From Stargazers to Starships
by David P. Stern
www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sintro.htm
Good info for all
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- Unfettered One
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If you can't be bothered to read through the introduction on the first page, it's probably not your thing. But let it not be said that I didn't try...
Once upon a time, when "From Stargazers to Starships" was first written, it was just a short course at the high school level.
It combined elementary astronomy and mechanics with the story spaceflight, adding interesting insights from the history of science.
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If you are a serious enthusiast, be aware that "Stargazers" is trying to tempt you into interesting by-ways. I have tried to create a site with complete, explicit explanations of space research and related physics. Much of what is available on space is written either by non-scientists whose understanding is incomplete or superficial, or by scientists whose terms are too technical for the non-initiated. "Stargazers" aims at users of ordinary intelligence, though persistence also helps!
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
-George Steiner
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[Syl]
- Unfettered One
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Thanks, Tom.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
-George Steiner