Authors@Google: Andrew Chaikin May 13, 2009

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Andrew Chaikin visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "A Passion for Mars." This event took place on May 5, 2009, as part of the Authors@Google series.

This talk is based on Andrew Chaikins new book, A Passion for Mars, which tells the story of Earthbound explorers and their robotic surrogates caught in the irresistible pull of the Red Planet. The book features such memorable thinkers and pioneers as Carl Sagan, fierce champion of the search for life; rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, envisioning human Mars expeditions years before the space age; and science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, standard-bearer for Mars as human destiny. It also tells the story of the rogue Mars Underground grad students, keepers of the flame when Mars falls off NASAs radar; NASA biologist Jerry Soffen, hoping for fossil microbes in a Martian meteorite; maverick geologist Mike Malin revealing a Mars no one imagines; and the Mars Exploration Rover teams, conducting the first overland treks on another planet. Chaikin himself is part of the story, having served as an undergraduate on the first Mars landing, Viking 1, in 1976.

Andrew Chaikin has authored books and articles about space exploration and astronomy for more than two decades. He is best known as the author of A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, first published in 1994. This acclaimed work was the main basis for Tom Hanks' HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, which won the Emmy for best miniseries in 1998.