A boy’s-own adventure in space travel. Howe do you design, build, fly, and debug a rover the size of a bus that’ll have to endure a landing more fraught than any other vehicle ever constructed – and then operate completely remotely, without repair, for years? That this happened at all is a tribute to NASA’s planning and management skills; that Curiosity has lasted years longer than ever anticipated is nothing short of spectacular. The book gives as much technical low-down as any space-obsessive could want, with pointers to more.

5/5. Finished Saturday 17 November, 2018.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)