Mars 1999 by Brian O'Leary

by Brian O'Leary

Suggests an approach to a joint U.S.-Soviet manned mission to Mars, discusses the goals of such a mission, and describes the obstacles that must be overcome

Genres: Space

Hardcover

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brian O'Leary was among NASA's first class of scientist-astronauts chosen in 1967. He joined specifically hoping to be assigned to a future Mars program. His astronaut class was assigned to the Apollo Applications Program (which was later rolled into Skylab).

O'Leary quit the astronaut corps just a year later in disillusion, after it became apparent to him that a manned Mars program was not a priority for US lawmakers.

Mars 1999 was O'Leary's late-1980s proposal for a joint US-Soviet manned Mars program, which predates a similar proposal by Michael Collins (Mission to Mars).

The proposal itself is reasonable enough on the surface. What undermines his presentation, however, is his ego, which puts him in the center of this scenario.

Years after leaving NASA in disappointment, O'Leary clearly had not set aside his personal desire to go to Mars. Here, he floats a scenario in which he commands the first Mars landing mission--along with taking the first steps and thereby making history--and it puts a turd in this punch bowl.

I guess the real proposal of this book was for O'Leary, specifically, to go to Mars.

He could have made a credible proposal for a program of future exploration that was inclusive and broad, but instead he made it about himself. That leaves this book with a strange mix of virtues and irredeemable flaws, probably no different from the author himself.

[Jesse Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first when I started reading this book I thought it this was an actual serious proposal and in some ways I feel as though it was even though it obviously never happened. The idea of the project isn't horrible but I do agree in the world climate (in 1987) it could not be done, I would absolutely say even in our current climate odds of a project like this getting past the idea phase is slim to none.

When you start this book he gives a timeline of events leading up to 1999 and even going as far as 2020 which when you read the event descriptions honestly should make you chuckle a bit at the sheer imagination and optimism of the outlined trip to Mars and the following events in 2020 which are labeled something like "world government has been established and telepathic communication with extraterrestrials has been discovered" the ideas he throws into this book about the trip to mars are actually not that out of the world, the spacecraft are down to earth and honestly given enough resources they would be viable options. Would we spend an awful amount of money and resources on it? Yes we would but it's not out of the realm of impossible, physically speaking anyways.

Now about his scenarios, I actually enjoyed them, taking a break between chapters talking about the proposal and plans it was a nice change of pace and it Sparks the imagination about a human landing on Mars or space travel to Mars. I can tell he's taken a lot of inspiration from 2010 a space Odyssey when it comes to some fictional scenes he describes, especially the aerobraking maneuver. However it's obvious that the character in the book is a self insert, but that doesn't bother me too much.

Overall I enjoyed this read, the sheer optimism and faith in humanity this man shared in his book can really up your spirit and give you a bit of hope for the future, or help you at least peer into that mindset. His views on a common government and togetherness with nations around the world for a common goal are inspiring. If more people thought this way the world might be a better place.