In 2003, a bunch of anoraks in woolly jumpers joined forces with the leader of a rock band and an artist who saws cows in half and designed a tiny spacecraft on the back of a beermat, and then built it in their garage. Against all odds, it's now 250 million miles away, around the Red Planet. This is the story of Pillinger's life before, during and after the Beagle 2 project, with a foreword by Sir Patrick Moore.