Book Log 2021 #54: The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Lady Astronaut series shifts a bit, spending more time with Nicole Wargin as Elma York is part of the first staffed mission to Mars. As the impending climate disaster on Earth starts to take clearer focus, the plan to get as many people off Earth as possible runs into problems with saboteurs. Wargin has to figure out who is behind incidents on the Moon while coping with her husband's political ambitions back on Earth.

York, meanwhile, has to keep her mixed crew together through personal conflicts and the dangers of space travel while also managing trouble at home involving her husband. Both astronauts also have to address their own personal medical issues, which they've not been able to share due to the double standard applied to female astronauts.

As with the other books in the series, there's a core of hard science fiction here that carries other plot lines that aren't quite so focused on rockets and impending ecological catastrophe, and does so well. I'll be curious to see if this series continues along these lines or if it takes more of a Seveneves turn towards setting up the remnant of humanity that will permanently inhabit space.