Boldly Go

Fourteen-year-olds Houston, Ashley, and Teal, recruited as young test subjects for the first Mars mission, find themselves on the International Space Station as part of experiments into their ability to adapt to the pressures of space physically and mentally. While learning as much as they can, they establish relationships with the adult crew and with the colonel, a former astronaut and senior test subject. When the mission is subject to protest on Earth and the European Union and China withdraw from the project, the four are suddenly announced as replacements for the astronauts from those countries and are headed to Mars. Halfway into the mission, an onboard fire strands the adults in the aft section of the ship, and the teens are forced to sacrifice the others in order to continue the mission on their own.

In this second installment of the “Teen Astronauts” series, Eric Walters continues the story that began in Houston, Is There a Problem?. The pace of Boldly Go is fast and exciting, the challenges daunting and realistic, and the science behind the story mostly believable and evidently well-researched. Set in what seems to be the near future, the mission faces very believable opposition on Earth and struggles with keeping the message positive, with the teens frequently playing the role of public ambassadors to keep interest up. While all three are highly capable and constantly learning, the teens face their own doubts and physical limitations, struggling with loneliness, homesickness, and even space nausea.

Character development is particularly vivid among the colonel as well as the Russian commander, Yuri, who refers to himself as Papa Bear and the teens as his Baby Bears, but other characters are less vividly drawn. A budding romance between Houston and Teal dissolves into petty jealousy, illustrating—somewhat awkwardly—the difficult pairing of high demand work with teenage angst. While the mission preparation, public relations exercises, and shifts between doubt and self-confidence are all extensively described, the final climax of the change in mission and the onboard accident are almost too quick. The teens’ abilities are almost beyond belief, with Houston even besting an experienced astronaut’s success rate at simulated ship landings—a fortunate development given his later position as captain on the rest of the way to Mars. But the scientific basis seems strong, and the intricate descriptions of equipment and triple-redundancy operating procedures are solid. Boldly Go is a dramatic and gripping story.