Timothy Ferris Disregarding our illusory firewalls of thought, he boldly goes where no science writer has gone before. That's a change of 14 billion trillion kilometers in 500 years.
Science is fast.
Using equations provided by 16th century astronomer Johannes Kepler, we sent a tiny hunk of metal called Voyager on a billion-mile journey to the outer planets and beyond. Our aim in sending Voyager is as accurate as that of a sharpshooter firing a bullet from Earth and hitting a 1-foot target on the moon. Heroically passionate and wildly eccentric, he dressed like a prince and ruled his domain like a king, tossing scraps to a dwarf named Jep who huddled beneath the dinner table. Ferris goes on to tell how Tycho died of a burst bladder at a formal dinner in his honor because it would have been impolite to excuse himself. Such precision allowed Kepler to write the equations that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration used to send Voyager to the outer planets and beyond.