The Sun is our nearest star but it takes eight minutes for its light to reach us we see the Sun as it was eight minutes ago. Alexei Leonov, the first astronaut to walk in Space, carried with him a suicide pill in case he was abandoned. Astronomers use gravity to measure the weight of stars the pull of one star on another tells us how much mass is doing the pulling. The Cosmos is a vast and fascinating subject. From the creation of the Solar System to the Moon landings, from the chances of life on other planets to how stars shine, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space & Space Exploration investigates the Cosmos and humankind s efforts to understand it. Every spread is filled with artworks and photographs, data tables and explanations of the workings of the stars and planets, moons, astronauts, rockets and satellites. Accessibly written for the general reader, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space & Space Exploration includes more than 5000 colour photographs and artworks.Covering a wide range of topics, from the effects of the Moon on the Earth s tides to exploring the most distant stars, from the Great Bear to a white dwarf to the first dog in space, from the creation of the Cosmos to the politics of the Space Race to the journeys of the latest probes, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space & Space Exploration will inspire and educate anyone interested in finding out more about the Universe.