Art of the great period!

With this voluminous novel (about 800 pages!), Stephen Baxter rewritten the history of the US space program in 1969 and the apotheosis that was the first step on the moon. The author imagines what might have happened if existing projects to the conquest of Mars NASA were realized at the expense of the space shuttle and automatic probes that were preferred in our universe. In the alternate history universe of the author, the first steps of man on Mars in 1986. The novel tells us so this insane program nearly 20 years, with all the key figures who have contributed over this period with their dreams, their hopes, their disappointments and failures sometimes. The political context of the time is subtly altered to justify the changes made by US governments through reports to those of our universe. The technical descriptions of the design of devices intended to carry 3 humans on Mars is impressive especially exciting, as the journey of the astronauts.
Because the author's bet is to succeed in making us feel the excitement of this fabulous goal, walking on Mars! This exaltation is present throughout the 800 pages of the novel, we are not bored one second, on the contrary. The novel describes the parallel evolution of the Martian program and the mission itself, which earned us a breathtaking final, paralleling the launch of the rocket and the first step on Mars.
Art of the great period! This novel is full of the sense of the great clean wonderful science fiction novel. And after the already impressive Vessels of Time, Stephen Baxter is definitely an author to follow very closely.