Follow the author

Wernher Von Braun

+ Follow

More books from this author

Project MARS: A Technical Tale Paperback – December 1, 2006

by Dr. Wernher von Braun (Author)

4.4 25 ratings

See all formats and editions

This never-before-printed science fiction novel by the original "rocket man," Wernher von Braun, combines technical fact with a human story line in the way that only a true dreamer can realize. Encompassing the entire story of the journey, this novel moves from the original decision for a Mars mission, through the mission planning, the building of the mighty space ships, the journey, the amazing discoveries made on Mars, and the return home. The author's attention to the actions and feelings of the charactersboth those who went and those who stayed behindmakes this an adventure of human proportions, rather than merely another fanciful tale. This exclusive von Braun treasure comes complete with an appendix of his original technical drawings, made in the late 1940s, on which the story's plot is based.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Wernher von Braun was instrumental in developing Germany’s V-2 rocket during World War II. After the war, he emigrated to the United States and became a driving force behind America's space-launch vehicles. America's first satellite and the Apollo spacecraft that landed on the Moon were launched by rockets designed by von Braun. He is the author of The Mars Project.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Collector's Guide Publishing, Inc. (December 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0973820330
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0973820331
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4 x 0.5 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12,333 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #65,045 in Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 25 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Wernher Von Braun

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

25 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

A. A. Jackson

5 stars for the appendix!

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2007

Verified Purchase

This book probably ought to be subtitled THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC APPENDIX EVER PUBLISHED!
Well, its not the worst SF I have ever read, but its true I doubt if even in 1950 anyone would have published this in the US.
Strange, the preface is not signed, the translator wrote it? Anyway the preface does not mention that when von Braun submitted this to a German publisher the novel was rejected, but the publisher/editor, thought the Appendix was dynamite!

So that is how Das Marsprojekt, The Mars Project, the Colliers Series, the Disney Series and Exploration of Mars came to be. Possibly , the Colliers Series provided the lasting kick that got the Apollo program invented.

[...]

I notice a curious mix of Bonestell's in the book, some from Colliers and some from Exploration of Mars, not a good job referencing these paintings.

The 'Publisher's Introduction' seems ignorant or choose to neglect the fact that John Campbell and his boys (Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke......) had banished BEMS and Brass Bras to the realm of third string SF mags starting about 1938! Realistic scientifically accurate space flight SF was common currency in 1950.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Nedieh Red Nav

Amazing

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

Written in 1949 it’s amazing how much ahead of his time he was. In this book he writes of space travel, Hyperloops, advance genetic farming and many other things still only just coming out today.

If Kennedy didn’t stop the space programme and if there was more cooperation between governments and no cold wars we could be so much further in science now than where we are.

This book was published in 2006 but was written 56 years before it was published and yet we still haven’t moved forward on some of these aspects.

The huge amounts spent in warmongering by government if redirected to science could give us such a great place to live.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

JLawson

Great scientist... not so great author

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2006

Verified Purchase

It's not a BAD story... but this was definitely written by someone who didn't have English as their primary language, and didn't have a good editor to file down the jagged edges. Plus, the beginning of the book was very long-winded (not that was much of a problem, since it also includes a lot of technical explanation and hardware descriptions), the time on Mars was much less exhaustively described, and the return trip glossed over in a couple of pages. Uneven pacing, iffy editing... but yet I'm glad I got this and read it, and I WOULD recommend it. It does show just how complex the mind of Von Braun was, and it is, in my opinion, worth the money for that alone.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

HPK

Science and History intertwined

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2008

Verified Purchase

Wernher von Braun first worked for Hitler, then came to America and made our missions to the moon possible. A brilliant rocket scientist, von Braun must have had a lust for life like few others. Individuals well read in the physical sciences and in the history of WWII and its aftermath, will truly find this work of fiction a fascinating account of the workings of a genius mind.

Helpful

Jw G.

I really love this book

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

I bought this book for my son who is a geophysist and wants to go live on Mars. I was blown away by the info in this book. von Braun was some smart guy and I am still waiting on another book of his that is BO. I highly recommend this book

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Bpiano

Wonderful Pictures

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

My husband just loves this book and said the prints were better than he had expected. He was very pleased that he had ordered it.

Helpful

Terry S

Highly Rated, but Not for Everyone

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2007

Verified Purchase

"Project Mars" answers a burning question long posed by serious students of aerospace history: "What in the world did Wernher von Braun do for those five long years between 1945 and 1950 while he was cooling his heels in near-isolation at Fort Bliss, Texas?" The answer is that, among other things, he wrote this book.

"Project Mars" is a fictionalized tale about the first manned expedition to the Red Planet. As a science fiction novel, it has little to recommend it. Its stodgy style, tortured dialog passages and primitive narrative structure are even worse than most other contemporary books of the genre--which did not set the bar very high themselves. For example, have you ever heard a real person use the word "obstreperous" in ordinary conversation? Some of this may, of course, be due to its translation from German into English, but, even so, "Project Mars" is a breathtakingly bad novel. It's easy to understand why it languished in unpublished limbo for 60 years.

However, as a detailed technical description of the hardware, operational concepts and design challenges involved in mounting a massive ten-spacecraft Mars expedition, firmly grounded in the knowledge and engineering techniques available in the late 1940s, "Project Mars" is a superb and important historical document. Remember that, when von Braun wrote it, Sputnik I, the first artificial Earth satellite, was still 10 years in the future. At that time, very few people took seriously the idea of "men" journeying into space. The very thought of a mission to another planet was laughable. "Project Mars" is, in essence, a primer on elementary spaceflight concepts for readers who had never heard of such a thing before. The exhaustive, excruciatingly detailed descriptions of the spacecraft, the orbital trajectories, the mission timelines, the mass budgets and so on were thus necessary to convince readers that such an expedition was technically feasible. Unfortunately, we'll never know if it would have had the intended effect, since it did not see the light of day until long after spaceflight became "routine."

All things considered, I rate "Project Mars" with four stars because of its depth, scope and historical significance. Its magnificent, exquisitely printed Chesley Bonestell paintings alone are nearly worth the price of admission. It should appeal to readers with a real interest in finding out what one of the two greatest rocket engineers of the 20th century (the other being Sergei Korolev) thought about the future of the technology he developed. But "Project Mars" is pretty deep and very technical, so casual readers will probably want to give it a pass.

49 people found this helpful

Helpful

Stephen E. Pease

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2017

Verified Purchase

Not a fiction story book

Helpful