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A review by sackofbeans
Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration by Leonard David, Buzz Aldrin
4.0
This was Buzz's eHow entry on getting to Mars.
In the first couple of chapters, Dr. Aldrin emphasizes just how important reusability of spacecraft is key to getting humans off of Earth more cheaply and frequently. Kind of cool to read about that only a couple of weeks after SpaceX made their first historic rocket-landing.
The greatest concept mentioned in the book is one the space community is pretty familiar with, yet the general public knows little about: It's technically possible to get spacecraft in a scheduled bus-like trajectory from Earth to Mars with minimal course corrections. Meaning ships launch from Earth, dock with the orbiting Greyhound Bus, take a cheap trip to Mars over the course of a few months, get off at the Red Dirt District, chill for awhile, then get back on that bus back home when it flies overhead again. Repeat the process for years and years to the point tourists are saying "Olympus Mons is ok, I guess."
The appendix, although a neat mini-history of how each US President has contributed to space exploration, still feels kind of like padding to increase the book length so it looks more impressive on store shelves. That one always gets me.
Oh and hey, my copy is signed by Buzz himself!
In the first couple of chapters, Dr. Aldrin emphasizes just how important reusability of spacecraft is key to getting humans off of Earth more cheaply and frequently. Kind of cool to read about that only a couple of weeks after SpaceX made their first historic rocket-landing.
The greatest concept mentioned in the book is one the space community is pretty familiar with, yet the general public knows little about: It's technically possible to get spacecraft in a scheduled bus-like trajectory from Earth to Mars with minimal course corrections. Meaning ships launch from Earth, dock with the orbiting Greyhound Bus, take a cheap trip to Mars over the course of a few months, get off at the Red Dirt District, chill for awhile, then get back on that bus back home when it flies overhead again. Repeat the process for years and years to the point tourists are saying "Olympus Mons is ok, I guess."
The appendix, although a neat mini-history of how each US President has contributed to space exploration, still feels kind of like padding to increase the book length so it looks more impressive on store shelves. That one always gets me.
Oh and hey, my copy is signed by Buzz himself!