The Return by Buzz Aldrin

The Return by Buzz Aldrin

On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin, along with crewmate Neil Armstrong, made history as they placed humankind's first steps on the moon.

Now, in The Return, written by award winning novelist John Barnes, Aldrin offers a compelling novel about the opportunities and dangers that confront us today-and shows why we must, and will, seize the challenges before us.

When a tragic Shuttle accident kills a world-famous basketball player on his trip into space, a trip that had been planned as a PR coup for the space program, former astronaut Scott Blackstone is out of a job. Worse, he and his "Citizen Observer" program are vilified in the media, and he's being sued for a billion dollars. His older brother, Nick, research chief for a major aerospace firm, persuades Scott's estranged ex-wife, Thalia-a top-ranked attorney-to take on Scott's defense. Gradually, it begins to appear that the "accident" might not have been an accident at all.

Meanwhile, as long feared, India and Pakistan go to war-and, worse, Pakistan deploys a nuclear device high in the upper atmosphere, putting the crew of the orbiting International Space Station in iminent danger of destruction by radiation exposure. While the world's space vehicles are grounded by the radiation storm set off by the detonation, only a few weeks remain to rescue the crew, and there's no known way to do it. Save, perhaps, for a secret project of Nick's...

The Return is a story of outsized characters, global crises, and big, daring ideas...and-as told by Buzz Aldrin-it carries a ring of truth. He's been there. He's done that. And he's already helped change the world.

BUZZ ALDRIN is an outspoken supporter of the ongoing effort to explore the frontiers of space. Aldrin has a vision, and in this book he sketches out the road he recommends into an extraordinary future. As a pioneering astronaut who first set foot on the lunar during mankind's first landing of Apollo 11--and as a rocket scientist who created the orbital rendezvous technology vital to America's moon landings and the Aldrin Mars Cycler--Aldrin has a vision. MARIANNE DYSON is a former NASA flight controller and award-winning author. She holds a physics degree and was one of NASA's first female flight controllers during the Space Shuttle program's early years. For her children's books, she has received the Golden Kite Prize and the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award.

Her adult and children's scientific essays and science fiction stories have featured in national journals and anthologies. She has worked for Scholastic, Enslow, and National Geographic as a technical reviewer.