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Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

Mary Roach (Goodreads Author)

3.95 · Rating details · 49,134 ratings · 4,520 reviews

The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule, Mary Roach takes us on the surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

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Paperback, 334 pages

Published April 4th 2011 by W. W. Norton Company (first published August 2nd 2010)

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Aug 20, 2010 Will Byrnes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: brain-candy, nonfiction, comedy-satire, science

Maybe she could have titled the book The Right Stiff.

I needed to have tissues handy while reading Mary Roach’s latest. No, it is not because it made me sad, but because I was laughing so hard my eyes were gushing. Mary Roach has had that effect on me before. I have read two of her books. Stiff and Spook are greatly entertaining. She has a sense of humor that encompasses a pre-adolescent affinity for the scatological. OK, she likes fart jokes. Blast off, Mary.

She has an appreciation for the abs ...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Stephen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, audiobook, science, ebooks, 2006-2010, humor-and-satire

Space…the final frontier:

where intrepid heroes break free from the mortal bonds of Mother Earth to experience such singular marvels as:

1. Fecal popcorning (definition forthcoming);
2. Condom-shaped urinal devices (with different sizes for, um, different sizes);
3. Weightless Flight Regurgitation Phenomenon (Hint: turns out gravity is a vital part of both swallowing food and keeping it locked down in the tummy);
4. The pleasures, subject to NASA regulations, of Zero-G copulation; and
5. The br ...more

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Aug 03, 2010 Kemper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, space, blinded-me-with-science

I’m a big space geek and have spent countless hours reading or watching documentaries about manned space flight. I’ve seen a space shuttle launch and been through the Kennedy Space Center a couple of times. I went and saw the traveling exhibit of Gus Grissom’s capsule that was retrieved from the ocean floor and refurbished. So I thought I knew something about NASA and astronauts.

However, I’d never heard the phrase 'fecal popcorning' before.

These are the kind of tidbits you get in Packing for Mar I’m a big space geek and have spent countless hours reading or watching documentaries about manned space flight. I’ve seen a space shuttle launch and been through the Kennedy Space Center a couple of times. I went and saw the traveling exhibit of Gus Grissom’s capsule that was retrieved from the ocean floor and refurbished. So I thought I knew something about NASA and astronauts.

However, I’d never heard the phrase 'fecal popcorning' before.

These are the kind of tidbits you get in Packing for Mars. Mary Roach takes a light hearted but fascinating look at all the research and projects that go into putting and keeping people in space. This isn’t about the rockets or the life support systems, it’s about the seemingly more mundane stuff like hygiene, the effects of isolation, long-term health risks, time management, safety devices, nutrition and human waste disposal. (Actually, way more about the waste disposal than I really wanted to know. Which is where the fecal popcorning came into it. Thanks for that, NASA!)

This stuff may seem trivial, but as Roach illustrates when it comes to living in a sealed zero-gravity environment nothing is easy. Something as simple as trying to get some exercise to prevent the deterioration of bone mass involves countless hours of study on earth, including a research center where subjects are paid thousands of dollars to spend a month in bed. (Read the fine print before you rush to sign up. It's not quite as good as it sounds.)

Roach strikes the perfect tone of treating the various subjects seriously while still injecting a lot of humor when it’s called for. She’s also willing to do far more than I would for a book including drinking her own recycled urine and using the space toilet trainer that has a camera in it so that astronauts can see parts of themselves that no person was meant to see as they orient themselves to do a *ahem* docking maneuver. (Seriously, there’s a lot of poop in this book.)

While reading it, I kept thinking of the argument that’s been made that putting people into space is dangerous and wasteful. So much of what’s done becomes just about keeping the astronauts alive that the science tends to get lost. Especially considering what’s been accomplished with far less money on projects like the Hubble telescope and the Mars rovers. However, Roach has a short but passionate argument at the end where she outlines why she thinks all of this is so cool and necessary, and why people should go to Mars. And you know what? She sold me.

Entertaining, informative and filled with funny stories and bits of trivia, I enjoyed this one a lot. But it’s got more poop than a Jonathan Franzen novel so beware if you’re squeamish. ...more

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Mar 15, 2011 carol. rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: people looking for light sciencey reads

Shelves: non-fiction

Roach is well known for her earlier books, Stiff (about human cadavers), Bonk (science and sex) and Spook (the afterlife). In Packing, she takes on the US space program, and how it’s dealt with many of the everyday biological issues we take for granted– such as washing, eating, and urinating. However, willingness to take on the scatological is just part of her hook; she integrates information about the program in general as well as Earth-based research supporting it.

I learned a lot more of the e
Roach is well known for her earlier books, Stiff (about human cadavers), Bonk (science and sex) and Spook (the afterlife). In Packing, she takes on the US space program, and how it’s dealt with many of the everyday biological issues we take for granted– such as washing, eating, and urinating. However, willingness to take on the scatological is just part of her hook; she integrates information about the program in general as well as Earth-based research supporting it.

I learned a lot more of the early space program than I expected, usually palatable due to Roach’s inclusion of either direct interview or historical quotes from astronauts and scientists. Initial sleepiness from the material was chased away once I reached the chapter “The Cadaver in the Space Capsule” onward. The section on food and nutrition was horrifying, as well as the section on defecating. I have to confess, I’ve never been much of a space junkie, but I love science fiction and biology and this was a fascinating read once I was past the beginning hurdles. Roach’s humorous asides added a dash levity to a potentially dry subject. I had never really thought about the extent to which astronauts sacrifice their personal privacy; she has a hysterical transcript from Mission Control where controllers are asking about astronaut flatulence. Roach even explores some of the ongoing studies impacting space travel. One covered in some detail is an Earth-based study examining the impact of 3 months of bed rest on bone structure, and the poor people who volunteered for it. A note for those who like accuracy in titles: much in the book does not specifically has to do with Mars missions, just issues regarding living in space.

The book had an extra impact of nostalgia back when I read this–it was close to the last shuttle launch. Sad now to see so much of the program being planned for obsolescence when it was an international preoccupation for decades. Thank you, astronauts for your sacrifices.

Laugh out loud lines:

“Is he leaking badly from anything major?”

“The whole procedure will unfold exactly as it would with a live patient, right down to a forty-five-minute wait and a problem with the billing.”

“The staff played hot potato with my call until someone could locate the Person in Charge of Lying to the Press.”

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0... ...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Petra-X rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: medicine-science, reviewed

Note: the dolphin-sex thing appears to be a hoax. Shame that. I like the idea of space sex having to be a threesome.

Why the Space Program Costs so Much. Because its run by a load of backward-thinking dickheads, contrary to what you might think.

Mary Roach seems to have an obsession with poo. I did actually want to know about toilet facilities in space, but not two-chapters worth of knowledge. Similarly a chapter about sex, although no-one apart from one Russian wanker (literally) actually admits Note: the dolphin-sex thing appears to be a hoax. Shame that. I like the idea of space sex having to be a threesome.

Why the Space Program Costs so Much. Because its run by a load of backward-thinking dickheads, contrary to what you might think.

Mary Roach seems to have an obsession with poo. I did actually want to know about toilet facilities in space, but not two-chapters worth of knowledge. Similarly a chapter about sex, although no-one apart from one Russian wanker (literally) actually admits to having it at all. The author does make the point though that weightlessness might make union difficult unless one employed a third person to push the two together, much like dolphins apparently do in the equally weightless medium of water.

I wanted to know much more about questions the author chose not to address to do with food, leisure time Do they watch movies, read books or just go for a stroll? How did they do their hair, did it grow faster or slower on the space station? Did they grow food of any kind? What about insects - did any of those find themselves on a trip to space and what happened to them if they did? Loads of things...

What I did learn was that anything built for space is subject to one restriction - it must be as small and light as possible as each extra pound costs thousands of dollars in the extra thrust needed to send it into space. However, there are certain taboos that cannot be overcome and the governments of both the USA and Russia are willing to spend out all the extra money in the world to make sure that men, as ever, not matter how fake it is, reign supreme.

Women are smaller, lighter and consequently generally eat less food, drink less water and breathe less air so naturally they should be the astronauts. NASA could raise only one objection to women in space which obviously must have been solved by now, as there are female astronauts, that urine droplets do not separate from the genitals and pubic hair 'cleanly' as they do in men. I'm not joking. Have they never heard of http://www.thisnext.com/topic-female-... or couldn't they invent one? So essentially the whole space program would be much more cost-effective if women were astronauts and men, unless they were quite little, stayed home and looked after the babies. But we couldn't have that, could we? American values count for more! ...more

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Oct 28, 2019 Diane S ☔ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 5000-2019

3.5 I recently read Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon, and so some of the things in this book were also in the former. In this one, Mary Roach is much more descriptive in exactly what this astronauts go through before and during a flight. The problems that had to be solved even before space travel was considered. Effects of gravity on breathing, on bones and other bodily functions. Experiments undertaken, results, adjustments.

S ...more

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Sep 21, 2016 Greta G rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-in-english, pop-science

photo 03A4BAAE-DA26-47DD-8669-6243FEB91B92.jpg

This was a fascinating trip. Really.
I learned a lot about seals, black bears, dolphins, rats, dogs and chimps.

En route I also learned something about astronauts and their way of life in space.
And this kind of life is not at all what I had imagined even in my wildest dreams.
Let me warn you, if you've ever fantasized about taking a vacation in space, you should read this book first.

The comfort in a space hotel is basic, even if you paid billions of dollars for a 5-twinkling-star hotel.
If ...more

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Sep 16, 2010 Richard Derus rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout ...more

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Oct 26, 2019 7jane rated it really liked it

This was a fun read, lots of information and odd (sometimes disgusting in the 'don't eat while reading' way) facts. Fun facts about space travel, things that happen(ed) on earth and up there, with footnotes here and there. There is a timeline (1949-2003) and a bibliography at the end.

Things included include who gets in, on isolation and confinement, keeping your sanity, lack of gravity, throwing up, crash tests, animals used (Albert, Ham, Enos and others not named), plans of travel to Mars, on w This was a fun read, lots of information and odd (sometimes disgusting in the 'don't eat while reading' way) facts. Fun facts about space travel, things that happen(ed) on earth and up there, with footnotes here and there. There is a timeline (1949-2003) and a bibliography at the end.

Things included include who gets in, on isolation and confinement, keeping your sanity, lack of gravity, throwing up, crash tests, animals used (Albert, Ham, Enos and others not named), plans of travel to Mars, on washing yourself and toilet time, sleeping, sex, getting down from there, food, and future hopes. (Felix Baumgartner appear here, not yet having jumped out of that Red Bull thing, which happened in 2012, a bit over a year after the book came out.)

Actions: getting the US flag right for the first moon landing, making origami cranes, the lubed-butt slide test, missing the nature while up there, trying to save Jimi Hendrix, defrosting a cadaver, faking a seatbelt malfunction, taking "little bunny sniffs", black bears' winter hibernation, spying on seals' mating rituals, the "corned beef sandwich incident" of 1965, muslim prayer options in space

Objects: NASA tv channel, helmet vomit, turkey vulture vomit (a delicacy for coyotes), Tomb of the Unknown Dog (in Russia), stinky pressure suits, cheese bacteria, decomposing clothes, a snorkel, hip-squeezing machine, dolphin genitals, the finger insert in the pooping bag, frozen poop storage space, fecal dust, little Communion packages, farts, the Phoenix lander (working 2008-2010).

Why: hot tubs are not so good an idea, if in a car it's better being hit from the front is better than from the sides - for the human body, astronauts are on their backs, jumping from a plane (the big usual type) is a bad idea.

I'm pretty sure leaving food chapter until last chapters was a good idea. I did feel pity for the animals, but it's good they were mentioned. But anyway, this was a fun, sometimes gross, a read and really informative. Like climbing the Everest, for me it's interesting to read about it, and also a relief not to have to experience some downsides of it (or whatever direction things here are currently pointing towards *lol*). ...more

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Mar 22, 2019 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-shelf, science, non-fiction, humor

Mary Roach is a funny woman. I guess that's what you get when no subject is taboo and she has the charm to pull it all off. :)

What does she pull off? A full, scientifically accurate look at the little stuff in life. Astronauts living in space was rather more the focus. That's okay. We're not quite ready to go to Mars. But at least we're ready to drink our pee! Yay!

Seriously though, beyond the last quarter of the book being devoted to floating poo in a very fun and educational way, the whole book ...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Melki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: taking-up-space, sciency-stuff

I did not expect to be so captivated by this book. After all, I barely paid attention when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969. I was a very mature seven year old, and I had seen better space "movies" at the local theater.
My interest in the space program remained low while I was growing up. Of course, I watched and cried over the Challenger and Columbia disasters. But otherwise, I was mostly oblivious.
I suppose it was not until Nasa announced that the shuttle flights were coming to an end ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 Monica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pub_2010s, wh_fem_nonfic, female-author-nonfic, kindle_nonfiction, science-astro-space-explore, science, audio, science-technology

Fascinating and well considered. Lots of gross facts about conditions in outer space. Space travel does not resemble Star Trek at this time. I don't want to go to Mars personally and I'm traumatized by the concept of the impending voyage at our current level of technology, but I relish the idea of some other ~~poor soul~~ dreamer willing to endure the trip. Listened to on audible narrated by Sandra Burr. I thought she did a good job.

4 Stars

Edited to Add: Listened to the Audio version.

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Apr 17, 2011 Cassy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: event-met-author, region-elsewhere, from-leo, non-fiction-general, physical-own, 2011, flavor-humor

There was a rule in my house growing up: no talking about “bodily functions”. When my older sister would start going on about how she clogged the toilet or an episode of smelly burps, my very Southern mother would intervene. “Jill, there will no discussion of bodily functions at this dinner table. Would anyone like more peach cobbler?”

Mary Roach would make an interesting dinner guest at my parents’ house. Her book is overflowing with bodily functions: vomit, body odor, pooping/peeing, and sex i ...more

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Sep 23, 2010 Trevor rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, science, psychology

I’ve read two other Roach books and have really loved them. They tick all of the boxes – they are witty, wise, fascinatingly interesting and written by someone with an eye that unfailingly spots human foibles. The beauty of her writing is that rather than pointing and laughing, she embrace our foibles and makes us fell all the more human because of them.

Do you know that feeling you get when you read someone and think, ‘God, I would really love to meet you, just to listen to you talk?’ Well, Ms I’ve read two other Roach books and have really loved them. They tick all of the boxes – they are witty, wise, fascinatingly interesting and written by someone with an eye that unfailingly spots human foibles. The beauty of her writing is that rather than pointing and laughing, she embrace our foibles and makes us fell all the more human because of them.

Do you know that feeling you get when you read someone and think, ‘God, I would really love to meet you, just to listen to you talk?’ Well, Ms Roach is one of those authors for me.

This one starts slow – she should have cut maybe the first chapter or so. In fact, it starts so slowly that I was afraid I was witnessing the loss of one of my favourite writers. But then she gets into her stride when she starts talking about the sorts of things you’ve always wondered about space flight but were too afraid to ask.

At least, this fear is something finding out about the inconveniences of space flight is something I’ve only just discovered. I was excitedly telling my mother about this book the other day when she said something that really surprised me. I was telling her about the difficulties of defecating in space and she said, “Why would anyone want to know about that?” Her saying this stopped me in my tracks. It had never occurred to me that someone might not want to know about that. Just as the difficulties of sex in space (given Newton’s third law of motion – equal and opposite motion and all that) mean that thrusting can have the undesired effect of pushing the object of your lust off away from you – you can calculate how fast they will move away by using F=ma. It is all a matter of coming and going, I guess.

How could you not be interested in the problems zero gravity present to your bladder? Or that the bag you defecate into also needs antibacterial cream mashed through it before it can be disposed of thoughtfully. A friend of mine once called the bags used for picking up dog droppings ‘little hand warmers’ – this is even more true in space.

This is a look at the all-too-human sides of space exploration and some of the proposals to deal with issues space exploration presents – Muslim prayer times, for example. These are exactly the sorts of things I would never think to think about. I love how obvious some of the solutions to these seemingly intractable problems have turned out to be.

Who would think of putting a camera in a toilet bowl to help train for the best sitting position? And who wouldn’t expect the film thus made not to be viewed inappropriately?

The book looks at some of the crazier myths that have surrounded NASA, like the masturbating chimp story that seems to have been completely fabricated. Although, while we’re on the topic of masturbation, I have to admit that I was surprised that people have actually asked cosmonauts if they masturbated in space.

I really enjoyed this book and am prepared to admit that perhaps that makes me strange. I’ve never been all that interested in space travel, at least, not since I was a kid – in fact, I can probably say I’ve been even less interested in space travel in my adult life than I have been in that other standard childhood fascination, dinosaurs. However, this isn’t really about space travel, it is about putting people in remarkably inconvenient situations and then watching to see how they cope. A lot of the coping they need to do involves abandoning social taboos we take utterly for granted. Defecating while sitting beside a work colleague, for example, would surely prove a challenge for most of us. It is remarkable how well people do cope with these challenges and wonderful to hear about the ingenuity that is applied to solving these issues.

Don’t let the start of this one put you off, this really is the right stuff.
...more

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Apr 03, 2019 Cody rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"In a memoir, astronaut Michael Collins relates a story of a physician back in the Apollo era who recommended regular masturbation on long missions, lest astronauts develop prostate infections...Cosmonaut Alexandr Laveikin told me he too had heard that lengthy abstinence could cause prostate infections, but that the space agency pretends the issue doesn't exist. "It's up to yourself how you will deal with it. But everybody is doing it, everybody understands. It's nothing. My friends ask me, 'How "In a memoir, astronaut Michael Collins relates a story of a physician back in the Apollo era who recommended regular masturbation on long missions, lest astronauts develop prostate infections...Cosmonaut Alexandr Laveikin told me he too had heard that lengthy abstinence could cause prostate infections, but that the space agency pretends the issue doesn't exist. "It's up to yourself how you will deal with it. But everybody is doing it, everybody understands. It's nothing. My friends ask me, 'How are you making sex in space?' I say, 'By hand!" As for the logistics," there are possibilities. And sometimes it happens automatically while you sleep. It's natural." John Charles told me he'd heard about the link between prostate health and "self-stim"- at NASA, there's an abbreviation for everything - but never heard any formal discussion , pro or con, on orbital masturbation." (227-228)

"The Johnson Space Center "potty cam," as it is more casually known, is an astronaut training aid. It provides a vivid, arresting perspective on something you've had intimate contract with all your life but never really seen. Perhaps not unlike viewing one's own home planet from space for the first time. Positioning is critical because the opening to a Space Shuttle toilet is 4 inches across as opposed to the 18-inch maw we are accustomed to on Earth. Jim Broyan, a waste-water engineer who designs toilets and other amenities for NASA astronauts, is showing me around...He possesses a stealthy deadpan wit and is, I imagine, tremendous fun to work with." (267-268)

If there was ever a person to explore the eccentricities of space travel with such a comedic wit, it's Mary Roach. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void is tremendous fun to read, full of laugh-out-loud moments such as the two quotations above. Roach covers little know facts and facets about the rather...let's call them interesting...aspects of space life and difficulty for an astronaut, from lack of gravity when pooping, to the frequent nauseating effects of space travel, to the gross food designed by nutritionists, to the animal volunteers sent up by the American and Russian space agencies. There are transcripts where astronauts are laughing at turds flying by them, a reference to the "Three-Dolphin Club" (look it up), and experiments concerning test subjects staying in bed for months at a time. While reading this book you can laugh out loud whilst accidentally dropping the book and while recovering try to find the page you were on. Roach is a great writer in that anyone without an understanding of the scientific information given won't become that lost whilst reading it. Mars itself isn't really discussed until the last chapter, showcasing just how much humanity currently isn't suited to the notion of traveling, let alone inhabiting it, as possible as that might seem in the coming decades with proper planning. Learning is best when humour is infused, making this an excellent choice for anyone interested in space travel and the training done by astronauts.

Rating: 4.5/5 ...more

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Jan 22, 2011 David rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, science, humor

There's a bit of space science in this book, but it's mostly a humorous, immensely scatalogical romp through the space program. By reading this book, you will gain a treasure trove of trivia, ranging from astronaut food, defecation, odors, nausea, to the earliest, non-human astronauts who were shot up into space on rockets. You will learn the real reason why women were not enlisted as astronauts in the early days of NASA, which turns out to be the exact same reason why Russians did include women ...more

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Jan 10, 2018 Glitterbomb rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: talk-dirty-to-me-with-your-science, all-time-favorites, owned-dc, 5-star, non-fiction, owned, history, space, reviews

**This review contains profanity and dick and fart jokes.**

I've been trying to write this review for what feels like hours now (Its actually been about 10 minutes). It's not that I didn't take notes, because I did, lots and lots of notes. This... thing... sitting next to me resembles a pile of unicorn vomit, rather than a book, with the amount of post-its stuck to it (its very colourful and pretty). I was going to take a picture, but I'm not sure I want this floating around on the internet for a ...more

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Dec 15, 2010 Stephanie *Extremely Stable Genius* rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science, 2012

When I was in the sixth grade we had a science project. I remember this well, we had to learn all about rockets and space travel. When we were to reach the end of all the information, we were going to have a test on what we learned.

Nothing new there right? Oh but there was……

The person who had the highest grade on the test was to be the one to “launch” a rocket, you know, the model rockets made from cardboard with a built in parachute for its descent…the ones that you would sometimes put a toad ...more

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Jul 16, 2017 Emily (Books with Emily Fox) rated it really liked it

If you're looking for a fun non-fiction about space/astronauts I would recommend it!

With that said, be warned that pooping in space is a big problem and you'll learn about it in length!

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Apr 10, 2017 Dennis rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, science, humor

“Is he leaking badly from anything major?“

In this book Mary Roach tells us about the challenges of space travel and the extensive research that is done before humans are sent into space.

And she caused sustained eyeleak (of the good kind) for this reader, because she’s going places other writers seldom dare to go. Telling the stories other writers would likely gloss over and NASA would certainly prefer to stay a private matter.

Life in the void provides many unique challenges. But there are a few ...more

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Mar 22, 2019 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is my second book by this author and once again she has proven that she has a great sense of humour. The other book I've read was about human cadavers and it was funny to see a short chapter dedicated to cadavers needed here, too.

The book, as the title suggests, is about space exploration - the history including Moon landings, the science behind anything from heat shielding to toilets, the process with which astronauts are tested and chosen, atronauts' training. There are even some comments This is my second book by this author and once again she has proven that she has a great sense of humour. The other book I've read was about human cadavers and it was funny to see a short chapter dedicated to cadavers needed here, too.

The book, as the title suggests, is about space exploration - the history including Moon landings, the science behind anything from heat shielding to toilets, the process with which astronauts are tested and chosen, atronauts' training. There are even some comments about funding and, therefore, changing politics.
Why Mars, specifically, in the title then? Because it has its very own challenges due to being farther away. There is a significant psychological difference between going to the ISS or the Moon and the much longer journey to Mars.

In her signature humorous way, she respects the topic and seems fascinated by the topic herself, but also knows that many things related to space travel are quite ridiculous and thus presents them in a corresponding funny way. From dolphin genitalia capable of grabbing even humans and puke-loving coyotes to hilarious actual communiquès about turds floating in zero-g and aspiring astronauts having to fold 1000 Origami cranes, the reader is taken on a very entertaining tour full of scientific facts that are therefore never boring and easy to follow.

Personally, apart from me wanting humanity to colonize the stars (yes, I know we'll take our problems with us but it's still cool - and necessary!), I'm also very interested in the engineering feats and all the things we take for granted here on Earth that simply don't work/exist in space so astronauts have to re-learn everything and engineers and technicians need to be aware of the respective problem even before being able to come up with a work-around or solution!

Did you know, for example (not a fact drawn from this book but it's true and has fascinated me for decades) that when you cut open one of those musical greeting cards the chip you're holding has the exact same amount of computing power that was needed / used to get man to the Moon?! Isn't that equally exciting and unbelievable?!

Or the fact that NASA not only had to take an American flag up to the Moon (romantic little me thinks nationalities shouldn't matter up there) but then also had to remember that the flag wouldn't fly as they usually do down here (depending on the weather) and subsequently also had to come up with a solution for the problem (which sparked so many conspiracy theories that we never actually have been to the Moon)! Not to mention that every gram of weight on a rocket is a problem.

Apart from the heroism we associate with astronauts and the feats achieved with space shuttles and space stations, Mary Roach doesn't hold back when showing us what space research and space flight is really like (at least sometimes). The advancements as well as the problems (technological and due to us humans), going TO space and coming BACK (re-entry), what we do in the void. She covers almost all and gives us details I'm not sure too many others dare cover.

I wasn't and still am not too much a fan of the animals that had to suffer in the name of science (dogs, chimps, rats, ...) but the crash tests and the interconnectedness of sooo many scientific fields (even dermatology) always sparks my interest.

Sure, there have to be better solutions for drive systems that we'll hopefully develop in the future, but what we've already achieved in the past (even though it was mostly only thanks to competition between warring nations) is amazing and I hope we won't stop but keep pushing forward!

A seriously cool book narrated by a great woman who had no problem with appropriately bring certain scenes to life - adding to the laughter and enjoyment. ...more

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Jan 18, 2017 Heather K (dentist in my spare time) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: not-a-romance-book, narrator-so-so, audiobook, non-fiction

Love Mary Roach, but I didn't find this as entertaining as some of her other books. I got a few fun factoids to share with my family, so I guess that's a win. ...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Crystal Starr Light rated it liked it

Shelves: science, non-fiction

Bullet Review:

Huh. Not quite what I was expecting - more a "look at all these weird things in space" than anything close to a checklist of things necessary for a Mars mission. And those weird things seem to focus A LOT on bodily functions.

I wish we spent more time on how bad the food was, how hard it would be to store enough food and oxygen and more about the psychology of long duration flights. And less time on space poos.

Full Review:

I will try to do a full review, though I don't really know if ...more

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Sep 21, 2015 HBalikov rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I took my time going through Mary Roach's rap on what it means to be out beyond the Earth's surface.
NASA and the Russians have been spending loads of time and money since the 1950's to prepare and put humans in orbit and beyond. I started reading partially because I wanted a different perspective than the recent bestseller and movie, The Martian, would provide. Roach writes that she was inspired to "think about a trip to Mars and what it would be like to spend two years trapped inside sterile, I took my time going through Mary Roach's rap on what it means to be out beyond the Earth's surface.
NASA and the Russians have been spending loads of time and money since the 1950's to prepare and put humans in orbit and beyond. I started reading partially because I wanted a different perspective than the recent bestseller and movie, The Martian, would provide. Roach writes that she was inspired to "think about a trip to Mars and what it would be like to spend two years trapped inside sterile, man-made structures with no way to escape one's work and colleagues and no flowers or trees or sex and nothing to look at outside the window but empty space or, at best, reddish dirt. The astronaut's job is stressful for all the same reasons yours or mine is --- overwork, lack of sleep, anxiety, other people-but two things compound the usual stresses: the deprivations of the environment and one's inability to escape it. Isolation and confinement are issues of no small concerns to space agencies."

With persistence and humor, Roach takes us through the testing of man, equipment, food, etc. She casts a dubious but discerning eye on what the agencies say and what they do, quoting a NASA physician: "The agencies try to keep the best image up, otherwise they don't get funded anymore."

There are wonderful and provocative details about the Japanese, Russian and American experiences. Do you believe, did you know that certain Russian astronauts were given suicide pills? "Given that death from cyanide, the poison most commonly associated with suicide pills, is slower and more ghastly than death from having one's oxygen supply cut off, there would have been little call for the pill."

Roach covers everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! From the dangers of vomiting in a space suit to the fact that you have to take a dump into a baggie while sitting next to your fellow astronauts. Psychological stress of every kind are explored, as are physical issues such as loss of bone mass and flatulence. There is a section devoted to just the physical challenges of sex in zero gravity. And a longer section on the choices of foods, the rationale behind them, and their successes and failures.

I learned a lot. I laughed a lot. And, I am no longer interested in taking a long space journey. "Beam me up, Scotty."
...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Sanaa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

[4 Stars] This book was incredibly fascinating although a bit disturbing from time to time. You get to know some of the details about all of the strange things that accompany thoughts of space travel: how to you poop in space, what is the screening process like for astronauts, food in space, what kind of strange experiments and tests must be employed to test things for space travel, chimps in space, and so much more. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though I thought it was a bit slow. I wish the boo ...more

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Feb 12, 2018 Laurie Notaro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I will read anything by Mary Roach. Of course, my favorite parts in this book were about farting and pooping in a space suit. Hilarious.

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May 24, 2012 Trudi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, thinky-books, laugh-out-loud, 2012, non-fiction

3.5 stars

***I'm reposting this review in honor of Neil Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) who died today at the age of 82.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." --Neil Armstrong

Well...that was...interesting. This book is so thoroughly researched. The amount of painstaking detail used to describe the epic sublime of space right down to the microscopic level of doing your "business" in zero gravity is impressive to say the least. As a side-effect though, I did ...more

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May 27, 2012 Brandon rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, 2013, non-fiction

I've always maintained a passing interest in space travel and with my burgeoning love of Sci-Fi starting to develop, I thought that this was the right book to pick up. With Packing for Mars, Mary Roach takes the reader on a journey through the bizarre history of space travel and the toll it takes on the human body and psyche.

It turns out that my passing interest in space travel was just that - a passing interest. I found myself constantly drifting off during chapters and having to rewind over a ...more

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Jun 18, 2019 Erica rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, inside-vs-outside, men-and-boys, travel, funny, health, non-fiction

So I learned about pooping in zero gravity. That was the highlight of this book for me, though there were many other fascinating things I learned, as well. But what could possibly beat space poop?

Roach tackles the worklife of an astronaut as well as the former US/USSR Space Race with her signature depth of research (she watched Russian space porn, people. For SCIENCE!) and humor.
Unfortunately, this is just not a topic I care about.
I love the night skies, I used to be delighted with astronomy b ...more

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Apr 24, 2019 Laura Noggle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, 2019, space-related

**Scatological space humor.**

After reading Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff and Scott Kelly’s Endurance, it’s kind of hard to appreciate a book like this.

I enjoyed Roach’s Stiff, but the similarities with Packing for Mars seemed unnecessary—almost like she recycled some of her research and content.

Not entirely bad, but also reads like a 13 year old boy’s science homework if he were allowed to choose the topic.

The main standout: “fecal popcorning.” 🤢💩💨

***Mars is barely mentioned.***

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About Mary Roach

Mary Roach

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Mary Roach is the author of the New York Times bestsellers STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers; GULP: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, PACKING FOR MARS: The Curious Science of Life in the Void; and BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.

Her most recent book, GRUNT: The Curious Science of Humans at War, is out in June 2016.

Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, Discover ...more

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“Yes, the money could be better spent on Earth. But would it? Since when has money saved by government redlining been spent on education and cancer research? It is always squandered. Let's squander some on Mars. Let's go out and play.” — 39 likes

“To the rocket scientist, you are a problem. You are the most irritating piece of machinery he or she will ever have to deal with. You and your fluctuating metabolism, your puny memory, your frame that comes in a million different configurations. You are unpredictable. You're inconstant. You take weeks to fix. The engineer must worry about the water and oxygen and food you'll need in space, about how much extra fuel it will take to launch your shrimp cocktail and irradiated beef tacos. A solar cell or a thruster nozzle is stable and undemanding. It does not excrete or panic or fall in love with the mission commander. It has no ego. Its structural elements don't start to break down without gravity, and it works just fine without sleep.

To me, you are the best thing to happen to rocket science. The human being is the machine that makes the whole endeavor so endlessly intriguing.” — 33 likes

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