"Action SF thriller"
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 Arthur 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
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted July 5, 2001
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