First Landing

Stranded! On Mars, no less. Could anything go wrong on a space mission to Mars? Of course. What about the crew? Obviously, they'll all get along just fine. Just like we all do here on Earth. Or will they? The book has action and suspense. And while some of what happens is extravagant by non-fiction standards, it is fine in a work of fiction. I certainly enjoyed it. Zubrin always has plenty of imagination. Besides all the action, the book makes some points about the possibilities of resources on Mars, life on Mars and the relatively low risk of back-contamination of Earth. Some day, our heirs will have been on Mars for a while. I wonder what they'll think of this book then.

This is great stuff, Zubrin is one cool dude and writes fiction with the best of them. The story entranced me and drew me in and I could not stop myself from reading. If you wonder how it may be like to explore and survive on the planet Mars in the first expedition (circa 2011) read this book, I bet when we finally reach Mars with a human crew it will be very much as depicted by Zubrin here in this novel. The mission Zubrin describes here is beset with many technical hurdles, some may be from sabotage, and political intrigue exists as well. Mars is a beautiful planet in it's own unique way and Zubrin conveys with success that beauty and wonder to the reader. I thought the resourcefulness of the crew, consisting of five members, was amazing, and the trip to the bottom of the Valley Of The Mariners was very well done. Character development was superb, I loved Rebecca, the biologist. Their ordeal is realistically put forth by Zubrin, again it was a page turner for me. This novel portrays our future exploration of Mars in the grandest sense, a joy to read, expertly written, and should be read by all science fiction fans and others as well. At the end of this novel resides a short appendix where Zubrin details the Mars Direct plan, interesting indeed. In fact, Zubrin believes spacefaring countries could send humans to Mars within a decade or so, if support developed, and we could become a two planet species. Dr. Zubrin is an astronautical engineer and has written two non-fiction space related books, Entering Space, and The Case For Mars, also well worth reading

Zubrin's story reaffirms optimism in the dreams and ideals of the Space Age, presenting Mars as the New Frontier that will keep our civilization alive and growing. One reviewer did not like Zubrin's characters, calling them cliches. I disagree. The characters Zubrin used are the right characters that should be in a story like this. I especially appreciate Zubrin's respectful and insightful handling of the clash of worldviews between the liberal agnoticism of the Radcliff-educated Rebecca (the biologist and physician), and the fundamentalist Christian coal-miner's daughter Gwen (the military-trained engineer). Zubrin dared to address the area of moral values, and showed their importance to human motivation. He allowed his characters to change and grow as they came to appreciate one another's differing views. The controlling, manipulative Rebecca came to regret and repent of the way she tried to "trample upon Gwen" and her conscientious convictions, and came to realize that Gwen's refusal to submit to an abortion was absolutely consistent with Rebecca's own love and adoration for life. Few writers in any genre dare to address this subject so boldly and profoundly. WARNING: The following reveals some features of the end of the story, and may be considered "plot spoilers" by some. But I was gleefully delighted with the triumph of all five of the the crew members presented in the epilogue. Rebecca got her Nobel Prize (more than one), the rule-bending, authority-defying leader of the crew, Colonel Townsend, wound up becoming President of the United States, and conservative Gwen got to be the founder of a true colony, along with the steadfast and level-headed Kevin. When they got married, Gwen's amazed thoughts, "I'm getting married in the sky! It's a marriage made in Heaven!" were wonderful. Even the super-Texan, Luke, got to have his own "spread" back in Texas, and made a fortune importing Martian gemstones (which also helped secure the financial success of the colony on Mars). The story contains such delicious moments as when Gwen is about to deliver her baby, and Rebecca orders all men "except the father" to leave the room, and Luke who got Gwen pregnant, and Kevin who had married Gwen after she became pregnant, both stand there looking at each other for a moment, and the women simply "watched curiously" to "see who stays."

From the first page, Bob Zubrin's latest book pulled me in and wouldn't let me go, and I see I'm not the only one! Don't start this if you're not ready for a wild ride through space, science and the human spirit. If you share the Dream of bringing Life to Mars (and Mars to Life!), read this book and be re-inspired. If you don't, read it and find out why everybody's talking... about Mars!

After a year in space, the five-person team on board the Beagle are getting ready to land on Mars. The landing, like everything else that follows, does not go smoothly but it does get the astronauts there in one piece. Within the first few weeks there, they have found a gemstone that is harder than a diamond and microorganisms that prove there is life on the red planet. The astronauts are elated by their discovery of life on Mars but on Earth, hysteria sets in, fanned by a popular writer and a televangelist. They fear that the astronauts will bring back some pandemic disease to earth. A fuel line leakage leaves them stranded on Mars and the president, who is up for reelection, is not pushing a rescue mission. This means that the five stranded Americans will have to find a way to get themselves off planet or die when their air and food runs out. Robert Zubrin has written a science fiction that measures up to the works of Author C Clarke and Robert Heinlein. The politics that are involved in a space mission are astounding to behold and the interactions of the five stranded people who have been cooped up together for three years ring true (ever share a house with another generation?). FIRST LANDING is a work of hope, written by a visionary who sees the possibilities in the not too distant future.Harriet Klausner