Marianne J. Dyson

Excellent book written by a former NASA flight controller with an undergraduate degree in physics. Illustrations are detailed and, where they illustrate future moon settlement, have that lovely science-fictiony look which would so have enthralled me as a child. The narrative is more detailed and accurate in the way it describes the physics of space flight than is usual for books directed toward this age range. The discussion of the chemical processes needed to build life-sustaining show more environments on the moon is excellent. The effects of radiation are discussed, concretely. A good children's book that does not absolutely downplay the dangers and discomforts of space exploration.

A disturbing aside about the damage done to the fingers of the Apollo astronauts through the force required to bend their fingers against the pressure of their gloves is something I've never heard before, but it's very hard to doubt.

The author has also co-authored with Buzz Aldrin a more recent book, "Welcome to Mars". It's hard to know if this indicates a change in the author's own opinion on which is the better destination, or not. Aldrin prefers Mars, hands down, but, of course, he is one of the few who has actually beee to the moon. show less

Dyson, Marianne J. Fly Me to the Moon and Other Stories. Kindle, 2015.
Marianne J. Dyson was one of the first female flight controllers for the space shuttle program. Since then, she has won awards for popular science books for children. But her indie collection of short stories, Fly Me to the Moon, shows that she is equally good at writing near-future science fiction with a hard edge. All the stories are clever but the best ones by far, “Fireworks in Orbit” and “Fly Me to the Moon,” show more process her knowledge of the space program and its people into effective fiction. I wish that she would try her hand at a novel set on the ISS. 4 stars. show less

This book is copyright 1999, so appears a bit dated now. The experiments strike me as pointless, but, as I expected based on her other books, the explanations are unusually good.

I thought this book was okay. It was a little bit overwhelming with the amount of information that was in the book, but it did help the way that the book was laid out. The book was separated into different sections that seemed to help it flow. The book had lots of useful information, and also lots of fun experiments. www.amazon.com/spacestationscience This was another book that was hard to find a website for. This website was okay to use if you were looking for something to accompany the show more book with. show less