In a Tokyo in the not too distant future a young girl studies deligently with ambitions of soon attending space academy. If things work out just right, her future may very well be among the stars as well. And yet, every time she looks up to the stars there is a sense of melancholy in her heart. A sadness surrounds Asumi, as space exploration itself has profoundly impacted her life for as long as she can remember. But she is not alone...A young man wearing a lion's mask is always beside her. He speaks of the constellations and galaxies as if he they were like home. He knows what it is like to love the stars--slightly bitter and yet always so warm and inviting. Truth is he has gone through much of Asumi is just experiencing. And now in spirit he will forever be with Asumi guiding her on her path to space.

The stories in this book are tragic, mysterious, thrilling and rip-roaring and their subjects include heroes, villains and misguided innocents. It features approximately 80 adventurers who gave their lives in the cause of discovery. Each chapter discusses the adventurers chronologically and covers their career up to their end.

1498. Sebastian Cabot age fifteen, can only wait and wonder. His famous father has abandoned him at home in Bristol, England, but has taken the boy's older and younger brothers, Ludovico and Sancio, on his second voyage in search of the Asian mainland. On his first journey, sailing north across the Western Ocean in 1497, John Cabot had discovered the New Found Land. He returned to England a hero. Five years earlier, Spain had given Christopher Columbus a similar welcome. He had found Asia, he claimed. And by a southern route. Cabot was skeptical and set out to the north again to prove his old friend a fraud. But silence followed. Now, Sebastian and history are confronted with a tantalizing mystery. What has become of Cabot's second endeavor? Letters to the boy from fourteen-year-old Sancio tell of a fearsome storm and its aftermath. They, and the surprising climax to Sebastian's and Sancio's shared story, make for unforgettable voyaging.

Reproduction of the original: The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries... by Richard Hakluyt

Examines the adventures of such early explorers of America as Columbus, Dias, and Cabot. Includes information on the events, society, and superstitions of the times.