Born to Explore
John Casani's Grand Tour of the Solar System
Published on 15. December 2025
Book
Hardback
424 pages
978-1-4962-0665-7 (ISBN)
Description
Once, there were giants in the heavens: billion-dollar machines of wonder and science that flew to the outermost planets and told us what secrets had been lying in wait. In charge of the people and processes behind these missions was a humble father of five who did the job not for money or prestige but simply because it represented a challenge like no other. That man was John Casani. The full story of his unparalleled life and career is told here for the first time.
Young Casani was obsessed with the mechanical world yet lacked direction in life. After restarting college for an engineering degree, he then whimsically road-tripped to California in the late 1950s and was hired, almost by accident, at Pasadena's secretive Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Beginning as a workaday technician, Casani rose through JPL's ranks to senior management-while battling politics, funding, physics, and occasionally colleagues. With inborn skill and uncommon methods he kept his troops focused on success. Casani ran eight-figure space missions off the index cards in his shirt pocket, once employed a live goat to press people into action, and even sent messages to aliens in space.
Born to Explore examines a transitional period of space history, when planetary exploration faced threats from an adversarial space shuttle program that consumed the lion's share of NASA funding. Recounted by Jay Gallentine, Casani's life story unfolds in conjunction with the tribulations of the Galileo mission to Jupiter-a twisting case study of what can go wrong even with the best intentions and the best minds in the world at work.
Young Casani was obsessed with the mechanical world yet lacked direction in life. After restarting college for an engineering degree, he then whimsically road-tripped to California in the late 1950s and was hired, almost by accident, at Pasadena's secretive Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Beginning as a workaday technician, Casani rose through JPL's ranks to senior management-while battling politics, funding, physics, and occasionally colleagues. With inborn skill and uncommon methods he kept his troops focused on success. Casani ran eight-figure space missions off the index cards in his shirt pocket, once employed a live goat to press people into action, and even sent messages to aliens in space.
Born to Explore examines a transitional period of space history, when planetary exploration faced threats from an adversarial space shuttle program that consumed the lion's share of NASA funding. Recounted by Jay Gallentine, Casani's life story unfolds in conjunction with the tribulations of the Galileo mission to Jupiter-a twisting case study of what can go wrong even with the best intentions and the best minds in the world at work.
Reviews / Votes
"A journey into the life of a man who made the impossible possible. Tasked with exploring the depths of the solar system with little precedent or guidance, NASA's John Casani faced overwhelming technical, financial, and scientific challenges - yet his relentless drive led to some of the most historic missions ever undertaken. We're where we are today because Casani worked in a 'room without corners,' and I hope readers will come to appreciate him in the same way I now do."-Beth Mund, executive director of Stories of Space and host of the podcast Casual Space "It was a joy discovering this book. It's an incredible read. . . . I loved learning the pieces of the story I didn't know."-David Hitt, coauthor of Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986 "There's an excellent chance that John Casani is your favorite engineer's favorite engineer, and the delightfully engaging Born to Explore makes clear why he merits so much adulation: Without his genius for solving the American space program's thorniest problems, we'd know far less about our fascinating little corner of the Milky Way. Jay Gallentine does a brilliant job of exploring how Casani's innate curiosity and agile mind drove him."-Brendan I. Koerner, contributing editor at Wired and author of The Skies Belong to Us "Entrust yourself to the guiding hand of Jay Gallentine, who with Born to Explore charts another parabolic trajectory into the dark reaches of space, investigating the all-too-earthly reasoning behind the daring and dubious decisions to orbit celestial bodies and plumb galactic realms beyond."-Don Wildman, host of Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum and host of the podcast American History HitMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
43 photographs, 7 illustrations, index
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 39 mm
Weight
740 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4962-0665-7 (9781496206657)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jay Gallentine is an award-winning space historian from Minnesota. He is the author of Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft (Nebraska, 2014), winner of the Eugene M. Emme Award for astronautical literature, and Infinity Beckoned: Adventuring Through the Inner Solar System, 1969-1989 (Nebraska, 2015), which examines the first intensive reconnaissance of the inner solar system.
Content
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
1. The Falsest of All
2. Intermarriage
3. No Plan, No Mentor, No Guidance
4. The Kind of Person We Need
5. The Chair Dares
6. Misdirection at the Brigadoon
7. Short-Sighted and Penny-Foolish
8. Spin-Up, Dual-Spin, De-Spun
9. What the Pork Chops Said
10. Dawn Chorus
11. A World With No Corners
12. Very Rad Hard
13. Mind the Gap
14. I Have a Goat
15. S-TOUR
16. Ten Years, Three Months, and Two Days
17. Throwing Shade
18. Not-So-Tasty Rib Tips
19. Ground Truth
20. The Least Unacceptable Solution
21. Saving the Appearances
22. Wiggly-Line Science
23. Separation Anxiety
24. A Man for Others
25. All Things Go
26. An Endless Pursuit of Wonder
27. Grab On
Sources
Acknowledgements
1. The Falsest of All
2. Intermarriage
3. No Plan, No Mentor, No Guidance
4. The Kind of Person We Need
5. The Chair Dares
6. Misdirection at the Brigadoon
7. Short-Sighted and Penny-Foolish
8. Spin-Up, Dual-Spin, De-Spun
9. What the Pork Chops Said
10. Dawn Chorus
11. A World With No Corners
12. Very Rad Hard
13. Mind the Gap
14. I Have a Goat
15. S-TOUR
16. Ten Years, Three Months, and Two Days
17. Throwing Shade
18. Not-So-Tasty Rib Tips
19. Ground Truth
20. The Least Unacceptable Solution
21. Saving the Appearances
22. Wiggly-Line Science
23. Separation Anxiety
24. A Man for Others
25. All Things Go
26. An Endless Pursuit of Wonder
27. Grab On
Sources