That's it. It's such a weird mistake to make, especially when the rest of the book is so good. The author must have done a lot of historical research.

That's why it's so puzzling and off-putting. They repeat the temperature more than once. It can't even be a typo.

I can only assume all the editors used Fahrenheit in their daily life or else they couldn't help but notice it.

I have no problem suspending disbelief for all manner of sci fi nonsense, but this - my brain is caught up in it, like it's a detective story.

It's a good lesson. I'm in the middle of a fic about space travel right now, and I'm often tempted to skip on the research. (And then the rocket flew, because of SCIENCE!)

I don't care if I get some obscure technical fact wrong, but I wouldn't want to make such a strange everyday mistake like this.