NASA fiction?

[Lindley]

I just finished reading Final Orbit by S.V. Date. It's a fictional tale of politics, intrigue, and murder at NASA circa 1997. It's really quite a good story....and given Columbia's actual fate a few years later, it's bizarrely prescient in a few ways.

I was wondering if there's other fiction or science fiction out there focusing on the current or near-future space program that's worth reading. I know there's stuff like Clarke's A Time Odyssey which involves an ISS crew peripherally, but I'm looking for stories which examine current spaceflight more centrally.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mistral]

John Nance. Orbit. Its about a guy who wins a trip on an orbiter(shuttle) and then some rather bad things happen. Great read-I hear its been optioned for a movie.

Also, try Allen Steele's early work. Clark County, Space. Lunar Decay, etc.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

It takes place in the past actually, but Stephen Baxter's "Voyage" explores an alternate history in which NASA decides to scrap the development of a Space shuttle in favour of a manned Mars program after the moon landings.

 

[Rii]

It takes place in the past actually, but Stephen Baxter's "Voyage" explores an alternate history in which NASA decides to scrap the development of a Space shuttle in favour of a manned Mars program after the moon landings.

Also, Titan by the same author.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

I know you said current, but you should also consider the films "Capricorn One", and the NBC made for TV movie "Hangar 18".

 

[FredH]

Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Freefall. Espionage action-adventure, murder on the ISS, secret military space programs. Fun book; part of a series, but stands on its own.

 

[firehawk12]

Given that I just finished it, even though it's anime, I'd recommend the first half of Planetes.

It's not about a space program per se, but about a bunch of people working for a space corporation as orbital garbage men.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It takes place in the past actually, but Stephen Baxter's "Voyage" explores an alternate history in which NASA decides to scrap the development of a Space shuttle in favour of a manned Mars program after the moon landings.

Also, Titan by the same author.

And what an unremittingly depressing novel that is, too. Wow. Don't misunderstand. Titan is very good. But it's also bleak. Reviews of Titan were harsh, largely because of the book's bleakness.

Baxter also wrote Moonseed, which features NASA to some extent.

James Michener's Space is worth seeking out.

Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes. It's a little bit ancient astronauts, a little bit near-future NASA. The writing could be a lot better (the narrative style doesn't work; it puts the interesting characters and events off-stage far too often), but the ideas are solid and dazzling.

I hesitate to recommend James P. Hogan's work now that he's gone batshit insane, but his Giants books (the original trilogy, anyway) have a nice view of near-future NASA.

And this will take some hunting. Fellow Traveler by William Barton and Michael Capabianco. It's near-future Russian space exploration. If you can find it, get it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There was a TV miniseries, I can't remember the title, but it presented the first manned mission to Mars - but as a realistic documentary. Think Apollo 13 but with Mars instead. Does anyone else remember this?

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Yep, that was Discovery Channel. So too was "Journey to the Planets", which IMO was an awesome if farfetched look at one crew's trip through the solar system.

And don't forget "The Cape"! Good looking astronauts, good looking shuttles, ten THOUSAND missions in a single season!

Mark

 

[diankra]

It takes place in the past actually, but Stephen Baxter's "Voyage" explores an alternate history in which NASA decides to scrap the development of a Space shuttle in favour of a manned Mars program after the moon landings.

Also, Titan by the same author.

Which is almost horrifically prescient about Columbia - six months out on its dating, to Steve's horror after the event. Though in his version, most of the crew get to bail out.

PPS: The radio adaptation of Voyage is re-running this week on BBC radio 7, and should be available on the listen again option at www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7, unless there's a firewall keeping out people outside the UK.

For NASA fiction though, Baxter's Voyage, Tian and Moonseed are as good as you can get. Even if you know your spaceflight history to realize quite how much of the dailogue is direct quotes from mission control transcripts translated to fictional, but similar, situations.

 

[Mistral]

One I forgot-The "High Justice" books by Jerry Pournelle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Justice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exiles_to_Glory

 

[Colonel Green]

I was wondering if there's other fiction or science fiction out there focusing on the current or near-future space program that's worth reading.

What, the "moon landing" wasn't enough for you?!

 

[firehawk12]

I was wondering if there's other fiction or science fiction out there focusing on the current or near-future space program that's worth reading.

What, the "moon landing" wasn't enough for you?!

Speaking of which:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Moon_(documentary)

Now that's a great film.