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

by Roach, Mary

• ISBN13: 9780393339918
• ISBN10: 0393339912
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780393079104
• Additional ISBN(s): 9781324036050
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-04
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• More Book Details

Summary

-A truly funny look at the less majestic aspects of the space program. (Entertainment Weekly )

-This is the kind of smart, smirky stuff that Roach does so well. (Geoff Nicholson - San Francisco Chronicle )

-Roach provides a highly readable, often hilarious, guide. (Christian Science Monitor )

- A delightful, illuminating grab bag of space-flight curiosities. (Kirkus Reviews )

“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) returns to explore the irresistibly strange universe of life without gravity in this New York Times bestseller.

Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations.

As Mary Roach discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

Author Biography

Mary Roach is the author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. She lives in Oakland, California.

Table of Contents

Countdown	p. 15
He's Smart But His Birds are Sloppy: Japan Picks an Astronaut	p. 21
Life in a Box: The Perilous Psychology of Isolation and Confinement	p. 41
Star Crazy: Can Space Blow Your Mind?	p. 63
You Go First: The Alarming Prospect of Life Without Gravity	p. 79
Unstowed: Escaping Gravity on Board NASA's C-9	p. 95
Throwing Up and Down: The Astronaut's Secret Misery	p. 107
The Cadaver in the Space Capsule: NASA Visits the Crash Test Lab	p. 129
One Furry Step for Mankind: The Strange Careers of Ham and Enos	p. 149
Next Gas: 200,000 Miles: Planning a Moon Expedition Is Tough, but Not as Tough as Planning a Simulated One	p. 173
Houston, We Have a Fungus: Space Hygiene and the Men Who Stopped Bathing for Science	p. 191
The Horizontal Stuff: What If You Never Got Out of Bed?	p. 209
The Three-Dolphin Club: Mating Without Gravity	p. 229
Withering Heights: Bailing Out from Space	p. 247
Separation Anxiety: The Continuing Saga of Zero-Gravity Elimiantion	p. 265
Discomfort Food: When Veterinarians Make Dinner, and Other Tales of Woe from Aerospace Test Kitchens	p. 285
Eating Your Pants: Is Mars Worth It?	p. 307
Acknowledgments	p. 319
Time Line	p. 323
Bibliography	p. 325
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