Ben Bova: Grand Tour Series (4 Books)

Description: Book 1 - Mercury (2006, First Printing, ISBN 9780765343147, 319 pages): The planet closest to our Sun, Mercury is a rocky, barren, heat-scorched world. But there are those who hope to find wealth in its desolation. Saito Yamagata thinks Mercury's position makes it an ideal place to generate power to propel starships into deep space. Astrobiologist Victor Molina thinks the water at Mercury's poles may harbor evidence of life. Bishop Elliot Danvers has been sent by the Earth-based "New Morality" to keep close tabs on Molina. But all three of these men are blissfully unaware of their shared history, and of how it connects to the collapse of Mance Bracknell's geosynchronous space elevator a generation ago. Now they're about to find out, because Mance is determined to have his revenge. Book 2 - Venus (2001, First Printing, ISBN 9780812579406, 405 pages): Martin Humphries is the head of the giant Humphries Space Systems and at his 100th birthday party announces a prize of ten billion dollars to anyone who can recover any remains of his eldest son Alex who was killed two years previously on a mission to Venus. Van Humphries, Martin's son and younger brother to Alex takes up the challenge despite, and because of, a mutual dislike between son and father. Van assembles a ship and crew and heads off to Venus, shadowed by the mysterious Lars Fuchs (who turns out to be Van’s real father). Van is rescued by Lars Fuch's ship but most of his crew are lost. A sulfur-based lifeform is revealed to exist on Venus, but, despite the intense heat, Alex's remains are recovered and the money claimed. Book 3 - Jupiter (2002, First Printing, ISBN 9780812579413, 389 pages): Grant Archer only wanted to study astrophysics. But the forces of the "New Morality," the coalition of censorious do-gooders who run 21st-century America, have other plans for him. To his distress, Grant is sent to a research station in orbit around Jupiter, to spy on the scientists who work there. Their work may lead to the discovery of higher life forms in the Jovian system-with implications the New Morality doesn't like at all. What Grant's would-be controllers don't know is that his loyalty to science may be greater than his desire for a quiet life. But that loyalty will be tested in a mission as dangerous as any ever undertaken-a mission to the middle reaches of Jupiter's endless atmosphere, a place where hydrogen flows as a liquid, and cyclones larger than planets rage for centuries at a time. What lurks there is more than anyone has counted on...and stranger than anyone could possibly have imagined. Book 4 - Saturn (2004, First Printing, ISBN 9780812579420, 470 pages): Earth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space, for those with the nerve and skill to run the risks. Now the governments of Earth are encouraging many of their most incorrigible dissidents to join a great ark on a one-way expedition to Saturn, the ringed planet that baffled Galileo and has fascinated astronomers ever since. But humans will be human, on Earth or in the heavens - so amidst the idealism permeating Space Habitat Goddard are many individuals with long-term schemes, each awaiting the right moment. And hidden from them all is the greatest secret of all, the real purpose of this expedition, known to only a few.

Price: 9 USD

Location: Port Charlotte, Florida

End Time: 2025-01-02T18:12:04.000Z

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