Exploring Space: From Galileo to the Mars Rover and Beyond, is a children’s non-fiction book all about space and objects in space, travelling to space, telescopes on earth, planets, etc.

The book is split into eight sections:
– The Solar System and Beyond
– Looking at the Sky
– Getting into Space
– Coming Back to Earth
– Surviving in Space
– Is There Anybody Out There?
– Crowded Skies
– Where Do We Go From Here?

At the back there is also a glossary of terms and a timeline too, this stops at 2015.

The book is very thorough and covers lots of information about space. Some of the information takes a few reads for it to sink in, or it did with me but then I’m not very good when it comes to science subjects as I normally just zone out.

There was some information in the book that I had never heard of before, even right from the beginning when the author talks about a space rocket being launched on Monday 5th September 1977 (before I was born). It wasn’t manned, or carrying animals. It was a mission to take pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, it was then left to go into outer space – way beyond the heliopause into a region called Opik-Oort Cloud.

Its name was Voyager 1. There was a second rocket called Voyager 2 which actually was sent into space earlier and the job of that one was to take pictures of four planets – Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn.

Voyager 1 is still sending back data (correct at time of print of book). It also contains information for any life it might find out in space to let them know about Earth. I’d heard of Voyager 1 but I couldn’t of ever told you information about it or that it was still travelling. The scientist estimate it’s batteries will run out in 2025.

This is just a small snippet of information from one section of the book. The whole book is intriguing and informative. If you have children who have a love for space or are even studying it then this is an amazing book for them to read. It would even be an interesting book for an adult that wants to learn too.

Throughout there are illustrations by Stephen Biesty. Some are just images, others are diagrams to help you understand the information better. I loved reading it and found a whole host of space knowledge that I never knew.

About the Author

Martin Jenkins is the author of many groundbreaking Walker non-fiction titles, including Can We Save the Tiger? (overall winner of the SLA Information Book Award), The Emperor’s Egg (winner of The Times Junior Information Book Award) and The Story of Money.

His adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s classic adventure story Gulliver’s Travels won the Kate Greenaway Medal. Martin lives in Cambridge.