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Library Journal
Comins (physics & astronomy, Univ. of Maine), who has worked at the NASA Ames Research Center developing computer models of the galaxies, believes space tourism will become common over the next century. His work is less a guidebook and more precisely a listing and description of all the things that can go wrong in space-and a lot can go wrong. Comins organizes the book by hazard and describes potential problems such as geological disasters on other worlds (e.g., landslides and quakes), harmful radiation and cosmic rays, impacts (even micrometeorites can destroy a spaceship), mechanical and computer failures, medical problems, and the psychological and social problems that can occur on long space journeys. He also describes the difficulty of readapting to life on Earth after such a journey. The sometimes monotonous prose is spiced up by excerpts from "Mack's log," the fictional journal of a future space traveler. This is really the first significant, comprehensive look at the potentially negative aspects of space tourism, which now seems less glamorous and more dangerous. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
—Jeffrey Beall
Overview
–Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, first person to walk in space
With the opening of the International Space Station at the start of this century and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic company planning to take people above the Earth’s atmosphere next year, widespread space travel will soon leave the realm of science fiction.
Tourist trips to the Moon, asteroids, comets, Mars, and beyond are ...