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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Roberta Bondar's voyage as an astronaut aboard space shuttle Discovery was the realization of a childhood dream for the Canadian scientist and doctor. In this wonderful book, she shares her remarkable journey, providing us with an opportunity to feel connected with our planet in a very special way.

Touching the Earth is an amazing visual and written testament to the beauty and variety of Earth. From breathtaking photographs of the planet taken from space - including some never-before-published NASA images - to her own stunning photographs of life on Earth. Dr. Bondar contrasts her two views of "home." Her poweful message of hope for our environment will change the way you think about humanity's relationship with the planet.

(Extracted from the back cover).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Acknowledgements.

-Contents.

-Liftoff!

-Floating in Space.

-On Planet Earth.

-Future Misions.

-Glossary.

-Select Bibliography.

-Index.

OUR REVIEW

Roberta Bondar was the first Canadian female astronaut to travel to space. In this book she explains some of her experiences in this sense, and above all, she shows us how our planet is from orbit. The work, lavishly illustrated as it is, attains its objective: to alert us as to the fragility of our Earth and the dangers threatening it. Nobody but an astronaut can tell us in a better way about the impression caused by some of the ecological disasters, so easily identified from space. And nobody but an astronaut can alert us about the impact such disasters are having on our planet, as well as the course these things are taking.

The text is highly divulgative and very pleasant to read. Its brevity and the graphic wealth accompanying it is a perfect example of the wonderful contribution that the astronauts can give so as to approach the space sciences to the general readership, and tell us what science can contribute to our awareness as a species and as inhabitants of this world. Bondar also has time to tell us her opinion about the future initiatives to explore space and she also gives us a very comprehensive bibliography for those readers wishing to study in depth some of the aspects dealt in the book.