Eric Burgess
This fascinating bool< documents a recent mission in the exciting story of space exploration, the flight of Mariner 10, the automated spacecraft launched in November 1973 to obtain the first photographs of the planet Mercury. The closest planet to the Sun, Mercury's features cannot be seen from Earth with even the most powerful telescopes, and until now astronomers have known very little about the planet. The superior-quality, high-resolution Mariner 10 photographs provided the first close look at the surface of Mercury, revealing previously unknown aspects of its surface features and geology.
The first definitive book about Mercury, this work places particular emphasis on the human challenges involved in planning and implementing a mission to another world. Written by Bruce Murray, who was largely responsible for Mariner 10's brilliantly successful photographs, and by a veteran writer on spaceflight, Eric Burgess, this is an insiders' report on what it takes in manpower and organization to carry out a large-scale scientific project. It looks behind the stereotype of the conservative space engineer to reveal the passions and conflicts, the teamwork and creativity of complex human beings in pursuit of a common goal.
A part of the modern space revolution, the Mariner 10 mission was marked by its own set of unique circumstances. During a time of economic recession, the mission was expected to set new standards of cost control and efficiency. At the same time, scientists were able to utilize an unprecedented array of technological skills. In addition, the particular configuration of Mercury and Venus in 1973 enabled experimentation with the gravity-assist technique with applications for future flights, in which Venus was used as a
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