Mission to Pluto

December 12, 2016
In this entry in the Scientists in the Field series, Carson and Uhlman trace the efforts of NASA scientist Alan Stern and his team as they sent the spacecraft New Horizons to Pluto. The narrative opens in July 2015, just as the first images of the dwarf planet were unveiled. Carson then backtracks to explore the path that led to this feat, including Clyde Tombaugh’s 1930 discovery of Pluto, campaigns to mount a Pluto mission, and how the New Horizons project took shape. Carson maintains a thrilling sense of immediacy, bolstered by Uhlman’s on-the-scene photos—and, of course, New Horizon’s dramatic images of Pluto and its fellow residents of the Kuiper belt. Ages 10–12.

Starred review from November 15, 2016
A team effort sends a space probe to the edge of our solar system.When New Horizons flew by Pluto and sent home data and images in 2015, it was the culmination of a 26-year campaign (and a nine-year journey) and the first-ever exploration of that far-distant ice dwarf planet. Science writer and self-described "space geek" Carson and her photographer husband introduce their comprehensive description of this collaborative mission by showing the jubilant scene at the mission operations center as the spacecraft revealed its first close-up images. Then, chapter by chapter, they explain its purpose; the makeup of the craft and the instruments it carries; the journey across the solar system to Pluto, which was demoted from planet to dwarf planet during the 9 years but turned out to have 4 more moons than previously thought; some major discoveries from this first encounter; and the continuation of the mission into the Kuiper belt of small planets. Sidebars and longer sections called "Mission Briefs" provide additional information. The author's enthusiasm shines through her clear, conversational narrative, and she quotes from personal interviews as well as press conferences and releases, extending the book's intimacy. Uhlman's well-captioned photographs of the team members (mostly white and male) are nicely mixed with photos from NASA and elsewhere and occasional digital illustrations. A worthy companion to Catherine Thimmesh's Team Moon (2006) with similar appeal. (glossary, web resources, sources, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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December 1, 2016
Grades 5-8 This thrillingly up-to-date entry in the acclaimed Scientists in the Field series traces the history and progress of the exploration of Pluto, with special attention paid to the recent and still ongoing flyby mission, New Horizons. Bolstered by excited interviews with some of the scientists and engineers involved in the New Horizons mission, Carson covers the inception of the project, the construction of the probe, the physics gymnastics involved in collecting data once it finally arrived, and some of the groundbreaking discoveries garnered from those findings. Carson's descriptions of the concepts are crystal clear and nicely supported by the many color photographs, plenty of which are part of the trove of photos taken by the probe, and diagrams charting, among other things, the probe's path, Pluto's geological makeup, and the solar system far beyond the usual eight planets. This enthusiastic, accessible look at both cutting-edge scientific discovery and the dynamic work behind the scenes will be an easy sell to space-mad kids and a valuable addition to any school library.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)