Lost in Space

Back in January I reviewed Greg Klerkx's "Lost in Space: The Fall of Nasa and the Dream of a New Space Age" (Amazon US/UK) for the Guardian. One reason this might have passed you by is that they didn't publish the review until a couple of weeks ago, since which time Richard Branson has kindly added a touch of topicality to the issues involved. For those of you who are interested, the review can be found here.

What I didn't mention, since I chose to focus on the book's argument rather than its narratives, is that there are some rather good chapters on Devon Island and the Haughton Mars Project. Five months on and without the book to hand the details escape me, but I remember a nicely drawn sense of the experience of being up there -- exciting, romantic, somewhat arduous, the days often surreally suffused with the attentions of the news media, significant parts of the unearthly, unending evenings devoted to dissing Bob Zubrin.

Comments

[Marrije]

I've just finished 'Mapping Mars' and enjoyed it immensely. The weblog has been on my menu for months now (I came here through Neil Gaiman's recommendation), and I've been enjoying that, too. So: thanks! For giving me huge headaches about the many things I don't know or can't understand :-). I can't keep all the theories and facts straight in my head, and many times just feel like Manuel from Fawlty Towers (Que? Que?), but nonetheless: thanks for making it so clear that I can at least follow about half the material.

Also, I'm happy to report that six-year olds who want to be astronauts are making a come-back. My son (who is seven, but only just) wants to be one. I blame André Kuipers, the Dutch guy who recently visited ISS and who was all over the media here for weeks. Manned space missions work!