Now is the time to fly to space! New technological developments, commercialisation of spaceflight and advances in space medicine have made human space travel more attainable than ever before. This entertaining but nevertheless authoritative book gives a practical introduction to space travel from a number of viewpoints: How spacecraft are built, how to steer and navigate them, instructions for a comfortable everyday life in space and a guide to remain healthy and strong in weightlessness.

The Spacefarer's Handbook is full of advice, tips and anecdotes to prepare the reader for their own trip to space. At the same time, it does not lose the scientific perspective on spaceflight. The authors, a physicist and a space medicine specialist, explain the underlying concepts rigorously and include recent research findings. From the operating principles of rocket engines, via bone loss in weightlessness to the methane lakes of Titan, this book contains everything aspiring spacefarers need to know!

"Highly recommended for everyone who wants to fly to space and all passengers of our mothership Earth!" Hans Schlegel, ESA Astronaut

Autorentext

PD Dr. Bergita Ganse is an Orthopaedic Surgeon and a Physiologist with a research focus on Space Medicine and the musculoskeletal system in spaceflight. She has received her Dr. med. from Lübeck University and her habilitation (postdoctoral thesis) from RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Bergita is currently a Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). She is a co-investigator of an ISS experiment and involved in large international studies working with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Dr. Urs Ganse is a Theoretical Space Physicist, with a research focus on plasma simulations. After studying physics and obtaining his doctorate from the University of Würzburg, Germany, on the subject of solar radio bursts, he has worked as a postdoc in Finland and South Africa, with research funding from DFG, ESA and the Academy of Finland. In his current position as a University Researcher at the University of Helsinki, he uses supercomputers to model the near-Earth plasma environment and its interactions with Earth's magnetic field.

Inhalt

1. How to Become a Spacefarer.- 2. Building Spacecraft.- 3. How to Fly a Spacecraft.- 4. Daily Life in Space.- 5. Space Medicine.- 6. Exploration and Colonisation.