First Landing

{{Short description|2002 novel by Robert Zubrin}}

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{{About||the park|First Landing State Park|the racehorse|First Landing (horse)}}

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First Landing is a 2002 science fiction novel by Robert Zubrin that tells the story of the first crewed space expedition to Mars.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/02/books/review/02SCIFIT.html|title=Monuments From the Future|last=Jonas|first=Gerald|date=2001-09-02|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-08-01}}{{Cite news |last= Graham |first= Mark |title=First Landing|newspaper= Rocky Mountain News |url-access= |accessdate= July 31, 2016 |date= September 28, 2001|url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-78759401.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160911040035/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-78759401.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= September 11, 2016}} Zubrin is the head of the Mars Society, an organization lobbying the real world NASA to send astronauts to Mars. The plan used to accomplish their mission in the book is the same one advocated by his group.{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Robert_Zubrin.aspx|title=Robert Zubrin Facts, information, pictures {{!}} Encyclopedia.com articles about Robert Zubrin|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2016-08-01}}

In the novel, the explorers discover bacterial life on Mars and are abandoned due to political circumstances, and must fend for themselves if they want to return to Earth, thus highlighting many of the more robust features of Zubrin's plan for Mars.{{Cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-441-00859-9|title=Fiction Book Review: FIRST LANDING by Robert Zubrin|work=Publishers Weekly|access-date=2016-08-01}}{{Cite web|url=http://allreaders.com/book-review-summary/first-landing-6683|title=Detailed Review Summary of First Landing by Robert Zubrin|website=allreaders.com|access-date=2016-08-01}}

Zubrin also wrote The Case for Mars, a detailed nonfiction explanation of the same plan.