Introduces readers to advances in American space exploration. This book discusses ways to capture and redirect asteroids; presents research on the origin of the Moon; weighs in on discoveries like 2003 UB313, a dwarf planet detected in the far outer reaches of our solar system - and, more.

Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson ix Preface xiii Acknowledgments xvii Chapter 1 A Moment of Discovery 1 Chapter 2 An Uncertain Start 5 Chapter 3 Conventional Way to the Moon 9 A Fuel Hog 14 Chapter 4 A Question 17 Chapter 5 Chaos and Surfing the Gravitational Field 29 What Is Chaos? 31 Chapter 6 Using Art to Find Chaotic Regions 37 An Oil Painting Unveiling Dynamical Processes 37 Chapter 7 WSB--A Chaotic No-Man's-Land 41 Chapter 8 Getting to the WSB--Low Energy Transfers 49 Chapter 9 Rescue of a Lunar Mission 55 Skepticism, Politics, and a Bittersweet Success 63 Chapter 10 Significance of Hiten 69 Chapter 11 Salvage of HGS-1, and a Christmas Present 77 Chapter 12 Other Space Missions and Low Energy Transfers 83 LGAS Reincarnated: SMART 1 83 Europa Orbiter and Prometheus 85 A Lunar Transportation System 91 Chapter 13 Hopping Comets and Earth Collision 95 Potential Earth Collision 108 Lexell 109 Jupiter-Hopping Earth-Crossing Comets Present a Danger 111 Kuiper Belt Objects and Neptune Hopping 113 Ballistic Escape from the Earth-Moon System, and Asteroid Capture 115 Chapter 14 The Creation of the Moon by Another World 119 Chapter 15 Beyond the Moon and to the Stars 129 Pluto to Alpha Centauri 129 Comets Moving between the Sun and Alpha Centauri 133 Chapter 16 A Paradigm Shift and the Future 137 Bibliography 141 Index 147

"Almost fifty years after the beginning of space flight, Belbruno's work offers a realistic beginning for minimum—fuel and maximum—payload trajectories for interplanetary operations. It is a mark of sophistication in the evolution of space travel that simplified solutions to the vexing many-body problem are found to have practical applications. Belbruno's three-body solution for low-thrust minimum-fuel trajectories serves well not only the future of space flight but helps astronomy in understanding the sometimes erratic motions of celestial bodies."—Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut"Fly Me to the Moon is a fast, easy read that explains in simple nonscientific terms very complex matters of celestial mechanics, and it is delightful reading for students and professionals to update or learn very important new background materials. It is also a must-read for the lawyer-scientist."—Ambassador Edward R. Finch, Jr."This is an excellent book. The author succeeds in writing an exciting story about his research on low-fuel space travel, a subject that is not widely known but that will interest many readers. Moreover, the mathematical aspects of chaos in the context of space missions is well treated at the level of the nonexpert."—Florin Diacu, University of Victoria"This is a good story. It is rare to see a nonpedantic book on celestial mechanics that gives some backroom stories about trajectory geeks. Belbruno ties very abstract concepts to real problems and situations."—Wendell W. Mendell, NASA Johnson Space Center, Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science Directorate"This is an excellent book. It is an inside look at the important new field of chaotic trajectories by one of the masters and originators of the field. As we continue into space, I think we will be hearing more and more about these clever trajectories. Ed Belbruno has covered in a beautiful and interesting way the important applications of chaos to astrophysics and spacecraft trajectories. He also tells a very interesting personal story of his battles to get these trajectories used, and how he was able to save the Hiten spacecraft and get it to the moon. This is a great story, and he tells it very well."—Richard Gott, Princeton University"The author's newly discovered interplanetary highways offer a romantic reflection of the pre-rocket, pre-airplane era, where balloons would transport us, with hardly any energy of our own, from one unexplored vista to another."—From the foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History, author of Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries

Almost fifty years after the beginning of space flight, Belbruno's work offers a realistic beginning for minimum--fuel and maximum--payload trajectories for interplanetary operations. It is a mark of sophistication in the evolution of space travel that simplified solutions to the vexing many-body problem are found to have practical applications. Belbruno's three-body solution for low-thrust minimum-fuel trajectories serves well not only the future of space flight but helps astronomy in understanding the sometimes erratic motions of celestial bodies. -- Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut Fly Me to the Moon is a fast, easy read that explains in simple nonscientific terms very complex matters of celestial mechanics, and it is delightful reading for students and professionals to update or learn very important new background materials. It is also a must-read for the lawyer-scientist. -- Ambassador Edward R. Finch, Jr. This is an excellent book. The author succeeds in writing an exciting story about his research on low-fuel space travel, a subject that is not widely known but that will interest many readers. Moreover, the mathematical aspects of chaos in the context of space missions is well treated at the level of the nonexpert. -- Florin Diacu, University of Victoria This is a good story. It is rare to see a nonpedantic book on celestial mechanics that gives some backroom stories about trajectory geeks. Belbruno ties very abstract concepts to real problems and situations. -- Wendell W. Mendell, NASA Johnson Space Center, Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science Directorate This is an excellent book. It is an inside look at the important new field of chaotic trajectories by one of the masters and originators of the field. As we continue into space, I think we will be hearing more and more about these clever trajectories. Ed Belbruno has covered in a beautiful and interesting way the important applications of chaos to astrophysics and spacecraft trajectories. He also tells a very interesting personal story of his battles to get these trajectories used, and how he was able to save the Hiten spacecraft and get it to the moon. This is a great story, and he tells it very well. -- Richard Gott, Princeton University The author's newly discovered interplanetary highways offer a romantic reflection of the pre-rocket, pre-airplane era, where balloons would transport us, with hardly any energy of our own, from one unexplored vista to another. -- From the foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History, author of "Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries"