More Books About Space

Back in March, I wrote about THE SOLAR SYSTEM and OUTER SPACE books.  This week the books are all about space travel and the stars. I hope you find some you enjoy.  The universe awaits! 

SPACE TRAVEL

Cars on Mars: Roving the Red Planet by Alexandra Siy

In 2004, two unusual robots landed on Mars. The golf-cart-sized, remote-controlled rovers were controlled by scientists at NASA. They roll slowly across the planet's terrain, collecting and analyzing samples and transfer data (including pictures) back to earth. Although the rovers were designed to last for 90 days, they continue to work more than five years later. This book follows the robots’ work, with lots of pictures from the mission.

Space Station Science: Life in Free Fall by Marianne J. Dyson (sorry, no link was available)

The author was one of the first 10 women to work in NASA’s Mission Control. She’s used her experience and passion for space exploration to write this book. It covers lots of information about getting into and living in space. What's it like to live without day and night? What happens to your muscles when there's no gravity? And what happens when a meteor hits the space station? To help us understand, she gives simple experiments to try.

Other space books by Dyson:

Home on the moon : living on a space frontier 

Stars and planets 

The space explorer's guide to stars and galaxies

You Are the First Kid on Mars by Patrick O’Brien

This book is about a possible first trip to Mars. The author uses the most up-to-date information about what it will take to establish a base on Mars. This is a pretty neat book.

Is There Life in Outer Space? by Franklyn M. Branley, illustrated by Edward Miller

Many things live on planet Earth. But do they live anywhere else? For a long time, people have wondered about that. Have you? Is There Life in Outer Space? tells about how scientists search for signs of life in outer space. This is a Reading Rainbow book.

How Does a Spacecraft Reach the Moon? by Barbara J. Davis

This book reveals the science behind the force and the energy it takes to get a large spacecraft into space. It has photographs and illustrations, plus real-world examples, to explain.

THE STARS

Glow-in-the-Dark Constellations by Jessica Dowling, illustrated by Stephen Marchesi

This book is very cool. On one page it has several star constellations and on the facing page it has pictures of what the stars are supposed to show. Constellations seem much less mysterious to me now.

Inside Stars by Andra Serlin Abramson and Mordecai-Mark Mac Low

This is a beautiful and chock-full-of-information book. It’s clearly written and the photographs and diagrams are amazing. It’s part of the Inside… [other topics: hurricanes, tornadoes, butterflies and more] series by the American Museum of Natural History. The text is challenging – around 7th grade – but definitely worth sweet-talking someone to read it with you.

 

The Sun and Stars by Giles Sparrow (sorry, no link was available)

I really like how this book is put together. It covers lots of space topics [the sun, flares and spots, supernovae and more] in a you-want-to-keep-reading way. Each topic gets a double page and is broken into information blocks and fantastic photos. I particularly like the Traveler’s Tips giving pointers on how to do your scientific investigations.

It’s fun to think about planets, stars, black holes and all sorts of space things. What do you like to think and read about? Write about it in the Comments Box!

Gail