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-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.
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 |
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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