No science fiction author was better equipped in 1999 to talk about current space hardware than Homer Hickam, who had a long engineering career with NASA before he turned to writing. Written just a few years before it broke up on reentry, the Space Shuttle Columbia gets a nostalgic tribute in Back to the Moon. A tear comes to the eye when someone in the novel warns that exploding a large bag of water in front of it in orbit could be dangerous because no one knows what damage ice crystals could do to its heat resistant tiles. The premise that the Columbia could be hijacked, modified in orbit, and flown to the Moon seems incredible, but Hickam makes it seem plausible. Unfortunately, his characters and their romance are less so. 3.5 stars. ( )

The successful final test of Prometheus, a robotic moon miner developed by the Medaris Engineering Company, will allow Jack Medaris to provide Doctor Isaac Perlman with a vital component for clean energy. But a destructive attack, designed to annihilate any possibility of a successful mission leaves Jack’s company in ruins.

Determined to fulfill his promise to Perlman and hoping to complete a personal quest, Jack “borrows” the space shuttle Columbia. However, a launch gone fatally wrong and an unanticipated passenger present him with unexpected challenges. Will Jack find a way to reach the moon or will the forces marshaled against him be victorious?

The narrative, populated with believable, nuanced characters and anchored by its strong sense of place, blends science and fiction into an intriguing tale that keeps the suspense building as various subplots weave themselves into a complex tapestry. With several unexpected plot twists and some surprising reveals, readers will find themselves pulled into the telling of the tale from the outset.

Less science fiction and more of a high-tech thriller [with a healthy dose of political machinations], readers will find this narrative difficult to set aside as the rapidly-unfolding story keeps those pages turning. Readers are certain to root for Jack to succeed in his mission [and the legal mumbo-jumbo that authorizes the “hijacking” of Columbia is pure genius]. It’s a rollicking adventure sure to please all space enthusiasts.

Highly recommended. ( )

I like Hickam's semi-autobiographical accounts of growing up in Coal Wood. Of being a Rocket Boy. Those are amongst the best I have ever read, and that ability to bring character of course to himself, as well as the child he was at the time is tremendous. And one should mention that he brings character to Coal Wood and all its environs and people much as Kellior does with Lake Woebegone. We are immersed.

Turing to this entire work of fiction, we see the NASA space program as he does, as an insider. We see fictitious politicians who wish to stop the program and are pretty successful at it. And if Hickam with his knowledge is correct, a solution to many problems of the space program and of us here on earth.

But it is a fiction and we have to suspend our disbelief. Because we do so, when the premise of taking the shuttle in the fashion that it is done, then I have to wonder at the science that is then given us. I am no space expert and I expect many who read this are like me, space hopefuls with no grounding in the realities of space. So when things like the EVA are done, I wonder if it is like Gravity, that just came out. How much is true and how much fiction.

That is only one part of the disappointment, for the cliche of our lead characters past makes it hard to see them as well formed as those of Coal Wood and Hickam's earlier work. Too many characters, including those from the past in back flashes, that we have to spend time with. A few less of those, a few that we could have slimmed down and then worked with the leads more, and that would have elevated this for me.

And perhaps getting rid of an illuminati like other power. Many books use it. When we one day prove the existence of such entities then perhaps seeing them in our fiction will round out such tales.

A once read. For those who like space or love it, a book to get for some of what Hickam has given us you won't find so readily elsewhere. ( )

An excellent story, well written and filled with interesting details of the shuttle and its history. ( )