Going to Mars: The Stories of the people Behind NASA's Mars Missions Past, Present, and Future [Paperback]

Garfield Reeves-Stevens (Author), Judith Reeves-Stevens (Author), Brian Muirhead (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0671027964 | ISBN-13: 978-0671027964 | Publication Date: December 21, 2004

On July 4, 1997, the youngest and most unusual team of scientists ever assembled by NASA saved America's planetary space programme. They were the Pathfinder team, whose little Sojourner spacecraft had just landed on the surface of Mars. Now, as new probes race toward the red planet, Brian Muirhead - a Pathfinder alumnus - offers a history of Mars exploration and charts its enticing future. Few people have as deep an understanding of this odyssey as Muirhead does. Indeed, two of the probes that are scheduled to land on Mars in 2004 are direct descendants of the Sojourner he helped build. In GOING TO MARS, he recounts his firsthand experience at the heart of an epic endeavour - from the successes of Pathfinder, through the tragic failures of 1999, up to the exciting Mars explorations that are unfolding right now. He also offers an exciting and authoritative projection of what the future will look like, as Russia, China, the European Space Agency, and NASA all plan manned missions. GOING TO MARS is a classic, personal story of underdogs succeeding against the odds in an adventure as awe-inspiring as the best science fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Muirhead, a scientist-engineer at NASA, and science fiction writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, who have written numerous Star Trek novels, present with aplomb information about Mars and the people who study it. With its cheery, conversational tone-sidebar headings include "Martians Invade New Jersey!" and "The Photos NASA Doesn't Want You to See!"-this work may hold the most appeal for teens, but adults without a science background will learn a great deal and be entertained along the way. The interweaving of factual and fictitious representations of the red planet-from The Princess of Mars and The War of the Worlds to the canals once thought to be on Mars's surface and the pictures sent back by the rovers-gives this book a unique perspective. The primary text traces the life trajectories of the scientists behind the Mars missions. Through these biographies, readers learn about the inner workings of NASA; the technical, financial and ethical issues involved in sending spacecraft to other worlds; and what drives the people who work on the Mars missions to push onward. They will also find many perspectives on why the red planet is so intriguing, what answers it may hold to vital questions about our own existence and what the search for those answers (in fiction and fact) has already shown us about ourselves. The clever approach employed in this work makes it fun to explore how scientific revelations about Mars have informed fantasies about the future of life there and to see how those fictions have fueled the desires of many of NASA's best and brightest.
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About the Author

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are a well-known science fiction writing team. They are the co-authors of William Shatner's bestselling Star Trek novels and their other bestsellers include the reference books The Art of Star Trek and The Next Generation: The Continuing Mission.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (December 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671027964
• ISBN-13: 978-0671027964
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,302,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very entertaining book!, April 1, 2006

By 

Peter (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going to Mars: The Stories of the people Behind NASA's Mars Missions Past, Present, and Future (Paperback)

Being written by two science fiction writers (Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens) and a scientist (Brian Muirhead, who worked and still works with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory), this book is both unconventional and highly entertaining. Not only the technical dimension of space exploration is highlighted, but also the human aspect. What makes people want to explore space? How is an idea translated into an actual mission? How are the new BFC-missions (Better, Faster, Cheaper) managed? Etc. etc.

This book gives a lot of information on past, present and future missions to Mars, information that is often not covered in other books.

As Brian Muirhead was flight system manager of the team that developed the Mars Pathfinder, the first rover that landed on Mars in 1997, a substantial portion of the book is dedicated to this mission.

The book contains many black-and-white photographs of (only) reasonable quality. In the middle of the book are 32 pages with really very high quality photographs and artwork.

All in all to me this book deserves a full five stars. I really enjoyed reading it.