 What's ironic about the narrator's and Kroger's decision to sign on for the flight scheduled to Venus?
Illustrated by WOOD My agent was the one who got me the job of going along to write up the first trip to Mars. "It'll be the biggest break a writer ever got," he told me, two days before blastoff. A you-are-there type of report? So I went on the first trip to Mars. Trip time is supposed to take 260 days (that's one way), so we're aimed toward where Mars will be (had better be, or else). A pilot, co-pilot, navigator and biochemist. I've met all but the pilot (he's very busy today), and they seem friendly enough. Jones (that's the co-pilot; I didn't quite catch his first name) is scarlet-faced, barrel-chested and gives the general appearance of belonging under the spreading chestnut tree, not in a metal bullet flinging itself out into airless space. Kroger tells me that the pilot's name is Patrick Desmond, but that I can call him Pat when I get to know him better. The inertial gravities didn't bother me so much as the gyroscopic spin they put on the ship so we have a sort of artificial gravity to hold us against the curved floor. Jones (I still haven't learned his first name) has been up with the pilot all day. I still don't know Jones' first name, though Pat spoke to him, and it sounded like Flants. Also, I am one of the first five men in the history of the world to see the opposite side of the Moon, with a bluish blurred crescent beyond it that Pat said was the Earth. Actually, he explained to me, the screen is supposed to keep the image of space locked into place no matter how much we spin. I told him I hoped it didn't mean we'd land on Mars upside down. There's just no awesomeness to it, no sense of depth or immensity. With Martian rime, Venusian slime, And a radioactive hoe. He says it may prove to be environmentally accurate, but that I should stick to prose. So now I know all about Vanity Fair , Pride and Prejudice , War and Peace , Gone with the Wind , and Babbitt . Actually, it's we who are coming in sideways.
 They were permitted to attend due to their 'experience,' but their experience created a major crisis on Earth
 The narrator is going to fabricate more events to make his story sound appealing to the general public  They have the least amount of technical experience compared to the other members of the Martian crew  They were permitted to attend due to their 'experience,' but their experience created a major crisis on Earth  The narrator's deadpan tone is not likely to convey the true excitement of the Venusian journey