Donald Goldsmith has written and edited more than twenty books on astronomy, including Origins with Neil deGrasse Tyson, The End of Astronauts with Martin Rees, and Exoplanets. He was the science editor and cowriter of the PBS television series The Astronomers and the cowriter of NOVA's Is Anybody Out There? with Lily Tomlin. Martin Rees, the UK’s Astronomer Royal, was previously Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. A past president of the Royal Society, he has won numerous awards, including the Templeton Prize and the inaugural Fritz Zwicky Prize. The author of ten books and more than 500 research papers, he cofounded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.

The End of Astronauts offers exquisitely formulated arguments in support of robotic exploration in space. Along the way, Goldsmith and Rees occasionally tell us what we don’t want to know, but in the end we find ourselves compelled to agree with them.

Donald Goldsmith has written and edited more than twenty books on astronomy, including Origins with Neil deGrasse Tyson, The End of Astronauts with Martin Rees, and Exoplanets. He was the science editor and cowriter of the PBS television series The Astronomers and the cowriter of NOVA's Is Anybody Out There? with Lily Tomlin. Martin Rees, the UK’s Astronomer Royal, was previously Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. A past president of the Royal Society, he has won numerous awards, including the Templeton Prize and the inaugural Fritz Zwicky Prize. The author of ten books and more than 500 research papers, he cofounded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.

The End of Astronauts offers exquisitely formulated arguments in support of robotic exploration in space. Along the way, Goldsmith and Rees occasionally tell us what we don’t want to know, but in the end we find ourselves compelled to agree with them.

Donald Goldsmith has written and edited more than twenty books on astronomy, including Origins with Neil deGrasse Tyson, The End of Astronauts with Martin Rees, and Exoplanets. He was the science editor and cowriter of the PBS television series The Astronomers and the cowriter of NOVA's Is Anybody Out There? with Lily Tomlin. Martin Rees, the UK’s Astronomer Royal, was previously Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. A past president of the Royal Society, he has won numerous awards, including the Templeton Prize and the inaugural Fritz Zwicky Prize. The author of ten books and more than 500 research papers, he cofounded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.

The End of Astronauts offers exquisitely formulated arguments in support of robotic exploration in space. Along the way, Goldsmith and Rees occasionally tell us what we don’t want to know, but in the end we find ourselves compelled to agree with them.