Since the 1960s the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been sending satellites to explore the planets, moons, and sun. Benson, a "deskbound cosmic pilgrim" ("Atlantic Monthly, ") has pulled together the most spectacular of them into one volume.

Presenting photographs from the history of robotic space exploration, this oversized book provides an awe-inspiring visual narrative of the solar system's planets, moons, and asteroids. From the vantage point of unmanned explorers, the book shows Venus' veil of clouds lifted by Magellan's high-resolution radar; Mars as viewed by the Viking orbiters of the 1970s; and unambiguous signs of life on Earth revealed by Galileo's flybys en route to Jupiter. The striking high-resolution images form a body of art created in equal parts by scientists, by the probes themselves, and by the curator Michael Benson. Benson (a writer, filmmaker, and photographer) includes 295 color and black-and-white photographs, and essays explaining the stories behind the photos, and how and why the probes were built.

The book includes a forward by novelist Arthur C. Clarke.