Page "Mars in fiction" Paragraph 71

* In Die Erde is nah: die Marsexpedition ( 1970 ), by Ludek Pesek, published in English as The Earth is Near ( 1973 ), a crew of twenty men undertake the first manned mission to Mars, and after landing in the wrong area due to computer malfunction and / or human error, have to cope with vicious sand storms, and a long trek undertaken in vehicles to their original intended area of exploration.

The story is told from the viewpoint of the expedition's psychologist, and tries to be ( based on the knowledge then known about Mars when written ) accurate and realistic as to the problems encountered due to the Martian environment, the technology they have, and the human emotional response to their situation.