In size, density, and composition, Venus is almost identical to Earth, yet its nature and history turn out to be as different as close relatives sometimes can be. In The Evening Star Henry S.F. Cooper, Jr., veteran science and space reporter for the New Yorker, tracks the Magellan spacecraft that has been mapping Venus from orbit since August 1990. Cooper introduces us to the engineers who have nursed the spacecraft's fragile electronics and the scientists who have used the spacecraft's data to assemble a picture of this strange world. A narrative of the people who do science and challenges that confront them, The Evening Star is a portrait not only of Venus's character but of Earth's as well, and of the place of the two siblings in the family of planets.