In the decades since the launch of Sputnik, the people of the world have thrilled to the long-dreamed-of moon walks of the Apollo astronauts, marveled at spectacular photographs of the outer planets brought to us by Voyager, and watched in horror as the Challenger exploded before our eyes. No longer the realm of science fiction, space has been hailed in popular culture as the "final frontier," the focal point of future exploration. Yet today there is no strong consensus about our future in space. Where should we go next? Mars? Deep space? Should we continue to send humans into space? Is it worth the cost to explore space at all? Now a curator of space history at the Smithsonian, Valerie Neal, has assembled a noted group of writers and thinkers to consider such questions. The result is an intriguing collection of essays that offers stimulating insights into the exploration of new worlds. . Boasting an oversize format and more than fifty color illustrations, this engaging volume offers readers a fascinating look at exploration's past and future. Several pieces vividly depict the actual experience of space travel and the many scientific findings made along the way. Harrison H. Schmitt, the last astronaut to set foot on the moon, provides a spellbinding account of that adventure, in the process making a compelling case for human rather than robotic explorers (during the examination of a boulder, Schmitt made a discovery that a mere circuit-board would have missed - and that is to say nothing of the poetic earth-rise he describes). But robots get equal time. Edward C. Stone, Project Scientist for the Voyager missions, describes other worlds as seen from the camera-eye of a machine millions of miles away: the roiling storm systems on Jupiter, the complexity of Saturn's rings, and the spectacular nitrogen geysers on Triton, one of Neptune's major satellites. Looking towards the future, Stephen Jay Gould pleads for a manned mission to Mars, one which would scour the Red Planet for signs of life (paleontologists have found fossilized bacteria in Earth silica, Gould explains, and similar fossils on Mars would prove that life once existed there). And physicist Robert L. Forward offers detailed plans for actual starships that could send astronauts to the nearest star system in a single lifetime - and with today's technology. . Where next, Columbus? is an utterly absorbing contribution to a debate that may help define the twenty-first century. With colorful illustrations, a spacious oversized format, and ten fascinating essays - all but one of which have never been published before - this volume will intrigue anyone interested in space travel or our place in the universe.