Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:30:03 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Take that Darth Vader, thwack! , was  Sith andbefore

> omni at omniphile.com 6/16/2005 4:15:06 PM >>>
>At 03:03 PM 6/16/05 -0400, Michael Walsh wrote:
>
>>In James White's novel "All Judgment Fled" there are two refitted
>>Apollo capsules sent out to Mars to investigate a Very Large Object.

>He
>>did a very effective job of getting across the near claustophobia of
>>this months long journey.  Imagine being seated next to two other
>people
>>for months... and nowhere to go.
>
>"Near" claustrophobia?!?  Sorry, I think you'd have to drug any
>normal
>human nearly comatose to let them survive a trip like that.  There's
>less
>room in an Apollo capsule than in the average family car..

>Unless the "refit" involved adding a seriously large "stores module",
>there's no way an Apollo capsule would make a months long trip with
>a crew,
>even if they didn't kill each other...recycling only takes you just so
far
>and then you have to make up the losses from somewhere, and the
>capsule
>wasn't designed for storage, just re-entry.  Even a full command
>module
>wouldn't have enough storage for the air, water and food needed.
>
>Talk about unbelievable "science" in your fiction...  ;-)

My recollection is that White did the appropriate science.  He was a
clever writer.

mjw
>
>-- Mike B.
>--
>"Nobody ever goes there, it's too crowded." -- Yogi Berra