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The three women worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and were in a vanpool with seven other employees heading for work over a mountain road. Some of the 10 had been riding together for nine years; an 11th member of the pool was following behind, in his own car, since he needed to go somewhere later. The van skidded off the road and over a 400-ft embankment. Galloway, a business operations manager; Agey, a security administrator; and Forks, who worked in the Lab's Human Resources department, were killed. Others had injuries ranging from minor to severe. Galloway was 49, Agey was 48, and Forks 53. They died together on December 8.
From This is True for 5 December 2004 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: David M. HarlandRalph D. Lorenz List Price: $29.95 Amazon Price: $21.86 Editorial Review: In the 1960s and 1970s deep space missions were dispatched in pairs in case one was lost in launch or failed during its journey. Following the triumphs of the Viking landings on Mars in 1976 and both Voyagers spacecraft successfully surveying the outer giant planets of the Solar System, it was decided by NASA to cut costs and send out just a single probe. Although Magellan successfully mapped Venus by radar, it suffered from problems during the flight. Then came the loss of Mars Observer, whose engine exploded as it was preparing to enter Mars orbit because it was using technology designed for Earths satellites and the engine was not suited to spending several months in space. Later came the high-profile losses of Mars Climate Observer and Mars Polar Lander - a consequence of the faster, better, cheaper philosophy introduced by Dan Goldin in 1993. Even the highly successful Galileo mission suffered a major setback when its high-gain antenna (also based on satellite mission suffered a major setback when its high-gain antenna (also based on satellite communication technology) failed to deploy fully, greatly diminishing the crafts radio transmission capabilities, forcing the ground crew to re-programme the on-board computer to enable it to fulfil its mission and provide stunning images of Jupiter and its moons. In Space Systems Failures, David Harland (here working with co-author Ralph Lorenz) describes the many quite fascinating tales of woe involving failures of rockets, satellites and deep space missions in his inimitable style, providing a unique insight into the trials and tribulations of exploration at the high frontier.  By: Richard Corfield List Price: $27.50 Amazon Price: $13.37 Editorial Review: Lives of the Planets describes a scientific field in the midst of a revolution. Planetary science has mainly been a descriptive science, but it is becoming increasingly experimental. The space probes that went up between the 1960s and 1990s were primarily generalists-they collected massive amounts of information so that scientists could learn what questions to pursue. But recent missions have become more focused: Scientists know better what information they want and how to collect it. Even now probes are on their way to Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Pluto, with Europa-one of Jupiter’s moons-on the agenda. In a sweeping look into the manifold objects inhabiting the depths of space, Lives of the Planets delves into the mythology and the knowledge humanity has built over the ages. Placing our current understanding in historical context, Richard Corfield explores the seismic shifts in planetary astronomy and probes why we must change our perspective of our place in the universe. In our era of extraordinary discovery, this is the first comprehensive survey of this new understanding and the history of how we got here.  By: Michael Benson List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 Editorial Review: “An aesthetic revelation. . . . A spectacular melding of science and art.”—Los Angeles Times Now in an affordable paperback edition accompanying a national touring exhibition that The New York Times acclaimed as “stunning,” this epic photographic tour of the solar system will inspire a new audience with a sense of wonder. To create Beyond, author Michael Benson spent years compiling and digitally processing 295 of the greatest photographs taken by the amazing spacecrafts that have been exploring the solar system for almost half a century. The images, many revealing iconic landmarks, are of a quality to rival the greatest landscape photography on Earth. The eloquent and informative text, with contributions by legendary science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and award-winning critic Laurence Weschler, as well as essays by the author, is a delight to read.  By: Paolo UliviDavid M. Harland List Price: $39.95 Amazon Price: $30.36 Editorial Review: Paolo Ulivi and David Harland provide in Robotic Exploration of the Solar System a detailed history of unmanned missions of exploration of our Solar System. As in their previous book Lunar Exploration, the subject will be treated wherever possible from an engineering and scientific standpoint. Technical descriptions of the spacecraft, of their mission designs and of instrumentations will be provided. Scientific results will be discussed in considerable depth, together with details of mission management. The book will be comprehensive, covering missions and results from the 1950s until the present day, and some of the latest missions and their results will appear in a popular science book for the first time. The authors will also cover many unflown missions, providing an indication of the ideas that proved to be unfulfilled at the time but which may still be proven and useful in the future. Just like Lunar Exploration, this book will use sources only recently made available on the Soviet space program, in addition to some obscure and rarely used references on the European space program. Unflown European projects of the 1960s and 1970s, a subject never before treated, will also be covered.  By: David M. Harland List Price: $39.95 Amazon Price: $29.16 Editorial Review: Cassini At Saturn – Huygens Results brings the story of the Cassini-Huygens mission and their joint exploration of the Saturnian system right up to date. Cassini entered orbit around Saturn June 2004 so this update includes 8 months of scientific data available for review, including the most spectacular images of Saturn, its rings and satellites ever obtained by a space mission. As the Cassini spacecraft approached its destination in spring 2004, the quality of the images already being returned by the spacecraft clearly demonstrated the spectacular nature of the close-range views that will be obtained. The book contains a 16-page colour section, comprising a carefully chosen selection of the most stunning images to be released during the spacecraft’s initial period of operation. The Huygens craft, released by Cassini, parachuted through the clouds of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in January 2005. David Harland tells the exciting story of the this craft’s journey to the surface of one of the most enigmatic bodies on the Solar System, the only moon to have a dense atmosphere and possibly lakes of liquid gas at -190ºC on its surface. Titan is considered to be an early Earth in deep freeze, possibly with the building blocks of life in its atmosphere. There will undoubtedly be enormous interest in the first results and images of Titan’s surface, and this book is the first incisive summary of this groundbreaking material. |
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