Arrival by Ted Chiang

The Eden Project was a dream. To start the first extra-solar colony... To avoid the mistakes of our past... To start anew.

Three generations, born and raised on a starship hurtling through space. To never know an open sky... To never feel the wind on their face... To never witness the sun rise or set.

It is up to the advance team to set foot on each of these worlds, conduct their surveys, and send their findings back to the colony ship. So many questions... So little time... Such an enormous responsibility.

Everything must go as planned, for the welfare of all the colonists depends on them.