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As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

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Dennis Tito’s project already has hundreds of volunteers.

9:07 am

Want to go to Mars? You better get in line. Dennis Tito’s project already has hundreds of volunteers.

I still have doubts whether this non-private company can pull this off by 2018, but only by 2018. Given a bit more time and research, the obstacles for sending two humans on a fly-by of Mars can easily be overcome.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

5 comments

  • Blair Ivey
    April 15, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    I understand the need to develop the technology and procedures to keep people alive far from terrestrial support, but If I’m going to spend the better part of two years in a tin can, I’d want to do more than just wave at Mars on the way past.

  • Chris Kirkendall
    April 16, 2013 at 8:45 am

    Good point – what could we learn from a manned Mars flyby that we don’t already know from all the various robotic landers & orbiters? When Apollo 8 did its circumlunar flight to the Moon, it showed we could get there & back, and safely, and Apollo 10 demonstrated the Lunar Lander’s capabilities, but these were steps in the ultimate goal of a manned landing. It would be interesting to do, and probably fascinating for the astronauts onboard to view Mars from only 100 mi, but otherwise, what would be the point, unless there was a “next step”? I guess if it could be demonstrated that a human crew could survive the time frame of a round trip, that would be something positive, and maybe provide valuable data for a future manned Mars landing. But it sounds like this is more of a one-off stunt.

  • Robert Zimmerman
    April 16, 2013 at 9:05 am

    Blair and Chris,

    Both of you should really read Leaving Earth. The amount of knowledge we would gain from a fly-by is practically immeasurable, none of which could be gained by robotic missions. And I’m not talking about knowledge about Mars but about the engineering and medical information needed to build and fly humans to another world.

    It is this lack of knowledge that makes me doubt their fly-date of 2018. Much of this research has to first go on in Earth orbit, in an orbiting prototype interplanetary spaceship falsely called a “space station.” Such research takes time, as to find out if you can survive for two years in space you have to live two years in space.

  • Chris Kirkendall
    April 16, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    Thanks, Bob – I’ll check that out. I didn”t mean to dismiss the idea entirely, I was just wondering if it would be of much value on its own – as I said, if it’s part of a plan to go ahead & eventually land humans on Mars, I could see the value of a flyby first…

  • Robert Zimmerman
    April 16, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    Chris,

    I emailed you directly about your purchase of Leaving Earth. Please respond to me directly by email.

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