Human Space

One of the most elusive and controversial figures in NASA's history, George W. S. Abbey was called "the Dark Lord", "the Godfather", and "UNO" (unidentified NASA official) by those within NASA. Yet Abbey had more influence on human spaceflight than almost anyone in history. From young pilot and wannabe astronaut to engineer, bureaucrat, and finally director of the Johnson Space Center, Abbey's story has never been fully told - until now. The Astronaut Maker takes listeners inside NASA to learn the real story of how Abbey rose to power and wielded it out of the spotlight.

Mars, a mysterious dust-ridden place, is most like Earth in its climate and seasons. Of all the possible destinations in space to travel, Mars is the most likely for humans to reach. According to esteemed scientist Louis Friedman, it may be the only destination outside the moon to ever see human footprints. Far from diminishing our future in space, Human Spaceflight lays out a provocative future for human space travel. The noted aerospace engineer and scientist says that human space exploration will continue well into the future, but space travel by humans will stop at Mars.

Who are we, and how did we get here? These are two of the most fundamental and far-reaching questions facing scientists and cosmologists alike and have rested at the center of human intellectual endeavor since its beginning. They are questions that stretch across numerous disciplines. Philosophy, theology, evolutionary biology, and mathematics are just some of the fields looking to explain the emergence of human life.

The Conclave is a confederation of 400 alien races - many of whom would like to see the Colonial Union - and the humans inside of it - blasted to extinction. To avoid a conflict that neither side can afford, Conclave leader General Tarsem Gau appoints Hafte Sorvalh to resolve an emerging diplomatic crisis with the humans, before the only acceptable solution is war. "The Back Channel" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

More than 30 years ago, Frank White coined the term "overview effect", to describe the cognitive shift in awareness that results from the experience of viewing Earth from orbit or the moon. He found, that with great consistency, this experience profoundly affects space travelers' worldviews - their perceptions of themselves and our planet and our understanding of the future. White found that astronauts know from direct experience what the rest of us know only intellectually: We live on a planet that is like a natural spaceship moving through the universe.

Jackson ”Jax” Caruso inherited a ship from his parents. They’re dead, and they don’t need it. The unification wars happened a while ago, Jax’s parents' fought for the losing side. Now he takes the jobs he can get—smuggling, bounty hunting, hauling cargo. If it pays, he’ll do it. When Jax is approached with a job that seems too good to be true, he should have known better, he should have walked. He didn’t. Now, he and a few friends are in it deep; imperial entanglements are the least of their concerns with organized crime on their tails.

United States Diplomat Danielle Lowen was there when one of her fellow diplomats committed an unthinkable act that had consequences for the entire planet. Now she’s trying to figure out how it happened before it can happen again. Putting the puzzle pieces together could solve the mystery - or it could threaten her own life. "The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

Unlock the world of mind-blowing facts and embark on a journey of discovery in this book packed with wonders about science, animals, space, inventions, and more! Do you find it hard to spark curiosity in young minds without turning to screens?

Book 5: Free the North!: Peace in the south. People settling in. Intelligent creatures moving to Vii from the RV Traveler. Soon, meat will be in short supply. Hungry people will fight for what they need. Braden knows that livestock abounds in the north. It's time to go get some. But free trade in the north has been declared illegal by a new governor.

A Newbery Honor Book and a Book Sense 76 Selection, Enchantress from the Stars is a science-fiction classic. Three alien races meet on the small green world of Andrecia. The Imperial Exploration Corps wants to claim the planet for its own, but the Anthropological Service stands in the way. And when young Elana makes contact with native Georyn, a love story exploring the very depths of human emotion unfolds.

Ifeomasinachi Ike delivers a moving and impactful exploration of why equity is so important, the shortcomings of institutional diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives, and how we creatively and boldly design cultures centering the expertise of those who know firsthand how inequity has shaped work culture. The book examines the dynamics of normalized institutional oppression, offers real-world case studies, and provides listeners with new practices, key performance indicators (KPIs), and milestones for measuring the success of modern DEI efforts.

When Adam Cain's old bounty-hunting friends, Summer, Monty, and Tidus, show up searching for the most-wanted fugitive in the galaxy, their efforts are thwarted by another old friend, Copernicus Smith. The deep-cover spy has his own reason for finding the fugitive, and it's not to earn the million-credit bounty offered for his capture. The elusive alien absconded with billions of credits from his homeworld just before the Mad Aris Kracion irradiated the planet. And now it seems as though the entire galaxy is looking for him.

Captain Adam Cain, US Navy SEAL (ret.), is a hero to humanity, in demand for celebrity appearances throughout the Orion-Cygnus Union star empire. All in all, it's a pretty good life after 20 years of death-defying adventures among the stars. Yet all that is about to change....

Adam Cain is back as the head of Cain's Crusaders, a small band of super-secret agents working for the head of the galactic Expansion, doing the dirty jobs no one else wants to do. Adam's latest mission is to rescue Arieel Bol, an important religious figure from the planet Formil, who just happens to have supernatural powers, or so it seems. And to top that, she's also is the most beautiful alien in the galaxy. Yet when a 30-million-credit bounty is placed on their heads, Adam and Arieel will have to use all of their combined "powers" to survive.

When corporations go to war, standard business practice goes out the window. Astro Corporation is led by indomitable Texan Pancho Lane, Humphries Space Systems by the rich and ruthless Martin Humphries, and their fight is over nothing less than resources of the Asteroid Belt itself. Fighting escalates and the lines between commerce and politics, boardroom and bedroom blur. And the keys to victory will include physics, nanotechnology, and cold hard cash.

The gang is back, and this time pitted against the most-dangerous enemy the galaxy has ever faced. Among the challenges our heroic trio encounters are a 5,000-year-old mutant genius and a one-trillion-strong race of ravenous trans-dimensional invaders. Once again Adam, Riyad, and Sherri find themselves neck-deep in an epic struggle to save the Milky Way from an evil that doesn't play favorites. And uniting against the invaders are the Humans, the Juireans, and even the Klin...to show just how serious the threat has become.

A fascinating look at the cutting-edge science and technologies that are on the cusp of changing everything from where we’ll live, how we’ll look, and who we’ll be, by the popular science broadcaster and bestselling author Jay Ingram. Where will we live? How will we get around? What will...

For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new world and the future of human-alloy relations. For Jayanthi, the adopted human child of alloy parents, it’s an opportunity to rectify the ancient reputation of her species as avaricious and destructive, and to give humanity a new place in the universe.

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has been loaned out to a CDF platoon tasked with secretly removing an unauthorized colony of humans on an alien world. Colonial Ambassador Abumwe has been ordered to participate in final negotiations with an alien race the Union hopes to make allies. Wilson and Abumwe’s missions are fated to cross - and in doing so, place both missions at risk of failure.

We Only Need the Heads is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division.

Wildcat colonies are illegal, unauthorized, and secret - so when an injured stranger shows up at the wildcat colony New Seattle, the colony leaders are understandably suspicious of who he is and what he represents. His story of how he’s come to their colony is shocking, surprising, and might have bigger consequences than anyone could have expected. Walk the Plank is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories.