Challenges of Human Space Exploration Paperback – July 26, 2000

Healthy mix of history and scientific information.Very detailed scientific account of Mir's story, that couldn't be found anywhere else.

The title of this book is very misleading. It does not examine the "Challenges of Human Space Exploration," but presents the research conducted on the MIR by US researchers using NASA astronauts on the Russian built MIR Space Station. In spite of the misleading title, I found this book to a good addition to my collection of books on the space program.Unlike the book Dragonfly by Bryan Burrough, which presents the ugly, but real side, of the Shuttle/MIR missions, this book examines the research conducted by NASA astronauts on the MIR for various researchers and research organizations. In addition, many of the results and their use for Earth based applications are presented.The book opens with two preliminary chapters. The first chapter examines the Skylab program and the results of the experiments conducted onboard this space station. The second chapter deals with the MIR space station, what the Russians learned and Shuttle-MIR partnership. The next few chapters dealt with the experiments that were conducted by the NASA astronauts which focused on a variety of life sciences experiments such as, plant growth, protein crystal growth, and the bioreactor (cell tissue growth). The final two chapters summarize the lessons learned from MIR and how these lessons learned are being applied to the International Space Station.This book gave me a new perspective of the Shuttle-MIR missions that I have not seen elsewhere (and I work for NASA) and pointed out the many positive benefits from this space program. For example, several spin-offs, such a portable heart difibulator, have already made their way to the marketplace. Furthermore, rapid advances have been made in many areas of medical research, such as diabetes and cancer research.While the sections devoted to the positive aspects of the research were extremely interesting, I did, however, find the lessons learned chapter quite disturbing, but interesting in its own right. It seems that while NASA spent millions of dollars and many man hours on research facilities and operations training, very little if any effort was devoted to the psychological problems that could develop in such a closed, isolated and culturally different environment. It seems that at least some the criticism that this NASA program has received is clearly justified.While this book may not before everyone, it definitely was a refreshing change from other more critical books written about the Shuttle-MIR program. It should make you realize that the Shuttle-MIR program has and will have some important benefits to mankind and that is was not just another pork barrel government project.