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Space Excursions #1
Back to the Moon
A crackling, realistic thriller of intrigue and courage overflowing with cool near-future ideas for a return to the glory days of lunar exploration from the “dream-team” of science fiction writer Travis S. Taylor (also a NASA and DOD consultant) and Les Johnson, Deputy Manager for the Advanced Concepts Office at the NASA—a man who definitely knows whereof he speaks.
The space race is back on. While NASA stages a fiftieth anniversary return to the Moon, a gritty private company puts together its own moonshot, complete with space tourists in tow. Across the globe, the Chinese are determined to arrive first this time. What’s more, they’ll do whatever it takes to win—including stealing every bit of American technology they can pilfer and hack. But just as politics and spectacle threaten to overshadow real accomplishment yet again, something goes horribly wrong on the lunar surface. Now the front-line troops, the astronauts themselves, must put aside the squabbles of others and take fate into their own hands. For it is time to prove that humans are not merely redundant cogs in a vast “lunar delivery process”–but that exploration and adventure in space is humanity’s destiny.
About Travis S. Taylor
“[E]xplodes with inventive action.— Publishers Weekly on Travis S. Taylor’s The Quantum Connection .
“[ Warp Speed ] reads like Doc Smith writing Robert Ludlum. . .You won’t want to put it down”—John Ringo
About Les
“. . . . Solar Sails. . . convincingly captures the history of. . .solar sails. . .for aerospace students and keen enthusiasts alike.”— Nature
The space race is back on. While NASA stages a fiftieth anniversary return to the Moon, a gritty private company puts together its own moonshot, complete with space tourists in tow. Across the globe, the Chinese are determined to arrive first this time. What’s more, they’ll do whatever it takes to win—including stealing every bit of American technology they can pilfer and hack. But just as politics and spectacle threaten to overshadow real accomplishment yet again, something goes horribly wrong on the lunar surface. Now the front-line troops, the astronauts themselves, must put aside the squabbles of others and take fate into their own hands. For it is time to prove that humans are not merely redundant cogs in a vast “lunar delivery process”–but that exploration and adventure in space is humanity’s destiny.
About Travis S. Taylor
“[E]xplodes with inventive action.— Publishers Weekly on Travis S. Taylor’s The Quantum Connection .
“[ Warp Speed ] reads like Doc Smith writing Robert Ludlum. . .You won’t want to put it down”—John Ringo
About Les
“. . . . Solar Sails. . . convincingly captures the history of. . .solar sails. . .for aerospace students and keen enthusiasts alike.”— Nature
393 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
13 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
Travis S. Taylor
54 books224 followersTravis Shane Taylor is a born and bred southerner and resides just outside Huntsville, Alabama. He has a Doctorate in Optical Science and Engineering, a Master’s degree in Physics, a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, all from the University of Alabama in Huntsville; a Master’s degree in Astronomy from the Univ. of Western Sydney, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Alabama.
Dr. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He is currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space based beamed energy systems, future combat technologies and systems, and next generation space launch concepts. He is also involved with multiple MASINT, SIGINT, IMINT, and HUMINT concept studies.
He has published over 25 papers and the appendix on solar sailing in the 2nd edition of Deep Space Probes by Greg Matloff.
His first science fiction novel is, Warp Speed, and his second is The Quantum Connection published by Baen Publishing. He is also working on two different series with best-selling author John Ringo also by Baen Publishing. He has several other works of both fiction and nonfiction ongoing.
Travis is also a Black Belt martial artist, a private pilot, a SCUBA diver, races mountain and road bikes, competed in triathlons, and has been the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of several hard rock bands. He currently lives with his wife Karen, his daughter Kalista Jade, two dogs Stevie and Wesker, and his cat Kuro.
Dr. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past sixteen years. He is currently working on several advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space based beamed energy systems, future combat technologies and systems, and next generation space launch concepts. He is also involved with multiple MASINT, SIGINT, IMINT, and HUMINT concept studies.
He has published over 25 papers and the appendix on solar sailing in the 2nd edition of Deep Space Probes by Greg Matloff.
His first science fiction novel is, Warp Speed, and his second is The Quantum Connection published by Baen Publishing. He is also working on two different series with best-selling author John Ringo also by Baen Publishing. He has several other works of both fiction and nonfiction ongoing.
Travis is also a Black Belt martial artist, a private pilot, a SCUBA diver, races mountain and road bikes, competed in triathlons, and has been the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of several hard rock bands. He currently lives with his wife Karen, his daughter Kalista Jade, two dogs Stevie and Wesker, and his cat Kuro.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 2, 2025
This is a fantastic book for fans of Space Travel and Exploration. It really feels like the perfect blend of The Martian and For All Mankind.
First of all, the book is labeled as "Science Fiction" but it is so far into the "Hard Science Fiction" genre that it may as well be labeled as "realistic fiction". Everything in this book is very plausible, and both Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson have the knowledge and chops to prove it in the text without it becoming cumbersome.
This book also is perfectly thematic, as we are just about to return to the Moon in 2025/2026. Travis and Les show not only how NASA would react in situations, but also how private companies would. There is a private company that plays a pivotal role in the book, "Space Excursions", and that company could absolutely be replaced with "SpaceX" and it would be so realistic.
With any good Space Exploration story, many things go wrong in this book, and the authors do a great job of showing how to fix everything. They have several creative and unique ideas as well.
I also liked the themes about international politics and how the Chinese would react to the situations in the book, as well as how Private Companies can both work in tandem with NASA while also competing at the same time. Very practical ideas here!
Overall, I absolutely loved this book. If you're a fan of Hard Sci-Fi, space, and the possibilities of the future (and the present), then this is the book for you! 9.2 out of 10!
First of all, the book is labeled as "Science Fiction" but it is so far into the "Hard Science Fiction" genre that it may as well be labeled as "realistic fiction". Everything in this book is very plausible, and both Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson have the knowledge and chops to prove it in the text without it becoming cumbersome.
This book also is perfectly thematic, as we are just about to return to the Moon in 2025/2026. Travis and Les show not only how NASA would react in situations, but also how private companies would. There is a private company that plays a pivotal role in the book, "Space Excursions", and that company could absolutely be replaced with "SpaceX" and it would be so realistic.
With any good Space Exploration story, many things go wrong in this book, and the authors do a great job of showing how to fix everything. They have several creative and unique ideas as well.
I also liked the themes about international politics and how the Chinese would react to the situations in the book, as well as how Private Companies can both work in tandem with NASA while also competing at the same time. Very practical ideas here!
Overall, I absolutely loved this book. If you're a fan of Hard Sci-Fi, space, and the possibilities of the future (and the present), then this is the book for you! 9.2 out of 10!
March 6, 2019
This book is an account of a near future return to the moon, in which a private mission from the US, and government missions from the US and China, all reach the Moon within a short time of each other.
Having grown up during the Apollo era I have a soft spot for stories about trips to the Moon, so I'm giving this book four stars when perhaps it only deserves three. The story is fairly basic & pretty predictable, the writing adequate but not amazing. That said, I read it with great enjoyment, and will likely read it again some day.
Having grown up during the Apollo era I have a soft spot for stories about trips to the Moon, so I'm giving this book four stars when perhaps it only deserves three. The story is fairly basic & pretty predictable, the writing adequate but not amazing. That said, I read it with great enjoyment, and will likely read it again some day.
April 22, 2012
A secret Chinese mission to the Moon crashes, a commercial US spaceship hears its call for help, a NASA spaceship is sent to the rescue. This potentially dramatic SF storyline is buried in a shitstorm of axe grinding outrage at the treacherous way the Government has historically disemboweled the US space program and how NASA has screwed up its public relations. The jeremiad is also replete with utterly dry (and repetitive) technical discussions (many of which could be transcripts of Apollo-era exchanges), boring news conferences and business meetings described in eye glazing detail, pointless subplots that go nowhere (see: the Chinese spies)---and pervasive racism in the way the Chinese in general are demonized not only by being the providers of glitchy circuit boards and sabotaged software, but by fiendishly stealing plans and data from their scientific superiors in the good ol' US because, as events show, they plainly can't build properly working spacecraft of their own. Or construct a crew without an unstable Political Officer with a big gun. Wow, Yellow Peril, modern version!
Both of the authors are bona fide space scientists---which makes it disheartening to see how often in this story (meaning virtually every time) solutions to crises involve either a swift boot, or a simple reboot. Not much ingenuity or imagination on display there, guys.
Both of the authors are bona fide space scientists---which makes it disheartening to see how often in this story (meaning virtually every time) solutions to crises involve either a swift boot, or a simple reboot. Not much ingenuity or imagination on display there, guys.
August 26, 2014
China has secretly gone to the Moon, but are in trouble and need rescuing! It sounds like a smaller, earlier version of The Martian. So I gave it a shot.
Ugh. This is awful. I abandoned it after four chapters. It reads like competent-men SF from the fifties, yet is only four years old. The characters? Here's Bill:
Here's Millie:
Seriously, Millie the secretary?
Then there are the long rants at NASA, for making space travel boring. Legitimate gripe? Oh yes. Do you want to spend time with folks continually making said gripe? I don't.
After four chapters, I checked out some reviews, to see if this got any better. What I found was that the characterization became even worse once the Chinese showed up, and the rants at NASA continued.
Remember, kids, life is too short to waste it on bad books.
Ugh. This is awful. I abandoned it after four chapters. It reads like competent-men SF from the fifties, yet is only four years old. The characters? Here's Bill:
Bill rose from his chair and strode to the table, the alpha male in the room by the way he carried himself and his purposeful stride to the chair adjacent to the one Carlton had just occupied.
Here's Millie:
She had been Stetson's secretary, or, to be politically correct, his management support assistant, for almost five years.
Seriously, Millie the secretary?
Then there are the long rants at NASA, for making space travel boring. Legitimate gripe? Oh yes. Do you want to spend time with folks continually making said gripe? I don't.
After four chapters, I checked out some reviews, to see if this got any better. What I found was that the characterization became even worse once the Chinese showed up, and the rants at NASA continued.
Remember, kids, life is too short to waste it on bad books.
September 29, 2012
Not half bad. Far better written than his Tau Ceti books. He did have a little bit of ax grinding to do about NASA, but really, for the most point he kept that to the afterword. And even there he didn't pick on NASA as much as he did the politicians involved--probably with justification.
February 17, 2018
When I was younger, some of my favorite science fiction books were Robert Heinlein's "juveniles" series for Charles Scribner. Those stories and a number of Heinlein's short stories in his "future history" series were all set inside our solar system. They dealt with what were at the time science fiction ideas of space stations and trips to the moon, things that later became reality. They also dealt with ideas that have yet to come to pass, such as moonbases and manned travel to other planets in the solar system, as well as ideas which have been proven wrong or unlikely by later exploration, such as life on Venus or advanced civilizations on Mars.
Back to the Moon, by NASA scientists Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson, brings to mind some of those old Heinlein juveniles, following in that author's path of accurate scientific descriptions and real-world feel of the technology and situations. Heinlein, in writing for younger readers, didn't varnish his style a great deal, nor did he spend a lot of time adding depth to his characters. Neither do Taylor and Johnson -- the lead character is a stalwart astronaut named Bill Stetson, fer cryin' out loud -- and they don't display half of Heinlein's style and skill even though they're not writing for a younger crowd.
But those things aide, Back to the Moon is still a fun romp, a just-the-facts-ma'am kind of story about events surrounding the United States' first manned mission to the moon since Apollo 17 left in 1972. The time frame seems to be the early 2020s and relies on the now-canceled Constellation program as the basis for the U.S. effort. The manned mission is only months off when a private company also launches a flight to the moon, although this one is just a flyby carrying wealthy tourists. The tourists, though, catch a distress signal from a wrecked Chinese moon mission. What had been announced as a robotic test flight had actually carried a crew and is now stranded on the moon's surface. Stetson convinces his NASA superiors to scramble his planned flight for an immediate launch to rescue the stranded Chinese crew. But will the glitches shown in test flights mean his ship can't reach the moon? And will the Chinese crew, facing political pressure from a system that would rather have a failure on its own than success with help, actually go through with the rescue?
Taylor and Johnson move us through the mostly predictable plot with an engineer's straightforward prose -- no frills and not a lot of flavor. The appeal is in watching tried-and-true heroes do tried-and-true heroic things and seeing resourceful quick thinkers solve the problems that come their way quickly and resourcefully. Back is also fun because it uses recognizable and plausible technology instead of way-out stuff like warp drives and hyperspace jumps that are far beyond anything current science can manage.
Of course, a moon landing in the early 2020s is also far beyond anything current NASA technology can manage. In an afterward, Taylor describes how bipartisan presidential and congressional indifference starting with the Nixon administration starved the space agency of funds, requiring it to put off spacecraft development time and time again in order to keep what it had running. That culminated in the current administration's myopic ending of manned U.S. spaceflight, it being one of the very few things that the president and congressional leadership didn't want to spend money on. Both the possible Chinese moon mission and spaceflight by private corporations could happen within Back to the Moon's timeframe, but the idea that there would be a NASA mission waiting in the wings could not.
Taylor and Johnson offer a clue about what they probably think the solution is, as their privately-owned spacecraft and its wealthy owner play important roles at crucial points in the story. Private enterprise and free-market forces may or may not be the actual future of humanity's presence in space, but at least betting on them takes the matter out of the hands of people who ask whether or not additional soldiers on an island might make it capsize.
Original available here.
Back to the Moon, by NASA scientists Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson, brings to mind some of those old Heinlein juveniles, following in that author's path of accurate scientific descriptions and real-world feel of the technology and situations. Heinlein, in writing for younger readers, didn't varnish his style a great deal, nor did he spend a lot of time adding depth to his characters. Neither do Taylor and Johnson -- the lead character is a stalwart astronaut named Bill Stetson, fer cryin' out loud -- and they don't display half of Heinlein's style and skill even though they're not writing for a younger crowd.
But those things aide, Back to the Moon is still a fun romp, a just-the-facts-ma'am kind of story about events surrounding the United States' first manned mission to the moon since Apollo 17 left in 1972. The time frame seems to be the early 2020s and relies on the now-canceled Constellation program as the basis for the U.S. effort. The manned mission is only months off when a private company also launches a flight to the moon, although this one is just a flyby carrying wealthy tourists. The tourists, though, catch a distress signal from a wrecked Chinese moon mission. What had been announced as a robotic test flight had actually carried a crew and is now stranded on the moon's surface. Stetson convinces his NASA superiors to scramble his planned flight for an immediate launch to rescue the stranded Chinese crew. But will the glitches shown in test flights mean his ship can't reach the moon? And will the Chinese crew, facing political pressure from a system that would rather have a failure on its own than success with help, actually go through with the rescue?
Taylor and Johnson move us through the mostly predictable plot with an engineer's straightforward prose -- no frills and not a lot of flavor. The appeal is in watching tried-and-true heroes do tried-and-true heroic things and seeing resourceful quick thinkers solve the problems that come their way quickly and resourcefully. Back is also fun because it uses recognizable and plausible technology instead of way-out stuff like warp drives and hyperspace jumps that are far beyond anything current science can manage.
Of course, a moon landing in the early 2020s is also far beyond anything current NASA technology can manage. In an afterward, Taylor describes how bipartisan presidential and congressional indifference starting with the Nixon administration starved the space agency of funds, requiring it to put off spacecraft development time and time again in order to keep what it had running. That culminated in the current administration's myopic ending of manned U.S. spaceflight, it being one of the very few things that the president and congressional leadership didn't want to spend money on. Both the possible Chinese moon mission and spaceflight by private corporations could happen within Back to the Moon's timeframe, but the idea that there would be a NASA mission waiting in the wings could not.
Taylor and Johnson offer a clue about what they probably think the solution is, as their privately-owned spacecraft and its wealthy owner play important roles at crucial points in the story. Private enterprise and free-market forces may or may not be the actual future of humanity's presence in space, but at least betting on them takes the matter out of the hands of people who ask whether or not additional soldiers on an island might make it capsize.
Original available here.
February 11, 2019
Space is dangerous but worth the effort
SPACE travel is dangerous but worth the risk.
SPACE travel is dangerous but worth the risk.
February 6, 2012
This is a refreshing novel that helped me gain more interest in reading science fiction. The story is interesting and the events are believable. The characters are easy to enjoy. I liked this book and hope it becomes a movie some day. Les and Travis did a wonderful job on this and I will be waiting for the sequel to come out.
January 1, 2012
A must read for fans of Travis S. Taylor and/or Les Johnson. This space thriller is set in the near future and tells the tale of a very possible race to return Man to the Moon.
December 2, 2014
Fictional nationalistic tale about NASA and a private company going back to the moon at long last. Chinese steal plans and crash on the moon and NASA saves them and the provate company saves NASA!
Read
November 24, 2015I didn't read this book. Goodreads bookshelf edits are hard to edit.
February 3, 2025
Good near future thriller, which turns into a rescue mission. The science seems very authentic. I believe the two authors both work in the space program. There's also an afterword about the best way to move forward with NASA and get back to the moon. It's all Obama's fault that we stopped, apparently. "Been there."
July 2, 2025
My god this is terrible. Has any human being ever talked like any of these robots? And these cringey infodumps masquerading as character beats are making me experience second-hand embarrassment. I’d say this sounds as if it were written by ChatGPT, but I suspect the LLM would’ve stolen from better writers.
February 19, 2020
Too much Yellow Peril and complaining about NASA to be really enjoyable.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
January 9, 2021
Taylor and Johnson have turned out a good hard science fiction tale; plenty of action with some nice twists.
March 27, 2011
The story is set in the 2020s. NASA is finally returning to the Moon using the (now canceled) Orion/Altair hardware. Meanwhile, a private company is sending tourists around the Moon and the Chinese are up to something. The first mission back to the Moon turns in to a daring rescue.
I’m a big space program buff so I’m a sucker for this kind of book. The story itself is a decent adventure/thriller. The engineering is well described, as would be expected since Dr. Taylor works with NASA Huntsville and Les Johnson is a NASA physicist. Unfortunately the prose is quite stilted, especially during the first third. The characters are stereotypes, especially the Chinese. Unfortunately the Chinese are also the wrong stereotype. They feel like reruns of Cold War era Soviets with a dash of “Asian” thrown in. The story does pick up in the second half and there are some nice thrills for the space buff. If you aren’t interested in the space program particularly you should give this a pass. It isn’t a bad book per se but could have used an author with a smoother prose style.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=171
I’m a big space program buff so I’m a sucker for this kind of book. The story itself is a decent adventure/thriller. The engineering is well described, as would be expected since Dr. Taylor works with NASA Huntsville and Les Johnson is a NASA physicist. Unfortunately the prose is quite stilted, especially during the first third. The characters are stereotypes, especially the Chinese. Unfortunately the Chinese are also the wrong stereotype. They feel like reruns of Cold War era Soviets with a dash of “Asian” thrown in. The story does pick up in the second half and there are some nice thrills for the space buff. If you aren’t interested in the space program particularly you should give this a pass. It isn’t a bad book per se but could have used an author with a smoother prose style.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=171
August 16, 2011
Technically profound - every detail about how a space mission takes place in the modern day is captured wonderfully. But I was not at all impressed with the other stuff, the real stuff that makes a book worth reading. No good story, under developed characters and details of the political ramifications because of the incident
February 7, 2023
Wow---another book that I didn't review when I read it. As I remember this was a pretty typical SF adventure. A skeleton crew of U.S. astronauts attempting to rescue a Chinese crew from the moon. I believe I bought this from the author at a book festival and he did autograph it for me. The story was just not a standout.
Read
May 6, 2015Need to go!!
Great story that has huge implications for the U.S. Based on factual information, our space program has been and could again be something to make us proud and increase the intelligence of our nation.
Great story that has huge implications for the U.S. Based on factual information, our space program has been and could again be something to make us proud and increase the intelligence of our nation.
October 3, 2012
A good story, but clearly written by scientists and not sci-fi writers.
April 22, 2014
The title says it all. Lots of drama and the added situation that the Chinese have set out to beat the US of A. Can't let that happen can we?
April 15, 2016
The authors know their space technology. But they are just so-so novelists.
September 6, 2016
This is my only third hard sci-fi after The Martian and I'm so lovin' it!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews