CHASING COMETS
Book ID/图书代码： 07861215B84222
English Summary/英文概要： The incredible true story of the European Space Agency
When the Rosetta probe successfully dropped the Philae lander on comet 67P - the first such landing ever achieved - it was a triumph for human science, but specifically for the ESA. For decades, Europe has been there for some of the greatest space successes, from the first space telescope in 1964 to the Huygens module, which landed on Titan in 2005 and returned to us the first pictures from the surface of an alien moon. The ESA is now no longer content to play a supporting role; Europe is taking its rightful place as a major explorer of our cosmic neighbourhood.
It’s been a long time coming - certainly, since two physicists, one French, one Italian, shocked by Sputnik, convened a gathering of eight great minds from around western Europe to attempt to do something similar. It wasn’t an easy task, either, considering how many of the continent’s leading rocketry experts had been plucked by the Americans and the Russians, forming the intellectual cadre behind much of the Space Race.
Yet from humble beginnings - a few research satellites, a few small rockets the ESA emerged as a silent space hero, right there for iconic mission after iconic mission: Giotto, to study Halley’s Comet; Hipparcus, to map the stars for the first time; Cassini-Huygens, the first true explorer of Saturn; the ISS. And there have been famous failures, too, like Beagle 2’s crashland on Mars.
For the first time, here’s the story of how a group of scientists managed to turn a dream into a rare example of international cooperation, not quibbling, from the jungle launchpads of Guiana to the formation of the first European Astronaut Corps.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 关于欧洲航天局令人难以置信的真实故事：
当罗塞塔号航天探测器成功地将“菲莱”着陆器——有史以来第一次成功的同类型着陆——放置于67P彗星上时，对于人类而言意味着一场胜利，然而对欧洲航天局而言，其意义更为特殊。几十年来，欧洲取得了不少重大的航天成就，从1964年的首个太空望远镜到“惠更斯”分离舱，眼下，欧洲航天局已经不再满足于扮演一个配角，欧洲正在扮演着探索宇宙的主要角色。
从配角走向主角，欧洲耗费了多年心血。两名物理学家（一名法国人、一名意大利人）为人造地球卫星而震惊，集结了欧洲八名科学家试图研究出同样的装置。鉴于美国和俄国挖走了许多欧洲大陆杰出的火箭专家，形成了太空竞赛背后的技术骨干，因而对于欧洲而言这绝非易事。
然而，从一开始设备简陋的初级阶段，欧洲航天局渐渐成为默默无声的“宇宙英雄”，一个又一个标志性的任务：研究哈雷彗星、勘察行星、首次对土星的正真探索等等。当然，也有令人痛心的失败，例如Beagle 2在火星上的强行着陆。
这是首部关于科学家们如何将梦想变为罕见的国际合作的故事，从圭亚那的丛林地貌到首个欧洲宇航团的成立。（LYR）
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About the Author/作者介绍： Ian Steadman是《新政治家杂志》的科技作家，负责“未来证明”专栏。
Ian Steadman is a science and technology writer at the New Statesman, where he writes the Future Proof column.
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