Pale Blue Dot - Carl Sagan [1]
—Van Allen radiation belt
(Explorer 1)
1959 First television images of the Earth from space
(Explorer 6)
1962 First scientific discovery in interplanetary space
—direct observation of the solar wind
(Mariner 2)
1962 First scientifically successful planetary mission
(Mariner 2 to Venus)
1962 First astronomical observatory in space
(OSO-1)
1968 First manned orbit of another world
(Apollo 8 to the Moon)
1969 First landing of humans on another world
(Apollo 11 to the Moon)
1969 First samples returned to Earth from another world
(Apollo 11 to the Moon)
1971 First manned roving vehicle on another world
(Apollo 15 to the Moon)
1971 First spacecraft to orbit another planet
(Manner 9 to Mars)
1974 First dual-planet mission
(Mariner 10 to Venus and Mercury)
1976 First successful Mars landing; first spacecraft to search for life on another planet
(Viking 1)
1973 First flybys of Jupiter (Pioneer 10),
1974 Mercury (Mariner 10),
1977 Saturn (Pioneer 11),
First spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System
(Pioneers 10 and 11, launched in 1973 and 1974; Voyagers 1 and 2, 1977)
1981 First manned reusable spacecraft
(STS-1)
1980 First satellite to be retrieved, repaired,
1984 and redeployed in space
(Solar Maximum Mission)
1985 First distant cometary encounter
(International Cometary Explorer to Comet Giacobini-Zimmer)
1986 First flybys of Uranus (Voyager 2),
1989 Neptune (Voyager 2)
1992 First detection of the heliopause
(Voyager)
1992 First encounter with a main-belt asteroid
(Galileo to Gaspra)
1994 First detection of α moon of an asteroid
(Galileo to Ida)
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
WANDERERS: AN INTRODUCTION
1. YOU ARE HERE
2. ABERRATIONS OF LIGHT
3. THE GREAT DEMOTIONS
4. A UNIVERSE NOT MADE FOR US
5. IS THERE INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH?
6. THE TRIUMPH OF VOYAGER
7. AMONG THE MOONS OF SATURN
8. THE FIRST NEW PLANET
9. AN AMERICAN SHIP AT THE FRONTIERS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
10. SACRED BLACK
11. EVENING AND MORNING STAR
12. THE GROUND MELTS
13. THE GIFT OF APOLLO
14. EXPLORING OTHER WORLDS AND PROTECTING THIS ONE
15. THE GATES OF THE WONDER WORLD OPEN
16. SCALING HEAVEN
17. ROUTINE INTERPLANETARY VIOLENCE
18. THE MARSH OF CAMARINA
19. REMAKING THE PLANETS
20. DARKNESS
21. TO THE SKY!
22. TIPTOEING THROUGH THE MILKY WAY
REFERENCES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
About the Author
WANDERERS:
AN INTRODUCTION
But tell me, who are they, these wanderers …?
—RAINER MARIA RILKE, “THE FIFTH ELEGY” (1923)
We were wanderers from the beginning. We knew every stand of tree for a hundred miles. When the fruits or nuts were ripe, we were there. We followed the herds in their annual migrations. We rejoiced in fresh meat. Through stealth, feint, ambush, and main-force assault, a few of us cooperating accomplished what many of us, each hunting alone, could not. We depended on one another. Making it on our own was as ludicrous to imagine as was settling down.
Working together, we protected our children from the lions and the hyenas. We taught them the skills they would need. And the tools. Then, as now, technology was the key to our survival.
When the drought was prolonged, or when an unsettling chill lingered in the summer air, our group moved on—sometimes to unknown lands. We sought a better place. And when we couldn’t get on with the others in our little nomadic band, we left to find a more friendly bunch somewhere else. We could always begin again.
For 99.9 percent of the time since our species came to be, we were hunters and foragers, wanderers on the savannahs and the steppes. There were no border guards then, no customs officials. The frontier was everywhere. We were bounded only by the Earth and the ocean and the sky—plus occasional grumpy neighbors.
When the climate was congenial, though, when the food was plentiful, we were willing to stay put. Unadventurous. Overweight. Careless. In the last ten thousand years—an instant in our long history—we’ve abandoned the nomadic life. We’ve domesticated