Prescience

Thinking of Stephen Baxter, while many people were touched by the real-life Columbia tragedy, I had a shiver thinking of the chapter in Titan where Columbia is described breaking up on re-entry, not least as in the novel this is just the first in a series of tragedies and disasters. Titan was not of course literally prescient but Baxter had an enthusiast's extensive knowledge of the space programmes (he also described, very accurately, the first few steps of the Chinese manned space programme long before they took place) and his description sadly turned out to be a completely plausible scenario.