How is it another month already? It's time for me to take another trip into the Hobbit Library and see what I can find for this month's book. Wait a minute... I know the perfect one! Let me remember what the book is about.
Space Odyssey: A Voyage to the Planets is a book that was published to work alongside a TV series... whatever that is and is basically a diary of a manned mission to the planets in the Solar System. This is one of my favourite books as I love the stars and planets. We do have stars in the Shire before you ask. I just don't know if they are the same all over the world or not.
The one thing that sucked me into the book in the first place was the premise of a manned voyage to the planets of the Solar System. A manned voyage sounds unthinkable and, yet, in this TV series and book it happened. It was funny in parts and sad in others, but an enjoyable read.
I loved the way the book was split up into parts of the journey. There was a Venus chapter, a Mars one, and even one about travelling very close to the sun. Jupiter and Saturn have their own chapters and so does the planet Pluto before landing on a comet and finally, heading home to Earth.
Tom Kirby is the Commander and I cannot begin to think about how much pressure he must have felt the whole time. He was the Commander and the main contact between the Pegasus ship and Mission Control on Earth. Yvan Grigorev is the engineer and the main one in charge of keeping Pegasus running. John Pearson is the onboard doctor and he helps monitor crew health and works with Claire Granier, the onground medic, back at Mission Control. Rounding up the crew are geologist Zoe Lessard and exobiologist Nina Sulman. I really did come to appreciate their work and how they worked together, just the five of them, in the vast emptiness of space. Between the landings must have been the worst as they weren't able to do too much. But there would have been nothing to excite them until they got closer to their destination.
The book is basically one big diary that covers everyone's time on the mission. I loved that each chapter had a section based on actual research from the various robots and landers that visited the planets already. The introduction to each chapter is written by Alex Lloyd, the Chief Scientist, and I loved that because it gave an insight into things at Mission Control, linking the five souls in space back to mission control on Earth.
I haven't quite finished the book but I had to stop and think about the plot of this book. A manned mission to the planets is no means easy and that is saying something. The whole idea of the book is fictional, but it felt so real... as if I was there seeing it all with my own eyes and that takes something indeed. The power of a book should never be taken for granted.
Now, with that, I'm going to get back to the last few chapters of the book as I'm enjoying this and must know how it ends. Now if all goes to plan, Cissarose will be back next month.
Lots of love,
Ellieanarose xx
