An eminently readable middle-grade mystery novel. Doesn't work as a stand-alone though, as I had to go to the library in search of the first Moon Base Alpha book for sufficient backstory by the time I finished the second chapter.

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The second book in the Moon Base Alpha series. Dash finds himself cornered in the bathroom and defends himself with the space toilet suction device, getting in trouble for possible damage to an essential machine by MBA's no-nonsense commander, Nina. When Nina disappears, Dash and his posse start snooping around, eventually finding a stash of moon rocks in her living quarters, leading to all kinds of wild speculation about her action and disappearance. The highlights in the book are the frantic search outside the base, with damaged helmets, and Dash's little sister Violet's imaginary friends. I thought this book slow at times, with a much less interesting plot than the first book, Space Case, but it has higher ratings. Go figure. ( )

3.5 stars: I'm probably older than the target audience for this book. And, for some of us, the words Moon Base Alpha conjure memories of a TV show called "Space 1999" This is not that Moon Base Alpha though.

This Moon Base Alpha houses families and the main character is 12 year old Dashiell who with the help of an alien only he can "see" helps the remainder of the base find their missing commander, Nina.

What I liked: Violet has a significant role (even though most usually ignore her insights); smart kids who aren't smart mouths(Dash & Kira) ;

What I didn't like: People tend to overlook Violet's input; bullies (even on the moon!); NASA made promises to the people it employed and it doesn't seem to be following through on them (helping them with financial matters that come up on Earth while they're on the moon); ( )

This is a science fiction mystery book and it's about a boy named Dashiell (Dash) Gibson and his family who lives on the moon along with other scientists, doctors, and the richest, most spoiled, mean family ever. They paid a lot of money to live on the moon too. Their home is called Moon Base Alpha now. Dash's family was invited to live on the moon because his mom is a rock geologist. Anyways, everything was pretty normal and regular until they discovered that the commander of the base was missing! Dash was the last person to see Nina stack, the commander, alive. Nobody really noticed at first, but after a couple days of not seeing her outside of her residence of course people started to get worried. Dash may be only 12 years old, but he's the only hope in finding Nina. Everyone checked the base a million times and didn't find her. They even looked out on the moon, but still no Nina. Could she be dead? Is she safe? Find out yourself and read this satisfying adventure about Moon Base Alpha's interesting mystery.
I love this book and I gave it a five star rating because there is so much interesting things that were happening in this story. I love reading mystery books like this and every time I read this novel I could never put it down. The first book was also very good. I just couldn't figure out where Nina could be. If you love to read suspenseful mysteries like me, then I'm 99.9% sure that you'll enjoy reading this novel. This book gave me goosebumps constantly because it was so thrilling to read every word. Spaced Out also has some solid humor that actually makes me laugh out loud. I love this book and I'm pretty sure that if you read this book, you'll love it too! ( )

I read this book while on vacation. My son and I have a liking for this author's writing style. This author presents some very dangerous activities like space walks and humans not taking care of the earth in an unique view of a preteen. The story held my attention from start to finish. I really wish it would not take another whole year until the next book of the adventure comes out. ( )