Lost in Space : The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age

Rating:
Summary: Capitalizing on Columbia
Review: When I purchased this book, I expected another viewpoint on the NASA culture that contributed to the Columbia accident. This is not that type of book. I suspect that this book was in the works well before 01 February 2003. The timing of the book's publication, however, was not an accident.

Mr. Klerkx has an ax to grind. In summary, the book is pro-private rocket launches, pro-space tourism, and pro-manned Mars mission. Which means the book uses 355 pages to show how NASA is not the proper government agency to sponsor and support such activities. Some very neat parallels are drawn between the early commercial aviation industry and the X Prize and SpaceShipOne. Unfortunately, the story always comes back around to bashing NASA, its current and recent leadership, and the current presidential administration.

Read this book only if you want to see some NASA bashing. If you want to learn about private efforts to reach space and the effort to prepare for manned travel to Mars, find a different book.