Mission To Mars: My Vision For Space Exploration (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Buzz Aldrin is a brilliant, talented, revered figure. I was excited to get his last book as a birthday gift from my brother. With the recent successful launch of the next generation spacecraft, Orion, on 12-5-14, the timing seemed perfect for tackling this book.I did enjoy it, but honestly, not as much as I anticipated. And probably that is my fault. This book delivers a compelling argument and thesis on the steps necessary to get mankind to Mars, exactly as it advertises it will! But for me the romance of space travel was somehow lost and I found this a very dry read. I also found it somewhat repetitive on particular points. For example, Aldrin must bring up at least 3 times that a manned mission to Mars in 2035 would occur 66 years after he stepped on the Moon in the Apollo 11 mission. This 66 year time span correlates exactly to the 66 years between Apollo 11 and man's first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight (the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk). I know he means this as a mechanism to keep us focused on getting to Mars, but it seems somewhat a stretch...I did learn an awful lot. Specifically I loved the idea of Cycler Vehicles. From their description, Aldrin proposes multiple space ships that continuously shuttle between Earth and Mars forever without requiring a significant amount of propellant to keep them in motion and on track. They'd make use of gravitational forces and require 2+ years to complete the journey. Wow, now that is cool.To summarize, this is a good book that goes to great lengths to discuss the many pros and cons about near-future manned space exploration, and what resources, research, and willpower it will take to get us there.3 Stars★ = Horrid waste of time★★ = May be enjoyable to some, but not me★★★ = I am glad I read it★★★★ = Very enjoyable and something I'd recommend★★★★★ = A rare find, simply incredible There are many interesting ideas in this book and Buzz does a good job making the case for continued investment in space, but I was really hoping for more technical depth. There are several bold assertions made about various concepts & technologies with very few technical details on how to accomplish them and very little in the way of references to allow the reader to continue to research these topics.If you're looking for an introduction of what's possible for near space exploration, then this is a decent book. But if you really want to dive in and learn about details of how to reach mars, there are much better choices.
What do You think about Mission To Mars: My Vision For Space Exploration (2013)?
Good read, explains how we get to mars, What the US and world should do to get us there.
—mommagibs
A lengthy but ultimately shallow policy advocacy piece.
—mnichols117
