Per kommentar, detta är Academy Series genom Jack McDevitt .
Den (omfattande) sammanfattningen på Wikipedia av den första boken, Guds motorer sammanfattas som:
Xeno-archaeologists, and interstellar pilot Priscilla Hutchins [Hutch], attempt to unravel the mysteries surrounding tremendous monuments left near several habitable worlds in the solar neighborhood.
Den innehåller även den här raden:
At one point it appeared as if they would run out of air before rescue arrived, but Hutch managed to remedy the problem at the last minute.
och slutar med:
The implications were that the Omega clouds menace the entire galaxy, and the only way to escape them is to leave the galaxy entirely. In fact, the cycle of the clouds meant that they would be upon Earth in just 1,000 years.
Den enda jag har läst är Deepsix där Hutch besöker en planetskollision, sedan fastnar på den jordiska planeten.
Sammanfattningen för Odyssey innehåller detta citat:
It is set in the 23rd century and "explores the immorality of big business and the short-sightedness of the American government in minimizing support for space travel."
På samma sätt börjar Cauldron med
Humanity now generally disregards spaceflight, and space exploration is in massive decline.