To the harsh landscape of Sol's fourth planet travel thirteen astronauts, the best scientists from eleven nations, on a history-making voyage into the unknown. The international crew of the Mars mission have spent nine months in space, crossing 100 million kilometres, to reach the last great frontier. Their voyage is fraught with disputes, both personal and political, and their time on Mars limited to 'footprints and flags'; yet while there they will come face-to-face with the most incredible and shocking discovery of all.

'A real space novel that predicts many of the problems that will confront the men and women who actually make the trip sometime around 2020' * James A. Michener *
'There used to be only one Mars and it belonged to Edgar Rice Burroughs . . . Now Ben Bova has landed, with a new pair of eyes, and Mars is brand new again' * Ray Bradbury *
'Extraordinary . . . MARS succeeds as scientific exploration, as adventure story, as a mythic tale' * Orson Scott Caird *
'a splendid book . . . of his many books, MARS must be the most important' * Arthur C. Clarke *
'Gripping, realistic - don't miss it' * Terry Brooks *

An award-winning editor, President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, Ben Bova is also the author of more than one hundred futuristic novels and non-fiction books. He and his wife live in Florida.