Trailblazing Mars : NASA's next giant leap /

Duggins (Alabama Public Radio; Final Countdown, Mar'08, 45-3754) has covered many space shuttle missions for National Public Radio. He begins this chatty work with a history of NASA (and USSR) Mars missions, and combines this with a good deal of related general space history in the first five chapters. Chapter 6, "The Shuttle's Long Good-bye," includes discussions of the recent Augustine Report and the Obama administration, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope. Chapters 7-12 deal with various people, places, and things that have some relevance to the central theme of the book. Chapter 13 addresses who will be the first person to walk on the surface of Mars, how to get there, artificial gravity, and the geography of Mars. The book concludes with "Why Go at All?" There are errors sprinkled throughout the text, but they do not detract from the overall flow of the accurate historical and technical narrative of the work. It is a good introduction to NASA history and plans for the future, and will be of interest to general readers. Summing Up: Recommended. All public and undergraduate libraries. A. M. Strauss Vanderbilt University

Right from the start Duggins (Final Countdown) engages readers with the social context of space exploration. While the existing knowledge of Mars and the challenges of sending a human being to the red planet are the focus of the book, Duggins also provides an enjoyable, illustrated history of the space program, informing us that "The debate over the human risk and the breathtaking cost of sending astronauts to Mars... goes back even farther than the first launch of Shuttle Columbia in 1981." Readers will relive the program's tragedies, triumphs, and frustrations as Duggins details the particular challenges of life on Mars, drawing comparisons to pioneers of America's westward expansion and the scientists who spent two years in the Biosphere. From engineering fresh water to growing food in a contained, limited environment, a human trip to Mars is a complicated undertaking made more challenging by the length of the journey. With Mars exploration proposed for the 2030s, Duggins's timely and engrossing study will interest explorers and armchair astronauts alike, and remind readers of the excitement of outer space. Photos. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.