THE ORION PROJECT (upmarket science mystery/thriller) by Peter Swirski
During a critical phase of the Cold War, NASA launches a mission which culminates decades of clandestine development of a nuclear pulse-driven spacecraft—a super-rocket propelled by atom bomb explosions. Held back by the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Orion is revived in secret and launched in 1973 under the guise of a Skylab supply mission.
What really happened to the mission described as “the worse disaster in the history of NASA”? What role was played by the pilot Jack Trew, vilified as “the Herostratus of the American space program”? Who were the personalities behind the ill-starred Orion Project? Perhaps most of all, what are the values in the name of which we reach for the Moon and, in the near future, Mars?
“This well-crafted fictional extension of the real-world Project Orion of a spacecraft propelled by successive nuclear explosions, raises important philosophical questions about whether humanity possesses the ethical maturity required to expand into the cosmos and settle on other planets. Peter Swirski’s masterpiece will make you wonder whether our national and scientific establishments should be updated as humanity plans to become a multi-planet civilization.”—Avi Loeb, Professor of Science at Harvard University and bestselling author of the books Extraterrestrial and Interstellar
“A brilliantly narrated political novel…”—Kirkus Reviews
“Every old-time space buff sighs wistfully whenever Freeman Dyson’s canceled Project Orion is mentioned. If only! If only! Well, here it is, brilliantly revived in Peter Swirski’s edge-of-your-seat thriller, a mystery rich with both real science and pointed commentary. Enjoy!” —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of The Oppenheimer Alternative
“Brilliant… deserves wide recognition.”—Stanislaw Lem, author of Solaris, on Peter Swirski
