MISSION TO MARS

by Michael Collins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1990

A welcome nuts-and-bolts approach to the problem of how best to launch Americans back into space; by the former Apollo 11 astronaut, author of Liftoff (1988) and Carrying the Fire (1974). The trouble with NASA's space agenda is that it tries to please everyone all the time and ends up rarely pleasing anyone at all--at least according to Collins, who should know, having served on the Space Goals Task Force of the NASA Advisory Council. Here, he emphasizes the need for a mission-oriented program along the lines of Apollo, in which the means (launchers, space station Freedom, the question of returning to the moon, etc.) are tailored to one specific end (human exploration and colonization of Mars). Such a direct goal would no doubt alienate scientists who want Freedom designed to incorporate a wide variety of experiments, those who believe robotic exploration should suffice, and many others. But it is a dramatic goal, and as such is perhaps the only way to focus sufficient funds--and keep them focused for the 15 or so years it will take to put a man on Mars--to maintain a full-fledged, productive space exploration program. The notion of men on Mars has always exerted a powerful pull on the human imagination, says Collins, whose plan of action is as lively and practical as a set of instructions on how to build a go-cart in your own backyard; his hypothetical scenario of the first manned trip to Mars--which features clogged showers, grabby astronauts, and a near-mutiny over the daily two-hour exercise routine--lends a sense of reality to the fantasy and helps makes this an exceptionally readable book. Informative and intelligent, a contagiously eager complement to John Noble Wilford's Mars Beckons (p. 721).

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Grove Weidenfeld

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990

Categories: NONFICTION