Space History

A Russian dissident, a Jesuit priest, and an American mule skinner are but a few of the bold visionaries who crafted the scientific story of cosmic origins. The collective insights of these and numerous creative thinkers advanced human understanding from mythology to mathematics, yielding falsifiable alternatives to ancient folklore and campfire tales. Listening to the Big Bang tells the dramatic human story—filled with colorful characters, unsung catalysts, and glorified heroes—which made the Big Bang the leading cosmological theory.

Late in the 26th century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors---alien-killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it. The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons---and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them. But other factions want the weapons for their own purposes---and the weapons themselves have another agenda altogether.

New York Times best-selling author Eric Flint has received glowing critical praise for his Ring of Fire alternate history series. In this first installment, a West Virginia town is transported from the year 2000 to 1631 Germany at the height of the Thirty Years’ War. Thrust into conflict, the town residents must also contend with moral issues such as who should be considered a citizen.

New York Times best-selling author Eric Flint’s 1632 presented listeners with a fascinating alternate history of the Thirty Years’ War, through the eyes of a West Virginia community tossed back in time to 17th-century Germany. Here, Flint teams up with acclaimed science fiction author David Weber to continue his epic tale. In 1633, the West Virginians attempt to use their modern-day knowledge to build a resistance against the forces of France, Spain, and England.

In the not-too-distant future, a 21-member crew launches from Earth. Their mission: to establish a temporary colony on Mars. Little do they know that colony will become permanent–and the last stand of the human race. Because, without warning, every single person left on Earth simply...vanishes. Now, a thousand years later, the resources needed to sustain life are running out, and the very existence of the Mars colony is threatened. Humankind has only one option–to return to its home planet.

Albert Einstein described Relativity as a "popular explosion" of his famous theory. Written in 1916, it introduced the lay audience to the remarkable perspective which had overturned theoretical physics. Einstein's genius was to express this perspective in understandable terms.

From the bestselling author of the Noah Hunter series, and Grim Measures, comes a novel that spans centuries as a farmer from the 1700s and an FBI agent travel through time to stop a black hole from destroying the world. "Darling has crafted a truly fantastic time-travel novel. Riveting, page-turning, and mind-bending from end to beginning..." - James Downe, author of Sisters of Jade. FBI Special Agent Bradley Holman has been hand-picked to investigate the mother of all cover-ups: a three-hundred-year-old meteorite fragment, sealed away in Fort Knox, was stolen from under the government’s...

Today, everyone is familiar with Neil Armstrong's famous words as he first set foot on the moon: "one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." But America's journey to the moon was anything but simple. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite, into orbit; later that year, America's first attempt was such a failure that the media nicknamed it "Kaputnik." Still, we didn't give up. With each failure, we gleaned valuable information about what went wrong, and how to avoid it in the future. So we tried again. And again. And each time we failed, we failed a little bit better.

Leon Russell is an icon, but somehow is still an underappreciated artist. He is spoken of in tones reserved not just for the most talented musicians, but also for the most complex and fascinating. His career is like a roadmap of music history, often intersecting with rock royalty like Bob Dylan, the Stones, and the Beatles.

Hugh had been taught that, according to the ancient sacred writings, the Ship was on a voyage to faraway Centaurus. But he also understood this was just allegory for a voyage to spiritual perfection. Indeed, how could the Ship move, since its miles and miles of metal corridors were all there was of creation? Science knew that the Ship was all the universe, and as long as the sacred Converter was fed, the lights would continue to glow, the air would flow, and the Creator's Plan would be fulfilled.

This fascinating new volume tells the story of contact between aliens and humans from all across the globe, dating back to 1932, including meetings with military personnel and American presidents such as Eisenhower and Kennedy. For the first time, a former member of MI6 reveals her conversation with Neil Armstrong at a NASA conference, when she confirmed that there were "other" spacecraft on the moon when Apollo 11 landed in 1969. Armstrong also confirmed that the CIA was behind the cover-up.

For more than half a century, physicists and astronomers engaged in heated dispute over the possibility of black holes in the universe. The weirdly alien notion of a space-time abyss from which nothing escapes - not even light - seemed to confound all logic. This engrossing audiobook tells the story of the fierce black hole debates and the contributions of Einstein, Hawking, and other leading thinkers who completely altered our view of the universe.

The stars and constellations are among the few remaining objects that appear to us just as they appeared to our distant ancestors. From anywhere on Earth, a person may view the celestial panorama simply by stepping outside at night and gazing upward. This nonfiction narrative presents the tales of the 48 classical constellations, compiled from literature spanning a thousand years from Homer to Claudius Ptolemy. These age-old tales have captured the human imagination from ancient times to the present.

Owen Deathstalker sacrificed everything to topple a corrupt empire and usher humanity into an age of peace and prosperity. Now, Lewis Deathstalker, Owen's descendant, carries on the family name and honor as a Paragon, warriors famed for their skill and heroism who dispense the king's justice throughout the galaxy. However, 200 years have passed since Owen and his gang of heroes disappeared into legend, and the peace that the Deathstalker bought with his life is quickly coming to an end.

Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.

Star Bound is a book for anyone who wants to learn about the American space program but isn’t sure where to start. First and foremost, it’s a history—short, sweet, and straightforward. From rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard’s primitive flight tests in 1926 through the creation of NASA, from our first steps on the moon to construction of the International Space Station and planning a trip to Mars, listeners will meet the people and projects that have put the United States at the forefront of space exploration. Along the way, they’ll learn:

Geneticist Adam Rutherford and mathematician Hannah Fry guide listeners through time and space, through our bodies and brains, showing how emotions shape our view of reality, how our minds tell us lies, and why a mostly bald and curious ape decided to begin poking at the fabric of the universe.

Read the first English translation of the first-hand account of Zeppelin operations during World War One, written by Zeppelin commander Over-Lieutenant at Sea Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels, originally written and published in 1917. Procedes fund the building of airships.

Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?

Beyond the Red Horizon The Secret Rise of the Chinese Space Program By Gary Covella, Ph.D. A Stunning, Illustrated Journey Into the Most Mysterious Space Program on Earth Step behind the curtain of global space history with Beyond the Red Horizon, a richly illustrated and masterfully researched work of historical nonfiction that reveals the hidden saga of China’s rise as a space superpower. In a world where NASA and Roscosmos have long dominated headlines, China’s ambitions have largely unfolded in silence—until now. A “Forbidden History” Finally Told From Cold War secrecy to ...