Chasing New Horizons details the exciting NASA/APL mission that started in the late 1980s with the pitching to NASA of a Pluto mission, and ultimately culminated in New Horizon's successful flyby of Pluto in 2015. Along the way, the book takes us into the inner workings of a space mission to see how it was funded, planned, designed, built, and executed. It was a long and arduous journey, with numerous obstacles and setbacks along the way, which added to make this fascinating account even more thrilling.
I'm a total space buff, so this book was right up my alley. At the time of the Pluto flyby, I had some personal things going on that made me less aware of this event, so it's wonderful to have a second chance to relive this momentous occasion. The last time a new world had been explored was during Voyager 2's flyby of Uranus and Neptune in the 1980s, and I was too young then to understand. So New Horizon's Pluto mission is even more special to me because it is the defining space exploration mission of my lifetime.
I've read a few space exploration books in the past, which cover missions to the moon and aboard the International Space Station. After a while, the content of those books did overlap a bit, so going in, I was worried that this book may be similar. But that didn't turn out to be the case at all. This book's content was completely novel and fresh to me, so I was learning something new on every page.
As an aside: Pluto is and will forever remain a planet in my eyes. I'm not sure what the IAU was smoking when they said otherwise, but it seems like their proclamation wasn't even based on science or logic. So there.
Needless to say, I found this book to be utterly captivating. If you are even a little bit interested in space exploration, I highly recommend it. It is uplifting and inspirational, reminding us all of what we can be accomplish through perseverance, hard work, and ingenuity.
Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!
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