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Voyage

Voyage

Author: Stephen Baxter

In a strange twist of the real world, an English author has re-written American history, but without implying the Americans screwed something up and history would have been better without America's interference. That's seriously fucked up in this day and age where it's popular even required to critique the evils of past and current American military/political choices. Voyage is a (very) hard science-fiction novel written about a history where JFK survived his 1963 assassination, but was crippled. Instead of the space shuttle program in real history, Nixon commits the United States to send a manned mission to Mars. Apollo 13 runs as it does in real history, but Nixon cancels all future Apollo missions, except for Apollo 14. Nixon then authorizes Ares, the manned space operation. The first manned flight goes horribly wrong when the NERVA nuclear engine explodes, and the astronauts die of radiation exposure. This story is told in flashbacks during that mission about the lives of the astronauts and NASA personnel, their relationships, internal NASA politics, and the development of the NERVA nuclear booster stage. Many events are told from the view point of the first American female astronaut, Natalie York, a civilian scientist, aboard the Ares flight to Mars, and the reader gets the glimpse of some cynicism towards the manned space program. Voyage was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and won the 1996 Sidewise Award. It was also made into a radio series for BBC radio. 

Books in Nasa Series (4)

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