Artifacts: The Star Wars Question and Answer Book About Space

This is the other Star Wars book I found the other day.  Unlike the Star Wars Storybook, this book just uses C3PO and R2D2 as characters to introduce space-related concepts.  It's more educational (for a grade schooler) than entertainment.  I really like paintings though.  These are most of the original artwork in the book; the rest are stock pictures and artwork from the space program.  This was published in 1979.  Star Wars was still very popular a couple of years after the film came out.  We were all on pins and needles waiting for the next film.  (Now we're all just sticking needles in our eyes, hoping to blind ourselves before the next film comes out.)    

 
What?  No discussion of parsecs or the Kessel run?  (Books and a movie have done to explain that throwaway line.)

I find this slightly comforting.

The text with the page said we'd be more likely to send robots to Mars in the future than people.  They were right.

I had to put this picture in here too.  Quite striking, isn't it.  It's a space escape pod for the Shuttle.  I think I'd take my chances burning up on reentry in the spacecraft.