The Martian Race

When the rocket launching the Mars Transit Vehicle into orbit explodes on the launch pad, killing four crewmen, the President announces the U.S. will redirect its energies to near-Earth projects. The mission to Mars is dead. Until billionaire J. Axelrod steps in to fund the project. Although the risks are high, Julia and other astronauts sign on. But these new pioneers are not alone, a European-Chinese airbus will be making a similar expedition. Now the race is on to get to the fourth planet first and make history. Both teams reach the red planet, but with disastrous results. Will they return to earth at all?

Gregory Benford is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine; a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a fellow at Cambridge University; and an adviser to the Department of Energy, NASA, and the White House Council on Space Policy.