Book #75 - Packing for Mars

This was one of the summer geek books and when I saw it at the library, I grabbed Packing for Mars to see what I thought. I’d read a review on Amazon that said it was 200 pages discussing poop in space, so I was somewhat leery of reading the book. I’m not offended or disgusted, but not really interested. I had enough of that in Mike Mullane’s book, Riding Rockets.

The book is divided into a number of chapters, each covering the difficulties that humans present for space travel. We are frail, we require maintenance, and a lot of the effort, fuel, and money spent on the space program is to take care of humans.

I found it interesting, learning about a number of things I’d never thought about before. The hassles of food (and crumbs), the effects of gravity or the lack of it. The psychology, religious issues, even the problems of odor. It’s kind of amazing and I can see the challenge.

Every astronaut wants to go back, and most would risk their lives. I thought this described a world full of so many hassles, I’d never want to go to space.