space

Gemini

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Gemini: Stepping Stone to the Moon, The Untold Story by Jeffrey Kluger

Mercury astronauts were first in space while Apollo astronauts went to the moon. Gemini, the NASA program in between, sometimes gets overlooked. Kluger, the author of Apollo 8 and Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, tells the story of Gemini very well. The Gemini Project began in 1961 and was always meant to set the stage for the Apollo missions. The new spacecraft held two men (no mention here of the Mercury 13 women who hoped to be astronauts), used a larger rocket to launch, and included the first spacewalks and attempts to rendezvous with another spacecraft. Ten manned missions were launched in 1965 and 1966, which was truly unprecedented.

The names of many of the astronauts who flew the Gemini missions will be familiar to space buffs, including John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Gus Grissom, as well as flight directors Chris Craft and Gene Kranz. The quest to build the spacecraft did not go smoothly, and there was always the pressure of not enough time, trying to catch up and pull ahead in the space race with the Soviet Union. The flights themselves make for compelling reading, and the personalities of the astronauts and NASA engineers are memorably sketched. Very interesting and informative reading. Here’s one fun fact: NASA pronounces Gemini as “Geminee”.

Brenda

Atmosphere

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Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Read

It’s great when a popular new book lives up to the hype. Atmosphere is a thrilling ride, and a compulsive read. Joan Goodwin is an astronomer, a professor of physics and astronomy, when she applies to be a NASA astronaut at the beginning of the space shuttle program. She doesn’t get an interview the first time, but is selected for the second group of astronaut candidates, along with several other women. Her class of astronaut candidates includes pilot Hank, brilliant mission specialist Lydia, Griff, Donna, and Vanessa, an aeronautical engineer and pilot. Vanessa wants to fly a space shuttle, but only military pilots were eligible and, like almost all women pilots at the time, Vanessa was a commercial pilot.

A couple of the characters are inspired by NASA astronauts Sally Ride and Anna Fisher. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, kept her personal life very private until she died of cancer in 2012, then had her obituary include recognition of Tam Elizabeth O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years. Anna Fisher married another astronaut candidate, waited months to announce her pregnancy, went back to work the week after giving birth, and flew on space shuttle Discovery when her daughter was 15 months old. One female character in the book conceals a pregnancy, and another has a secret girlfriend, which could lose her the necessary security clearance to be assigned a shuttle mission.

The only really unlikable character in Atmosphere is Joan’s sister Barbara, who demands frequent backup from Joan to care for her daughter, Frances, and doesn’t come to her first launch. Fortunately, Frances and Joan are very close. Joan is challenged by motion sickness, but perseveres, goes into space, and later becomes a CapCom, communicating with astronauts from NASA’s Mission Control Center. As we learn at the beginning of the story, Joan is the CapCom when several members of her candidate class fly aboard the (fictional) shuttle Navigator, and all does not go well for their mission. Joan cares deeply about everyone on board, making the crisis even more challenging for her. Exciting and moving, this fast-paced thriller has a big heart. I’ve read Reid’s Malibu Rising, and appreciate how all of her novels are very distinct from each other.

Brenda

Moon Shot

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Moon Shot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible by Mike Massimino

This book is an excellent combination of memoir and motivational writing. Mike applied to be a NASA astronaut three times, and failed. The third time he was close, but his vision wasn’t quite good enough. He was prescribed eye exercises by an optometrist, and managed to get accepted. Then he found out he needed to pass a long-distance swim test and a lifesaving test, and Mike didn’t swim as well as his 3-year-old. When he became part of the Astronaut Candidate group in 1996, he learned that a large part of their training was about team work, so the stronger swimmers spent time giving tips to Mike and the other weak swimmers.

Massimino, a mechanical engineer nicknamed Mass, was on two space shuttle missions to repair the Hubble telescope. His first trip to space was on Columbia, 11 months before its terrible accident. Mike writes about being a CapCom, talking with the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station after the Columbia accident, checking on their families, and talking them through basic station maintenance, as if they were doing weekend chores back home. He learned from astronauts like Alan Bean, who flew to the moon in Apollo 12. Some of his lessons from NASA that can apply to anyone’s life include: be amazed, build trust, accept ideas from your whole team, go slow and don’t make your mistakes worse. Ask for help, and learn from your mistakes. There are funny scenes and dramatic moments, in a compelling read from from someone who clearly loved working for NASA. Mike later appeared as himself on The Big Bang Theory, and is now a professor and public speaker.

Brenda

Astronauts in Orbit: Two Books

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The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush

The NASA astronaut candidates of 1978 included six women who would all fly in near-earth orbit on the four space shuttles, before the construction of the International Space Station. The lengthy application and testing process is described in detail, along with the long wait to be selected for a space shuttle crew. Sally Ride became famous as the first American woman to orbit the earth, while Judith Resnick was better known for her second, ill-fated flight, on board Challenger in January, 1986. Sally was named to the the committee which investigated the Challenger disaster. Some information about the six was new to me, especially the stories of two women physicians, Anna Fisher and Rhea Seddon, who became pregnant and gave birth while waiting their turn to fly in space, and worked very close to their due dates and returned to work soon after. The six women, faced extra challenges due to their gender in a very male-dominated field, and added pressure from the media. This was great to read alternately with Orbital. Readalikes include The Mercury Thirteen by Martha Ackmann, Handprints on Hubble by Kathy Sullivan, and the novel The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

This beautiful, lyrical novel set a few years from now is a very memorable read, and will likely be nominated for multiple awards. It’s also short, and covers a single twenty-four hour day on the International Space Station. Four astronauts and two cosmonauts, from five countries, are several months into their overlapping nine-month stays on the station. The sixteen daily orbits around the planet reveal the beauty of the planet, the skies, and one massive typhoon heading for the Philippines, where Pietro and his wife met a fisherman and his family on their honeymoon. Chie learns that her mother has died in Japan. Their tedious daily exercise and tightly scripted work days contrast with the absolutely amazing sights including multiple sunrises, shared dreams, and relationships among the crew, their found family. The day described is also notable for another launch into space. Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton is a readalike for this excellent novel.

Brenda