1. Our world, warm, comfortable, familiar.2. But when we look up, we wonder:3. Do we occupy a special place in the cosmos?4. Or are we merely a celestial footnote5. Is the universe welcoming or hostile?6. We could stand here forever, wondering7. Or we could leave home on the ultimate adventure8. To discover wonders9. Confront horrors10. Beautiful new worlds11. Malevolent dark forces12. The Beginning of time.13. The moment of creation.14. Would we have the courage to see it through?15. Or would we run for home?16. Theres only one way to find out17. Our journey through time and space begins with a single step.18. At the edge of space, only 60 miles up.19. Just an hours drive from home20. Down there, life continues.21. The traffic is awful, stocks go on trading22. And Star Trek is still showing23. When we return home, if we return home.24. Will it be the same?25. Will we be the same?26. We have to leave all this behind27. To dip out toes into the vast dark ocean28. On to the Moon 29. Dozens of astronauts have come this way before us30. Twelve walked on the moon itself31. Just a quarter of a million miles from home 32. Three days by spacecraft33. Barren 34. Desolate.35. Its like a deserted battlefield36. But oddly familiar 37. So close, weve barely left home38. Neil Armstrongs first footprints 39. Looks like they were made yesterday40. Theres no air to change them.41. They could survive for millions of years42. Maybe longer than us43. Our time is limited44. We need to take our own giant leap45. One million miles, 5 million, 20 million miles46. Were far beyond where any human has ever ventured47. Out of the darkness, a friendly face48. The goddess of love, Venus49. The morning star50. The evening star51. She can welcome the new day in the east.52. Say good night in the west53. A sister to our planet.54. Shes about the same size and gravity as Earth.55. We should be safe here56. But the Venus Express space probe is setting off alarms57. Its telling us, these dazzling clouds, theyre made of deadly sulfuric acid58. The atmosphere is choking with carbon dioxide59. Never expected this Venus is one angry goddess.60. The air is noxious, the pressure unbearable.61. And its hot, approaching 900 degrees62. Stick around and wed be corroded suffocated, crushed and baked63. Nothing can survive here.64. Not even this Soviet robotic probe.65. Its heavy armors been trashed by the extreme atmosphere.66. So lovely from Earth, up close, this goddess is hideous67. Shes the sister from hell.68. Pockmarked by thousands of volcanoes69. All that carbon dioxide is trapping the Suns heat.70. Venus is burning up.71. Its global warming gone wild72. Before it took hold, maybe Venus was beautiful, calm.73. More like her sister planet, Earth74. So this could be Earths future75. Where are the twinkling stars?76. The beautiful spheres gliding through space77. Maybe we shouldnt be out here, maybe we should turn back78. But theres something about the Sun, something hypnotic, like the Medusa79. Too terrible to look at, too powerful to resist80. Luring us onward on, like a moth to a flame81. Wait, theres something else, obscured by the sun82. It must be Mercury.83. Get too close to the sun, this is what happens.84. Temperatures swing wildly here85. At night, its minus 275 degrees86. Come midday, its 800 plus.87. Burnt then frozen.88. The MESSENGER space probe is telling us something strange.89. For its size, Mercury has a powerful gravitational pull.90. Its a huge ball of iron, covered with a thin veneer of rock91. The core of what was once a much larger planet.92. So wheres the rest of it?93. Maybe a stray planet slammed into Mercury94. Blasting away its outer layers in a deadly game of cosmic pinball95. Whole worlds on the loose careening wildly across the cosmos.96. Destroying anything in their path97. And were in the middle of it98. Vulnerable, exposed, small99. Everything is telling us to turn back.100. But who could defy this?101. The Sun in all its mesmerizing splendor102. Our light, our lives.103. Everything we do is controlled by the Sun104. Depends on it105. Its the Greek god Helios driving his chariot across the sky106. The Egyptian god Ra reborn every day107. The summer solstice sun rising at Stonehenge108. For millions of years 109. This was as close as it got to staring into the face of God110. Its so far away.111. It is burned out, we wouldnt know about it for eight minutes112. Its so Big, you could fit one million Earths inside it113. But who needs number? Weve got the real thing114. We see it every day, a familiar face in our sky115. Now, up close, its unrecognizable.116. A turbulent sea of incandescent gas117. The thermometer pushes 10,000 degrees118. Cant imagine how hot the core is ,could be tens of millions of degrees119. Hot enough to transform millions of tons of matter120. Into energy every second121. More than all the energy ever made by mankind122. Dwarfing