Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

ISBN-13: 9781324036050

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Norton W. W. & Company Inc.

Publication Date: 10-04-2022

Pages: 352

Product Dimensions: 8.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.90(d)

Mary Roach is the author of five best-selling works of nonfiction, including Grunt, Stiff, and, most recently, Fuzz. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine, among other publications. She lives in Oakland, California.

Table of Contents

Countdown 15

1 He's Smart But His Birds are Sloppy 21

Japan Picks an Astronaut

2 Life in a Box 41

The Perilous Psychology of Isolation and Confinement

3 Star Crazy 63

Can Space Blow Your Mind?

4 You Go First 79

The Alarming Prospect of Life Without Gravity

5 Unstowed 95

Escaping Gravity on Board NASA's C-9

6 Throwing up and Down 107

The Astronaut's Secret Misery

7 The Cadaver in the Space Capsule 129

NASA Visits the Crash Test Lab

8 One Furry Step for Mankind 149

The Strange Careers of Ham and Enos

9 Next Gas: 200,000 Miles 173

Planning a Moon Expedition Is Tough, but Not as Tough as Planning a Simulated One

10 Houston, We have a Fungus 191

Space Hygiene and the Men Who Stopped Bathing for Science

11 The Horizontal Stuff 209

What If You Never Got Out of Bed?

12 The Three-Dolphin Club 229

Mating Without Gravity

13 Withering Heights 247

Bailing Out from Space

14 Separation Anxiety 265

The Continuing Saga of Zero-Gravity Elimination

15 Discomfort Food 285

When Veterinarians Make Dinner, and Other Tales of Woe from Aerospace Test Kitchens

16 Eating Your Pants 307

Is Mars Worth It?

Acknowledgments 319

Timeline 323

Bibliography 325