Libby Jackson - A Galaxy of Her Own: Amazing Stories of Women in Space

The whole universe is out there.And its waiting for you

tells fifty stories of remarkable women who conquered space, changing the world for ever.

Since the very beginning, women have been central tospace exploration. From astronauts to scientists, lawyersto teachers, these extraordinary women show us that the skyis not the limit, and that we can all reach for the stars.

Written by Libby Jackson, a leading expert in humanspace flight, and illustrated with bold and beautiful artworkfrom the students of London College of Communication,this empowering book will delight and inspiretrailblazers of all ages.

LIBBY JACKSON is one of Britains foremost human space flight experts, and is the Human Space Flight and Microgravity Programme Manager for the UK Space Agency. Libbys career working in the space industry began when she applied for work experience at NASA aged seventeen from her secondary school in Kent. Weeks later she was sitting in mission control in Houston. Ten years on, and after completing a physics degree at Imperial College, she was back working at mission control for the European Space Agency side in Munich. She was an instructor, a flight controller and finally a Columbus flight director on missions to the International Space Station. From 2014 to 2016, she managed the hugely successful UK Space Agency education and outreach programme that supported Tim Peakes mission.
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The illustrators are students and graduates from BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media at the LONDON COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION ( LCC ), part of the University of the Arts London (UAL), which is a pioneering world leader in creative communications education, preparing students for successful creative careers. LCC courses are known for being industry focused with students taught by an inspiring community of experienced academics, technical experts and leading specialist practitioners. Generations of award-winning photographers, filmmakers, screenwriters, journalists, broadcasters, designers and advertising and PR professionals have started their careers at LCC, and todays graduates continue to be highly sought after and win prestigious international awards.
www.arts.ac.uk/lcc

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Nicolaus Copernicus publishes De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ( On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres ), proposing that the Earth revolves around the Sun

Johannes Kepler publishes works that define his laws of planetary motion, describing the orbits of the planets around the Sun

Sir Isaac Newton publishes Principia Mathematica , laying out the laws of gravity

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky publishes Exploration of the World Space with Reaction Machines , showing that rockets could get to space

The US National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the precursor organisation to NASA, is formed

Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fuelled rocket in Massachusetts, USA

Wernher von Braun surrenders to the US Army and moves to the USA, leading their rocket development

Sergei Korolev, known as the Chief Designer, and the main architect of the Soviet space programme, is appointed

The Soviet Union put the first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit

The Soviet Union put the first animal in orbit, a dog named Laika

The USA put their first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit

NASA, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, becomes operational

Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space, orbiting the Earth in a 108-minute flight

Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to fly into space in Vostok 6

Alexei Leonov makes the first spacewalk from Voskhod 2

Luna 9, a Soviet robotic lander, makes the first controlled landing on the Moon

Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee all perish when their spacecraft catches fire during a pre-flight launch rehearsal on the launchpad

Vladimir Komarov is killed when the parachute fails to open properly during re-entry of his Soyuz 1 spacecraft

Apollo 8 is the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders on board

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are the first humans to walk on the Moon, while Michael Collins stays in lunar orbit

An explosion in an oxygen tank cripples the Apollo 13 spacecraft on the way to the Moon and threatens the lives of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert. They make it safely back to Earth three days later thanks to the heroic efforts of mission control

The Soviet Union launch Salyut 1, the first space station

The Apollo 17 lunar module, with Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt on board, lifts off from the lunar surface and meets with Ronald Evans in the command module. Humans have not returned to the Moon since

Skylab, the United States first space station, reaches orbit

The European Space Agency (ESA) is formed, merging the European Launch Development Organisation (ELDO) and the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO)

The first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, launches

Sally Ride becomes the first US woman in space

The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes seventy-three seconds after launch, killing the crew

The Soviet Union launch the Mir space station

Helen Sharman becomes the first British person in space, and also the first non-US or Soviet woman in space

The Soviet Union is dissolved, and the 15 Soviet states, including Russia and Kazakhstan, become independent countries

Valeri Polyakov returns to Earth from Mir after spending 437 days in space, the longest flight so far ever undertaken

A fire breaks out on the Mir space station, but the crew are able to extinguish it safely

During a manual docking test, a Progress cargo ship collides with the Mir space station, causing a leak. The crew are able to isolate the module, eventually regaining control of the space station