I was thrilled when the IET announced that they were organising a seminar on the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission. I’d followed the progress of the mission and the audacious landing of the Philae probe on the comet – it was fascinating to meet Paulo Ferri, the Operations Manager for the mission. Also speaking was Mark Bentley, Principal Investigator of the MIDAS instrument on board Rosetta.
I asked Paulo how the agency chose comet 67P as the target for the mission. Apparently, it wasn’t the original choice, but a failed Ariane rocket caused the mission to pause and the launch window for the original comet was missed. They re-examined the list of choices and given that Rosetta and Philae had already been built, the only other suitable comet for a mission of that type was 67P!
This book tells the journey taken by the author in his attempts to find and interview all the remaining astronauts who have walked on the moon. Twelve men in history have known what it is like, and at the time of his writing, only nine were alive. The book describes the impact such an event had on the lives of the men.
musingstudio 