Review of Look Up: Our Story With The Stars

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Look Up by Sarah Cruddas is an excellent introduction into space exploration, orbiting the Earth in microgravity, trips to the Moon, the Artemis Mars program, robotic non-crewed missions to Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Sun, and out into interstellar space as well as commercial and private exploration in partnership (such as the Axiom-1 launch of three private individuals to the ISS) and at times independent of NASA. For those who have read widely on this subject, or who follow NASA through its app and through other media, much of the contents will be a rehash and at times repetitive. Still, as with books that this reader has read on WWII, a subject that I have read wide and deep on, there is still knowledge to be gained from Look Up, even if it is nuggets no wider than the width of a strand of human hair. Look Up’s primary focus, to inspire the common person to read and learn about space exploration, past, present and future, is met with her insightful style of writing that explains to readers why space exploration is important, both for improving life here on Earth and for exploration of other worlds for its own sake, in a way that is understandable to those whose backgrounds are not in astrophysics, engineering or similar fields unlike Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings by Earl Swift, where the engineering portions at times but not always a bit heavy on the mechanics of engineering that went into development of the lunar rover for those who are not engineers. Still Across the Airless Wilds is a good next read for those whose appetite for space exploration is whetted by Look Up.