This collection of photographs illuminates the darkness of space in a whole new way. Images from the archives of NASA reveal the night sky's most extraordinary phenomena, from the radiant aurora borealis to awe-inspiring lunar eclipses.

When his volatile father is picked to become an astronaut for NASA's mission to Mars, seventeen-year-old Cal, an aspiring journalist, reluctantly moves from Brooklyn to Houston, Texas, and looks for a story to report, finding an ally (and crush) in Jeremy, the son of another astronaut.

"A biography of Sally Ride in the She Persisted series"--

"Why is Lonnie Johnson important? He invented the Super Soaker! Readers follow his journey from a NASA engineer working on missions to Jupiter and Saturn to becoming the inventor of one of the most popular toys in the United States. This story of hard work is filled with engaging text and colorful images, all reviewed by Smithsonian experts"--

A fascinating inside look into the space program of the 1960s from former NASA Mission Control flight director Gene Kranz.

"The story of Mike Massimino's life growing up in a working-class family and his determination to get the education and experience that would lead to his challenging but successful rise to become a NASA astronaut"--

"The story of Katherine Johnson, an African American mathematician whose work was critical to the first US space flight"--

"Find out all about NASA in this out-of-this-world addition to the What Was? series. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, began in 1958. With its creation, the United States hoped to ensure it won the space race against the Soviet Union. Author Sarah Fabiny describes the origins of NASA, the launching of the Apollo program that landed the first human on the moon, and the many missions and discoveries that have taken...

"A stunning and intimate biography of Margaret Hamilton, the computer engineer who helped Apollo 11 and mankind get from the Earth to the moon. First-hand accounts, exclusive interviews with the legendary Margaret Hamilton, and detailed science populate the pages of this remarkable biography. In 1969, mankind successfully left our atmosphere and landed on the moon. It took countless hours of calculations, training, wonder, and sacrifice from all of...

The Planets features more than 200 stunning photographs of our solar system from the archives of NASA, each paired with a detailed caption. The content is organized by distance from the Sun--beginning with Mercury and moving outward through Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the planetary objects beyond.--