The Andromeda Strain to the upper atmosphere, where the oxygen content is lower, better suiting its growth. The novel's epilogue reveals that a manned spacecraft, "Andros V", was incinerated during atmospheric re-entry, presumably because Andromeda had eaten its tungsten/plastic laminate heat shield and caused it to burn up. Crichton was inspired to write the novel after reading "The IPCRESS File" by Len Deighton while studying in England. Crichton says he was "terrifically impressed" by the book - "a lot of "Andromeda" is traceable to "Ipcress" in terms of trying to create an imaginary world using recogniseable techniques and real people." He wrote the
Charles Logan (author) Charles Logan (author) Charles Logan (born 1930) is a British science fiction writer and professional nurse. He is best known as the author of the book "Shipwreck," first published by Gollancz in 1975, which was the winner of the prize for the best British sci-fi novel that year. The novel tells the story of Tansis, sole survivor after his spaceship shipwreck, who landed on a planet around Capella, the main star of the Virgo constellation. Tansis fights alone against the hostile environment, struggling to survive. Logan wrote only "Shipwreck" and a couple of short stories that have never been published.