A New York Times Bestseller and Entertainment Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year —"America's funniest science writer" (Washington Post) explores "the nitty-gritty details of life in space that filmmakers and historians tend to gloss over." —Boston Globe The bestselling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA's new space capsule, Mary Roach takes us on the surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth. "[Roach's] style is at its most substantial—and most hilarious—in the zero-gravity realm that Packing for Mars explores." —New York Times "Roach deftly guides her readers. . . . They never completely lose sight of the accomplishments of space travel, even as they take delight in the absurdities that in the end, make those successes all the more sublime." —Dallas Morning News "A winner of a subject. . . . Roach's strange enthusiasm for all things oddball . . . makes Mars more than a worthy destination." —Time