Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

This book is by a favorite author of mine (who wrote Stiff - you must read it). Roach delves this time into the world of space travel. She asks the tough questions like "What happens if you throw up with your space helmet on?" "How do you survive a year without walking? Regular food? Sex?" "What is it like to hit the ground at 15Gs?" She interviews several people from NASA and Wright Patterson to learn what it is really like to travel in space.



I liked this book. Roach does get a little more technical than I would have liked, which made me skim a few parts, but for the most part, it was good. She gets a chance to experience weightlessness, what it is like to have a BM in space, how they decided to package food for space travel, and much more. Things you would never think of. Like - they don't take carbonated beverages into space because astronauts cannot burp. They have people who volunteered to lay 3 months FLAT in bed to test what would happen to astronauts muscles in space. The astronauts are put through isolation chamber test for 3 months at a time. Then their are psychoanalyzed - everything from how they set the table to how much food they left on their plates. Every thing has to be considered because space travel is so dangerous. It cost billions of dollars to send people into space and sometimes it takes 6 years of prep to get them there. They even analyze what happens to astronauts who can't take a bath for long periods of time since they really can't have water bathing on a ship in space.



I can say I learned a lot and have a lot more respect for the space program and what some of the greatest minds in the world come up with to keep space travel safe. I recommend giving this book a try. The humor and information you will know far outweigh the few sections that were a little more in depth than I felt they needed to be. ( )

Who knew that a book about space travel would teach you so much about what it means to be human.

Roach writes with a light, humorous touch and peppers the data with anecdotes and the commentary of a layperson, fascinated by this highly-controlled insulated world of space travel, all of which make for a fun and informative read. I, in turn, peppered the margins of the book with many a HA!s and GROSS!s. As with all pop-science books written for general audiences, this is perhaps not a book for the space experts, but is highly enjoyable for those of us not in the know. My first Roach and it won't be my last.

Highly recommend: reading it on a plane (if reading in zero-G or desolate isolation is not possible).

Aside: I love her home. ( )

Once you have read one of Mary Roach's books, I dare you not to read another. Whatever subject she tackles, she brings her scientific mind and brilliant with to bear. You'll learn and laugh at the same time. ( )

While written in her same style as Stiff, Spook and Bonk I did not find this book as captivating but it was a requirement for my collection. ( )

The book has very little about Mars. It covers aspects of the Space program that we don't hear about. I have a new respect for those people who have been a part of the program, not only astronauts, but people who volunteer to undergo trials to get the data needed to develop what is needed for those astronauts. Parts of the book are pretty unsavory. The presentation of the information has quite a lot of humor as well. The author did a lot of hands on research such as taking a trip up for a parabolic flight sequence to try out Zero G. She talked to some very interesting folks and found transcriptions of some rather fun astronaut dialog. I suppose there is an emphasis on some pretty gross stuff, but my opinion is that this book is first rate. It is well researched, interesting, enlightening, and for me it was a new perspective on the topic. This is not just a scientific endeavor. This is a human endeavor. It does make me wonder if humans really should push through what it would take to go to Mars. If they had to do it under the conditions of the first astronauts, it would be insanity. It will not be easy to do and it will not be easy on those who do it. This is an extreme sport, I guess I'd say. ( )