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Moonsafe Red
The scene: The Moon, AD 2104
The disaster: Space liner Morning Star, en route for Mars with a hundred passengers aboard, loses control and crashes in the Moon's rugged Southern Highlands, killing all but a handful of her occupants.
The people: Fourteen men and women, trapped aboard the ship with no apparent means of escape.
Mike Baron, engineer and ex-spacefarer, who assumes responsibility for his fellow survivors; safety.
Martin van Kessel, Chief Engineer of the Moon, who must find the Morning Star and rescue the survivors.
The problem: The rescuers are engaged in a desperate race against time, before a looming catastrophe threatens to destroy them all.
The disaster: Space liner Morning Star, en route for Mars with a hundred passengers aboard, loses control and crashes in the Moon's rugged Southern Highlands, killing all but a handful of her occupants.
The people: Fourteen men and women, trapped aboard the ship with no apparent means of escape.
Mike Baron, engineer and ex-spacefarer, who assumes responsibility for his fellow survivors; safety.
Martin van Kessel, Chief Engineer of the Moon, who must find the Morning Star and rescue the survivors.
The problem: The rescuers are engaged in a desperate race against time, before a looming catastrophe threatens to destroy them all.
232 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2017
2 people want to read
About the author
Neil M. Haggath
1 book2 followersI'm not quite as old as the Space Age, but I grew up with it! I was born a few months after Yuri Gagarin's flight, and was seven years old when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. I followed the Apollo programme avidly as a kid, and the resultant fascination with spaceflight has never left me. In recent years, I've had the immense honour and privilege of meeting seven of the Apollo astronauts, including two of those who landed on the Moon and two of the heroes of Apollo 13.
I have a degree in astrophysics ( Leeds University, 1983 ), but my profession is far more mundane - I'm a freelance software engineer.
I'm an amateur astronomer, and an avid eclipse chaser. I've travelled to six total solar eclipses, four of them successfully observed, in places as far-flung as the USA, China and Australia. I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1993.
I'm also now a published writer on astronomy; I'm contracted to write an annual feature for the highly respected Yearbook of Astronomy, which was edited for many years by the late Sir Patrick Moore.
I have a degree in astrophysics ( Leeds University, 1983 ), but my profession is far more mundane - I'm a freelance software engineer.
I'm an amateur astronomer, and an avid eclipse chaser. I've travelled to six total solar eclipses, four of them successfully observed, in places as far-flung as the USA, China and Australia. I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1993.
I'm also now a published writer on astronomy; I'm contracted to write an annual feature for the highly respected Yearbook of Astronomy, which was edited for many years by the late Sir Patrick Moore.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 11, 2017
For a first novel, this is an incredible book. Quite the page turner, with a consuming plot. A passenger space ship crash landing on the moon, and a race against time to save the people on board. Well worth a read. Contains a few nod's back to Arthur C. Clarke's novels set in similar settings, but a story all it's own. It is self published so needs to obtained from the author http://www.spaceandsanity.com/moonsaf...
September 16, 2017
Moonsafe Red takes us to a future Moon in the 22nd Century, when thousands of people inhabit our nearest planetary neighbour. There is a city, and research stations abound. The inhabitants, many born there, are referred to as Selenites, from Selene, the Goddess of the Moon.
A spaceship leaves the Moon bound for Mars, but crashes on the Moon shortly after take-off. The narrative describes the desperate race against time to rescue the survivors. The author's obvious broad knowledge of the Moon is evident from the first chapter. He paints a picture of the Moon that harks back to the days of Apollo and humankind's first steps on another planetary body.
The fast paced action takes a group of engineers from the central region of the Moon to Tycho crater in the Southern Highlands. From this base, specialist lunar vehicles carry passengers and equipment to the crash site. The author's natural descriptive ability takes the reader along for an exciting ride. The final rescue is breathtaking, with an ingenious conclusion. This first novel by the author is a real page turner, and it leaves me wanting to go there.
A spaceship leaves the Moon bound for Mars, but crashes on the Moon shortly after take-off. The narrative describes the desperate race against time to rescue the survivors. The author's obvious broad knowledge of the Moon is evident from the first chapter. He paints a picture of the Moon that harks back to the days of Apollo and humankind's first steps on another planetary body.
The fast paced action takes a group of engineers from the central region of the Moon to Tycho crater in the Southern Highlands. From this base, specialist lunar vehicles carry passengers and equipment to the crash site. The author's natural descriptive ability takes the reader along for an exciting ride. The final rescue is breathtaking, with an ingenious conclusion. This first novel by the author is a real page turner, and it leaves me wanting to go there.
July 20, 2018
Full disclosure - I'm the author's Dad !!!
I don't normally read science fiction at all...in fact I'm not sure if I have ever read any... and I bought a copy of this book purely to support my son.
But when I came to read it, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and couldn't put it down! I found it to be an extremely gripping story and exceptionally well written, much more expertly written than many 'off the shelf' paperbacks which I have ploughed through for 60 pages or so then given up.
I was obviously fully aware of Neil's almost inexhaustible knowledge of astronomy, space travel and all associated topics and as I have virtually none I expected to be totally baffled, if not bored, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I understood virtually every word and could clearly visualize every scene.
One does not need to be a science fiction addict to enjoy this book. When I finished reading it I thought of it not as 'Science Fiction' but more like 'Science Future' i.e. something that could well have been fact had the US moon exploration project not been killed off in its prime.
Brian Haggath
I don't normally read science fiction at all...in fact I'm not sure if I have ever read any... and I bought a copy of this book purely to support my son.
But when I came to read it, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and couldn't put it down! I found it to be an extremely gripping story and exceptionally well written, much more expertly written than many 'off the shelf' paperbacks which I have ploughed through for 60 pages or so then given up.
I was obviously fully aware of Neil's almost inexhaustible knowledge of astronomy, space travel and all associated topics and as I have virtually none I expected to be totally baffled, if not bored, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I understood virtually every word and could clearly visualize every scene.
One does not need to be a science fiction addict to enjoy this book. When I finished reading it I thought of it not as 'Science Fiction' but more like 'Science Future' i.e. something that could well have been fact had the US moon exploration project not been killed off in its prime.
Brian Haggath
November 24, 2018
A stunning tour-de-force that doesn't let up in the action and is well executed.
A great read that gives you a real sense of the dangers of spaceflight close to and on the Moon in a fictional and factual setting. The author uses real lunar locations that the author, as an astronomer and Apollo exploration fan knows well and puts to great use, you can really visualise being on the moon as if you are part of the story.
Absolutely brilliant read, one of the best I have read for a long time and I agree with others, it was up there with ACC and Asimov!
Well done Neil, a rollicking good adventure which kept me reading over 2 nights and I couldn't put it down.
A great read that gives you a real sense of the dangers of spaceflight close to and on the Moon in a fictional and factual setting. The author uses real lunar locations that the author, as an astronomer and Apollo exploration fan knows well and puts to great use, you can really visualise being on the moon as if you are part of the story.
Absolutely brilliant read, one of the best I have read for a long time and I agree with others, it was up there with ACC and Asimov!
Well done Neil, a rollicking good adventure which kept me reading over 2 nights and I couldn't put it down.
January 17, 2020
Intelligently and well crafted book
The know ledge needed to write this then explain it in a way people can understand takes a special writer. The story flows with unexpected twists and turns that keeps you reading.
The know ledge needed to write this then explain it in a way people can understand takes a special writer. The story flows with unexpected twists and turns that keeps you reading.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews