A world a head of the rest (Titan - Stephen Baxter)

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Product:	Titan - Stephen Baxter
Date:	09/02/01 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Drama and fiction

Disadvantages: Cant put it down

Titan is not the best SCI-FI ive read but theres enough detail in the factual stuff to go with the chunky fiction in the book to make it satisfying and you feel like you have learnt a lot by the end of the read.
Paula Beneferact has missed her chance to be a shuttle pilot in the year 2003 and has resigned her self to being a beuracrat as NASA scale down the space program after a devastating Challenger style crash whilst on her training program.
But there is a job if she wants it in the organization as the leader of a team to dismantle the Shuttle program and try and make uses of the hardware in a less expensive way eventually closing down the whole operation.
But a strange scientist has a much boulder idea for the remaining remnants of Americas space set up involving an audacious two year trip to Titan, Saturn’s third moon which he believes can sustain a small colony.
With all the basic elements in its atmosphere and surface plus what the crew would take along,it would be possible to bring life to the solar systems most fertile worlds.And as the sun expands and engulfs Earth,the small moon will become fertile and habitable as the suns rays begin to warm it.
Paula has to lobby a lot of skeptical people to make this suicidal mission even be considered amongst the Senate and prominent NASA money men.But as the project begins to move she is getting heat from other envious big spenders who wouldn’t mind the big bucks for various covert projects.
As the decision is finally made, Paula has to construct the facilities and launch vehicle from old NASA boosters and parts from the old Apollo launchers that were stored away in various warehouse and museums.
As the craft begins to take shape, the Airforce decides that the project should be sabotaged as they see all of their proposed budget funds being absorbed in the over ambitious project. Paula is not wise to this and presses on with selecting her crew in which she will also be a member
to finally forefill her dream of going into space.
Along with Benerfact and Rosenburg (The scientist) the other crew are a young doctor and grizzled Shuttle captain who all know this is a one way trip and theres no coming home from the 4 million mile journey over the two year debilitating quest.
They set off way over budget launching through the cool clear Florida dawn as the world watches on to the most ambitious space mission since the moonshots of the 60s and 70s.
Meanwhile the Airforce have launched a missile from a low space orbit in an old Bell X15 rocket to down the Shuttle before the mission could get going. But the missile bounces off the craft and Paula makes her orbit after a few scary moments and system failures.
Ground control picks up the missile intercept but have no time to warn them as they blast into space
To begin the mission to the far reaches of the Solar System.
There will be many hazards on the epic voyage including extensive life threatening radiation exposure, macro meteors that would tear through the craft and anything in their way at 10,000 miles an hour causing havoc to internal systems and skin alike. And of course any further sabotage attempts from their opposing agencies.
As the humans see things no other of their species ever have out in the dark blue voids of un chartered space they grow tired and bored from the endless days and each other. Weight falls of them quicker than they can stack it on. Muscles melt away as fast as they can build them.
The craft is hit by a burst of macro meteors as they pass the half waypoint with one of the crew exposed to their lethal effects. Made worse as it’s the doctor and she’s the one keeping them safe from the things they fear most.
As the ship sweeps through Saturn’s rings of crystallized elements unknown to man they get their first glimpse of Titan, their new home millions of miles from Earth and safety. The yellow and brown swirling clouds o
f gas covering the surface which eventually forments into a slushy life giving chemistry believed to be the formula of life itself and where the future of mankind is relying on and indeed probably came from.
As the craft begins to detach and plunge towards the surface heating up the shields falling through iridescent mists and storms of a new world, something goes wrong, badly wrong and theres no one to help as the craft falls at 300 miles per hour. Our heroes are alone, very alone.
That’s as far as I go as the real adventure is to come.If you like real intelligent SCI-FI then this is for you and only Stephen Baxter does it with this much detailed fact and thought.Great read.

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