Ben Bova, scientist, multiple Hugo Award winner, and prolific science fiction author and editor, died on November 29 at age 88. Bova wrote more than a hundred books, edited some of science fiction's best-known publications, was president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for two terms and was president of the National Space Society. He was a technical editor for Project Vanguard, the U.S.'s first effort to launch a satellite into space in 1958, then worked as a science writer for Avco Everett Research Laboratory, which built the heat shields for the Apollo 11 module. Bova published his first novel, The Star Conquerors, in 1959, and followed up with dozens of others, as well as numerous short stories that appeared in, among other publications, Amazing Stories, Analog Science Fact and Fiction and Galaxy Magazine.
Bova's best-known works, publisher Tor.com observed, involved "plausible sciences about humanity's expansion into the universe, looking at how we might adapt to live in space with novels such as 1992's Mars, about the first human expedition to the red planet. He followed that novel up with additional installments, forming the Grand Tour series, which explored all of the solar system's major bodies." The latest installment, Uranus, was published in July, and was planned to be the first of a trilogy. The second installment, Neptune, is scheduled for release next year. Uranus is available from Tor ($27.99).