Voyage (Stephen Baxter)
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| Author | Stephen Baxter |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Voyager Books (UK) |
| Released | 21 November 1996 |
Voyage is a 1996 hard science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter. The book depicts a manned mission to Mars as it might have been in another future where John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt on him in 1963.
The book is a part of what is known as the "NASA trilogy" (consisting of Voyage, Titan, and Moonseed) in which Stephen Baxter explores what might have become of the American space program if certain circumstances had been different. Voyage won a Sidewise Award for Alternate History.
[edit] Plot summary
- Voyage takes place in a world that almost existed but never was. John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt in Dallas. From his wheelchair in 1969, the former president sets NASA a new, daunting challenge: '... to continue the building of our great ships, and fly them onwards to Mars.'
- His voice carries beyond the clamour of military and industrial lobbies keen to develop the Space Shuttle. Instead, Apollo flights continue, boosted by Wernher von Braun's cherished nuclear rocket. Both are high-risk technologies...
- When the first Ares mission lifts off for Mars in 1986, it is both a triumphant climax and the end of a long saga of technical and human over-ambition. Ares carries three dedicated people, one of them a woman, who have sacrificed everything to achieve the single goal of reaching another planet: their stories weave through a decade of political drama leading to the transfiguring experience of a year-long journey away from Earth.
- — Voyage book summary
The novel is written with two tracks, one following the Ares mission to Mars, and one following primarily Natalie York in her struggle towards becoming an astronaut, but also other people preparing for the mission.
[edit] Characters in "Voyage"
- Natalie York: A geologist training to become an astronaut. She is aboard the Mars Mission
- Phil Stone: 'Ares' Mars Mission Commander
- Ralf Gershon: MEM (Mars Excursion Module) Pilot
- Ben Priest: York's love interest and fellow astronaut
- Gregory Dana: Rocket Scientist and Nazi camp survivor
- Lee(JK): Director of Columbia Aviation
- Hans Udet: NASA director of the Mars project, his character is based on Arthur Rudolph.
| Books by Stephen Baxter (edit) |
|---|
| Xeelee Sequence: Raft - Timelike Infinity - Flux - Ring - Vacuum Diagrams - Reality Dust - Riding the Rock |
| Destiny's Children Series: Coalescent - Exultant - Transcendent - Resplendent |
| Manifold Trilogy: Time - Space - Origin - Phase Space |
| The Mammoth Trilogy: Silverhair - Longtusk - Icebones |
| A Time Odyssey Series: Time's Eye - Sunstorm - Firstborn |
| The Web Series: Gulliverzone - Webcrash |
| Time's Tapestry Series: Emperor - Conqueror |
| Others: Anti-Ice - The Time Ships - Voyage - Titan - Moonseed - The Light of Other Days - Traces - Evolution |
| Non-fiction: Deep Future - Omegatropic - Ages in Chaos |
