Packing for Mars: The curious science of life in the void by Mary Roach explores the many eccentric challenges of putting humans into space
EARLY on in the space race, when the US was lagging behind the Soviet Union, D. L. Worf, a scientist with the aerospace company Martin Marietta, recommended that the windows of the lunar landing module be coated with transparent sugar. The crew could then eat their way through it on the way back to Earth, lightening the load of food they would need to carry on the way up.
Though, sadly, never put into practice, the…
