Every planet (excepting Pluto) and nearly every other significant body in our solar system has been or soon will be landed on, crashed into, flown by, or otherwise prodded and peered at, mainly by unmanned missions that attract less than their share of public attention. Here, Peter Bond provides an overview of key twentieth century unmanned missions, telling the story of the mission planners and engineers who, working mostly in the background, made these unprecedented achievements in scientific exploration possible. The book illustrates in close detail the human feelings that animated the intense rivalries between the Soviet Union and the United States, and most recently the difficulties that arose in collaborations between NASA and ESA on the Rosetta and Halley's Comet missions.

Peter Bond is a Press Officer for the Royal Astronomical Society and Consultant for the European Space Agency.