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Too Far From Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space
An incredible, true-life adventure set on the most dangerous frontier of all - outer space.
In the nearly forty years since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, space travel has come to be seen as a routine enterprise - at least until the shuttle Columbia disintegrated like the Challenger before it, reminding us, once again, that the dangers are all too real.
Too Far from Home vividly captures the hazardous realities of space travel. Every time an astronaut makes the trip into space, he faces the possibility of death from the slightest mechanical error or instance of bad luck: a cracked O-ring, an errant piece of space junk, an oxygen leak . . . There are a myriad of frighteningly probable events that would result in an astronaut's death. In fact, twenty-one people who have attempted the journey have been killed.
Yet for a special breed of individual, the call of space is worth the risk. Men such as U.S. astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox, and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin, who in November 2002 left on what was to be a routine fourteen-week mission maintaining the International Space Station.
But then, on February 23, 2003, the Columbia exploded beneath them. Despite the numerous news reports examining the tragedy, the public remained largely unaware that three men remained orbiting the earth. With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home.
Too Far from Home chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men safely back to Earth, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best, like a long shot.
Latched to the side of the space station was a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, whose technology dated from the late 1960s (in 1971 a malfunction in the Soyuz 11 capsule left three Russian astronauts dead). Despite the inherent danger, the Soyuz became the only hope to return Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit home.
Chris Jones writes beautifully of the majesty and mystique of space travel, while reminding us all how perilous it is to soar beyond the sky.
In the nearly forty years since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, space travel has come to be seen as a routine enterprise - at least until the shuttle Columbia disintegrated like the Challenger before it, reminding us, once again, that the dangers are all too real.
Too Far from Home vividly captures the hazardous realities of space travel. Every time an astronaut makes the trip into space, he faces the possibility of death from the slightest mechanical error or instance of bad luck: a cracked O-ring, an errant piece of space junk, an oxygen leak . . . There are a myriad of frighteningly probable events that would result in an astronaut's death. In fact, twenty-one people who have attempted the journey have been killed.
Yet for a special breed of individual, the call of space is worth the risk. Men such as U.S. astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox, and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin, who in November 2002 left on what was to be a routine fourteen-week mission maintaining the International Space Station.
But then, on February 23, 2003, the Columbia exploded beneath them. Despite the numerous news reports examining the tragedy, the public remained largely unaware that three men remained orbiting the earth. With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home.
Too Far from Home chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men safely back to Earth, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best, like a long shot.
Latched to the side of the space station was a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, whose technology dated from the late 1960s (in 1971 a malfunction in the Soyuz 11 capsule left three Russian astronauts dead). Despite the inherent danger, the Soyuz became the only hope to return Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit home.
Chris Jones writes beautifully of the majesty and mystique of space travel, while reminding us all how perilous it is to soar beyond the sky.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 23, 2007
46 people are currently reading
1020 people want to read
About the author
Chris Jones
2 books9 followersChris Jones was born in London in 1973. He has written for Canada's National Post since 1998 and won the Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prize for outstanding young journalists in 1999 (Over 25,00 Circulation category). He lives in Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
February 5, 2017
It's a very entertaining book for such a harrowing story. The astronauts Donald Pettit, Kenneth Bowersox and the cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin were on a 14 week mission on the International Space Station when the Columbia shuttle blew up, killing all seven people on board and leaving the men on the ISS with no way of getting home. They lived a day to day existence, making the food last and hoping that NASA would come through in time. They did, the three of them squashed into a little capsule and shooting, superheated, through the atmosphere, crash-landed into remotest Kazakhstan where they were found some hours later and returned to civilization as heroes.
Meanwhile back at the ranch....
1. This is really funny to imagine. The tools on the ISS are kept in a bar fridge-size box. When it is opened all the tools are tethered with difference lengths of string. They all float out on their own trajectorie, bobbing and weaving and enterwining as the astronauts try and herd them all together and attempt to untangle them before they all knot up. Everyone apparently dreads opening it.
2. Funny one. The Americans on discovering that pens don't work in space because there is no gravity to pull down the ink, spent millions and years on developing a new ink delivery system and pen. The Russians - they gave their cosmonauts pencils!
3. Patronising one. The author keeps writing about the difficulty of the astronauts' wives. Like they are not autonomous human beings with lives but just adjuncts to their husbands and they sit and wait and have difficulty getting on with their lives without them.
4. Naughty one. On Sundays the astronauts and their families from the US and a military background went to church. Chris Hadfield (Canadian) and the Israeli, Spanish and others all recuperated from very wild Saturday nights. They all felt that life could end in a tin can up above the earth. The Church goers were no doubt praying for a successful trip and hopes of a good afterlife and the non-church goers were packing in as much partying as they could do.
5. The difference between Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts. Apparently the Americans are wimps and the Russians stalwart. When it comes to the shuttle and take off Americans wear nappies but the Russians would rather restrict their fluid and food intake for a few days and have an ice cold enema before take-off than wear a diaper on their hairy botties. Good stuff!
I enjoyed this book. It isn't written with the sparkle and flair of An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth but covers the same ground plus much more, almost the entire back story of the exploration of space with astronauts in the US and Russia. That makes it very interesting.
Meanwhile back at the ranch....
1. This is really funny to imagine. The tools on the ISS are kept in a bar fridge-size box. When it is opened all the tools are tethered with difference lengths of string. They all float out on their own trajectorie, bobbing and weaving and enterwining as the astronauts try and herd them all together and attempt to untangle them before they all knot up. Everyone apparently dreads opening it.
2. Funny one. The Americans on discovering that pens don't work in space because there is no gravity to pull down the ink, spent millions and years on developing a new ink delivery system and pen. The Russians - they gave their cosmonauts pencils!
3. Patronising one. The author keeps writing about the difficulty of the astronauts' wives. Like they are not autonomous human beings with lives but just adjuncts to their husbands and they sit and wait and have difficulty getting on with their lives without them.
4. Naughty one. On Sundays the astronauts and their families from the US and a military background went to church. Chris Hadfield (Canadian) and the Israeli, Spanish and others all recuperated from very wild Saturday nights. They all felt that life could end in a tin can up above the earth. The Church goers were no doubt praying for a successful trip and hopes of a good afterlife and the non-church goers were packing in as much partying as they could do.
5. The difference between Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts. Apparently the Americans are wimps and the Russians stalwart. When it comes to the shuttle and take off Americans wear nappies but the Russians would rather restrict their fluid and food intake for a few days and have an ice cold enema before take-off than wear a diaper on their hairy botties. Good stuff!
I enjoyed this book. It isn't written with the sparkle and flair of An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth but covers the same ground plus much more, almost the entire back story of the exploration of space with astronauts in the US and Russia. That makes it very interesting.
February 7, 2012
Oh, that all nonfiction were this well written.
March 25, 2019
This book happened to be on the library shelf in the vicinity of "Endurance", which I read last month. It looked interesting, so I took it home. I almost put it down 50 pages in, but instead I skimmed the next 50 pages until the book found its stride at about page 100. First off, the writing is highly irritating. You'd expect a story about space to be pretty factual and no-nonsense, but unwelcome and irritating metaphors abound, combined with waxing poetic about trivial items (one page description of the solitude of a desert??) If you can get past this, and the choppy first 100 pages, the story starts to set in. I learned a lot about the Russian space program, and the tale of the three astronauts waiting for a ride home was intriguing.
All in all, though, it felt like it was hacked together and about 150 pages too long, which isn't good news for a book just short of 300 pages.
All in all, though, it felt like it was hacked together and about 150 pages too long, which isn't good news for a book just short of 300 pages.
June 25, 2007
This is based upon the audio download from [http://www.Audible.com]
Narrated by: Erik Davies
Imagine being stranded in the International Space Station not knowing when the next shuttle is coming to take you home. This is story of two U.S. astronauts and one cosmonaut after the shuttle Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry in the earth's atmosphere and NASA's efforts to bring them home.
Narrated by: Erik Davies
Imagine being stranded in the International Space Station not knowing when the next shuttle is coming to take you home. This is story of two U.S. astronauts and one cosmonaut after the shuttle Columbia was destroyed upon re-entry in the earth's atmosphere and NASA's efforts to bring them home.
March 10, 2009
I actually worked with Don Pettit, one of the American astronauts at NASA. He's an amazing guy and the book hardly does the entire experience justice. Hearing the encounter from him, the man who was ACTAULLY on board, makes the book pale in comparison. This is something that should not soon be forgotten. A very, VERY scary mission; a very close call. My best to you & your family, Don:)
October 6, 2013
3.5 stars
I was surprised when I first started reading this book. I had expected it to be more technical. Instead, alot of the book was "how does it feel", and I wondered, how does Chris Jones know how it feels? Reading the acknowledgements, I found out -- the astronauts involved were thanked for being "particularly generous with their time".
The frame of the book was this: After Columbia burnt up in the atmosphere on February 1, 2003, the American shuttle fleet was grounded until the cause of the disaster could be determined (and corrected). The International Space Station had 3 astronauts on board (2 Americans and 1 Russian). The astronauts had expected to use an American shuttle to return home; now that was not going to happen; how do they get home?
Most of the text was involved in telling the "back story" -- brief biographies of the astronauts; anecdotes from the American space program; and a brief history of the Soviet space program. The author additionally goes into detail about life aboard the International Space Station, including "how does it feel" to see the stars from the space station, unclouded by atmosphere (and ... how does he know this? ah, that's right, the astronauts were "particularly generous with their time".)
The last chapter was a play-by-play description of the 3 astronauts flight from the International Space Station on board a Russian Soyuz capsule until they were home safe and sound.
Parts of the book dragged for me, and just when I was about to put it down, Mr. Jones would insert a rather interesting space program anecdote, and I would keep reading.
I was surprised when I first started reading this book. I had expected it to be more technical. Instead, alot of the book was "how does it feel", and I wondered, how does Chris Jones know how it feels? Reading the acknowledgements, I found out -- the astronauts involved were thanked for being "particularly generous with their time".
The frame of the book was this: After Columbia burnt up in the atmosphere on February 1, 2003, the American shuttle fleet was grounded until the cause of the disaster could be determined (and corrected). The International Space Station had 3 astronauts on board (2 Americans and 1 Russian). The astronauts had expected to use an American shuttle to return home; now that was not going to happen; how do they get home?
Most of the text was involved in telling the "back story" -- brief biographies of the astronauts; anecdotes from the American space program; and a brief history of the Soviet space program. The author additionally goes into detail about life aboard the International Space Station, including "how does it feel" to see the stars from the space station, unclouded by atmosphere (and ... how does he know this? ah, that's right, the astronauts were "particularly generous with their time".)
The last chapter was a play-by-play description of the 3 astronauts flight from the International Space Station on board a Russian Soyuz capsule until they were home safe and sound.
Parts of the book dragged for me, and just when I was about to put it down, Mr. Jones would insert a rather interesting space program anecdote, and I would keep reading.
September 5, 2017
This was less technical and more beautiful than I expected. Which is not to say it wasn't informative. I learned more about the American and Russian space programs than I thought I wanted to know. And I confirmed that I never, ever, ever want to go into space. But I'm glad others do, and I'm glad Chris Jones wrote about them.
January 3, 2021
Harrowing, yes, but also much more pensive and poetic than I expected.
February 25, 2015
When the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over the central United States in February 2003, the accident stranded the three crewmembers of the International Space Station without their intended ride home to earth. The Expedition 6 crew--Nikolai Budarin, Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit--was originally supposed to return to earth in March 2003 aboard space shuttle Atlantis. But, the Columbia accident grounded the space shuttle fleet (for more than two years), and Expedition 6 was forced to return in a Soyuz backup module two months after their original return date. This book covers that story. It is an expanded version of an Esquire magazine article written by Canadian writer Chris Jones.
I bought this trade paperback, Out of Orbit, rather recently in a local used bookstore. It didn't dawn on me until sometime later that this version was renamed from the original hardcover printing, which was titled Too Far from Home, which I had had on my Goodreads want list. I wondered why the title had been changed between printings, and little alarm bells went off in my head signaling the potential for other surprises. And as I was to find out, those little alarm bells did not fail me.
The only thing really going for this book is the basic subject itself. It is an interesting, dramatic story, and it's worth covering. Perhaps it made for an engaging magazine article . . . but as a book-length piece, this suffers from a litany of problems. At the very least, the manuscript should have had considerable additional development, as well as a competent editor to fact-check Jones' frequent errors and clumsiness.
The book opens nonsensically with a general overview of Apollo 11 as a prologue. Apollo 11 shares nothing at all in common with the book's subject, other than the fact that the two are space missions. That's it. That's where the similarities end, full stop. This made me immediately skeptical, as it told me Jones was already searching for ways to fill up the manuscript. This is not a good way to begin a book.
For the next several chapters, Jones takes us back and forth from coverage of the Expedition 6 mission interspersed with stories from space history past. Jones' knowledge of space history is tenuous at best, failing to show a depth of knowledge of just about any topic he touches upon, whether it be the space shuttle or Apollo 13 or even Soyuz 1. He even misunderstands Tom Wolfe, which is really remarkable (he thinks modern astronauts have the right stuff--pilots are one thing, but do try to explain why a mission specialist has the right stuff). Jones demonstrates the misunderstanding of someone who has skimmed his sources and then tries to encapsulate what he has learned, not realizing he knows very little.
His narrative gets a little better near the end, when the Soyuz TMA-1 capsule reenters in a short, ballistic trajectory and the crew's fate isn't known for over an hour. That is probably the best part of an otherwise decidedly mediocre book.
Jones is at his best when he relates moments of human interest, away from the jargon and the stuff of astronauts. I think he's probably a good writer at heart, at least when he sticks to non-technical subjects and actually knows something of what he's writing about. But the fact is, he's just seriously out of his depth with this book.
Needless to say, this book is not recommended. Chris Jones has no business writing about space, any more than I would have any business writing about a subject I have little knowledge of, like dog shows or cooking.
I bought this trade paperback, Out of Orbit, rather recently in a local used bookstore. It didn't dawn on me until sometime later that this version was renamed from the original hardcover printing, which was titled Too Far from Home, which I had had on my Goodreads want list. I wondered why the title had been changed between printings, and little alarm bells went off in my head signaling the potential for other surprises. And as I was to find out, those little alarm bells did not fail me.
The only thing really going for this book is the basic subject itself. It is an interesting, dramatic story, and it's worth covering. Perhaps it made for an engaging magazine article . . . but as a book-length piece, this suffers from a litany of problems. At the very least, the manuscript should have had considerable additional development, as well as a competent editor to fact-check Jones' frequent errors and clumsiness.
The book opens nonsensically with a general overview of Apollo 11 as a prologue. Apollo 11 shares nothing at all in common with the book's subject, other than the fact that the two are space missions. That's it. That's where the similarities end, full stop. This made me immediately skeptical, as it told me Jones was already searching for ways to fill up the manuscript. This is not a good way to begin a book.
For the next several chapters, Jones takes us back and forth from coverage of the Expedition 6 mission interspersed with stories from space history past. Jones' knowledge of space history is tenuous at best, failing to show a depth of knowledge of just about any topic he touches upon, whether it be the space shuttle or Apollo 13 or even Soyuz 1. He even misunderstands Tom Wolfe, which is really remarkable (he thinks modern astronauts have the right stuff--pilots are one thing, but do try to explain why a mission specialist has the right stuff). Jones demonstrates the misunderstanding of someone who has skimmed his sources and then tries to encapsulate what he has learned, not realizing he knows very little.
His narrative gets a little better near the end, when the Soyuz TMA-1 capsule reenters in a short, ballistic trajectory and the crew's fate isn't known for over an hour. That is probably the best part of an otherwise decidedly mediocre book.
Jones is at his best when he relates moments of human interest, away from the jargon and the stuff of astronauts. I think he's probably a good writer at heart, at least when he sticks to non-technical subjects and actually knows something of what he's writing about. But the fact is, he's just seriously out of his depth with this book.
Needless to say, this book is not recommended. Chris Jones has no business writing about space, any more than I would have any business writing about a subject I have little knowledge of, like dog shows or cooking.
September 30, 2013
This is a frank discussion about the perils of space travel and life on the international space station. It's framed around the Columbia disaster and the subsequent grounding of the American shuttle fleet, which left the three residents stranded for a period of months until the Russians could send up replacements.
Since there's not much drama to the frame, just a tragic accident and growing anxiety, the book's highlights tend to be the elaborate stories and chronicling of past experiences in the station. The incredible near-death stories on Muir. The realities of people going insane when living in space for prolonged periods. The kind of psychological profiling and health screening needed. All of these are recounted in great detail while occasional bouncing back to the story of three men sitting around in a space station for months on end.
It's told well, with a clinical love of detail that somehow evokes the deep dread more skillfully than a more exotic telling. I felt genuine terror as Jones recounted a fire in the space station that almost left the entire crew dead. A good, focused examination of the modern space program's challenges and the people overcoming them.
Since there's not much drama to the frame, just a tragic accident and growing anxiety, the book's highlights tend to be the elaborate stories and chronicling of past experiences in the station. The incredible near-death stories on Muir. The realities of people going insane when living in space for prolonged periods. The kind of psychological profiling and health screening needed. All of these are recounted in great detail while occasional bouncing back to the story of three men sitting around in a space station for months on end.
It's told well, with a clinical love of detail that somehow evokes the deep dread more skillfully than a more exotic telling. I felt genuine terror as Jones recounted a fire in the space station that almost left the entire crew dead. A good, focused examination of the modern space program's challenges and the people overcoming them.
October 13, 2009
Really interesting ride. It's a history of the two astronauts and one cosmonaut who were stuck on the International Space Station after the space shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry in 2003. Because all shuttles were grounded for a couple years, their ride home had to be jury-rigged (via Russian space capsule) a few months longer than they'd planned.
If the premise doesn't seem interesting, the way that Jones writes about space, being in space, and what it means should make you pick up the book - hearing the details of day-to-day life "on station" makes you want to try it out (but not for too long). He also gives it a sense of scope that often gets lost in more clinical/historical versions. He also slips in bits of space travel history without making it seem overt.
It lost the fifth star because his tactic of telling and the re-telling portions of the story of the station's travails got confusing, especially with the frequent trips to more distant space history. Overall, I'd highly recommend.
If the premise doesn't seem interesting, the way that Jones writes about space, being in space, and what it means should make you pick up the book - hearing the details of day-to-day life "on station" makes you want to try it out (but not for too long). He also gives it a sense of scope that often gets lost in more clinical/historical versions. He also slips in bits of space travel history without making it seem overt.
It lost the fifth star because his tactic of telling and the re-telling portions of the story of the station's travails got confusing, especially with the frequent trips to more distant space history. Overall, I'd highly recommend.
September 25, 2010
When the Columbia made her final descent into fire on February 1, 2003, the seven who died aboard weren't the only astronauts affected by it. Aboard the International Space Station, the crew of Expedition Six--Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, and Science Officer Don Pettit--suddenly found themselves stuck without a ride home, at least for the time being. This book is their story, as well as the story of the Columbia, and of the mission controllers in Houston and Moscow who worked to get the three men home. (They made it, all right--aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 capsule--but that was an adventure in itself.) Chris Jones tells the story in a dramatic yet factual manner, creating an "Apollo 13" for the 21st century. I've been a longtime space buff, and this mission was of particular interest to me (note the commander's name); I found out about this book reading an Esquire magazine in a doctor's waiting room, and immediately knew I HAD to have this book. And I was right.
January 19, 2012
Chris Jones writes about astronauts Donald Pettit, Kenneth Bowersox and Nikolai Budarin, who “lost their ride home” from the International Space Station when the Columbia shuttle heading back to earth was accidentally destructed on its descent with seven astronauts aboard in 2003.
Like a mystery, Jones keeps the reader in suspense as to how and when these men might be returned to earth.
This book is an in-depth look at how dangerous space travel is and the challenges needed to try and keep astronauts conditionally safe and psychology sound when they are in space.
He explains that often the general public seems unexposed and perhaps for the most part uninterested in space travel until a tragedy such as what happened with the Columbia occurs.
This is a very well written detailed book which shows how dangerous, yet important, space travel is.
Like a mystery, Jones keeps the reader in suspense as to how and when these men might be returned to earth.
This book is an in-depth look at how dangerous space travel is and the challenges needed to try and keep astronauts conditionally safe and psychology sound when they are in space.
He explains that often the general public seems unexposed and perhaps for the most part uninterested in space travel until a tragedy such as what happened with the Columbia occurs.
This is a very well written detailed book which shows how dangerous, yet important, space travel is.
April 21, 2017
I love the idea of space travel. Chris Jone attempts to help the reader know what being on the international space station really feels like on an emotional level. This book is beautifully written. Some of the analogies and tangents the author writes are a bit weird. There is a long passage where he graphically describes the ways an astronaut could die while out on a space walk. It takes talent to be gruesome and beautiful in the same sentence. Chris Jones definitely has talent.
The ending of this book was a revelation for me. I had forgotten how these astronauts (who had to leave the space station in a Russian capsule after the shuttle program was halted in the wake of the Columbia disaster) almost had a disastrous trip back to earth themselves. It took hours for the Russians to find their capsule after a hot re-entry into earth's atmosphere.
The ending of this book was a revelation for me. I had forgotten how these astronauts (who had to leave the space station in a Russian capsule after the shuttle program was halted in the wake of the Columbia disaster) almost had a disastrous trip back to earth themselves. It took hours for the Russians to find their capsule after a hot re-entry into earth's atmosphere.
August 27, 2019
I wonder if I might blame our main stream media for my total ignorance of the drama that unfolded AFTER the Columbia disaster. Naturally, the drama surrounding Columbia's loss would be expected to catch the imagination of the public with all that went into investigating how that disaster took place. And I do recall just a touch of reporting on the "what's next?" kind of thing as it related to the space station, although it lacked the drama because the Russians had lift capacity to serve as an alternative. However, the Soyuz that eventually took the crew down later had its own story to tell that Jones has done a pretty good job capturing. Perhaps not quite the magnitude of Apollo 13, but this is a story that one needs to include in one's repertoire of space journalism to have a complete picture of man's adventures in seeking to get to the stars.
July 8, 2019
This is the story of the 2 astronauts and cosmonaut who were stranded at the international space station after the crash of the space shuttle Columbia led to the revelation of problems with foam projectiles during shuttle launches. I was surprised to learn that the astronauts were so sad to leave the station after a much longer than expected stay. I was touch by their reaction to watching a typical violent action film in space after having been in such a peaceful environment for so long. This book is a good reminder of what humanity can achieve together if we set big goals. It's sad that US-Russian relations are so degraded, when members of these countries have cooperated so much on space projects.
Read
July 25, 2011How come I never knew about this story? Why didn't the press cover it at all? Probably because a deft hand like the author's wasn't available to tell it. The narrative is almost dreamlike, from a complete trance-induced point of view, which makes it a worthy way of relaying this incredible story, plucked from the galaxy of incredible stories that comprise the amazing space program that awestruck me in my youth. I learned things about the program I never knew, and the author really gets into the heart of the technical details and the human emotions of success and failure. Never wavering, all tangents lead back to the story at hand. A marvelous storytelling achievement.
December 25, 2019
If you're really interested in NASA or space in general this book will be interesting to you. But it will certainly not keep you on the edge of your seat like promised in the description. The story is slow, a little all over the place between the actual story of the 3 astronauts of Expedition Six and a million anecdotes of previous missions, and I found the writing to be a little annoying at parts.
August 23, 2023
Out of Orbit proved, despite the small scope of its subject, to be a most interesting and wide-ranging little history. When Columbia disintegrated in the skies above Texas and Louisiana in February 2003, it not only took with it seven lives, but left three men aboard the International Space Station in a heck of a fix. With the shuttle fleet grounded, how were they going to get home? …well, Soyuz. There’s literally a Soyuz parked to the station. This isn’t rocket science, guys. Er — this isn’t brain surgery, guys. Of course, it’s not quite that simple, and the book isn’t that short. It’s actually an ideal book for someone who has little to no knowledge or active interest in the space program, but who finds the thought of three men marooned in orbit sufficiently interesting to start reading — and then get the bug. Rather like Jim Lovell did with Lost Moon, Chris Jones works in partial looks back at the space program from both sides of the Iron Curtain to take us to the creation of the International Space Station, and the hopes of establishing a continuing human presence aboard it. This means not only visiting Apollo, but Skylab and Mir, as well. The result is a little history that begins with human interest hook, and then gets ya all excited and admiring about space exploration, using absorbing, descriptive writing that often puts the reader into the visor and boots of an astronaut facing a crisis far more quickly than the men and women themselves could. It’s good that Jones is able to do this, because the mission itself wasn’t terribly prolonged: another two months were tacked on, but considering that Expedition 6 had planned for a multi-month stay anyway, it’s not exactly the Shackleton expedition. More groceries from the Russians, a little belt-tightening, and bob’s your uncle. The main hitch is that the parked Soyuz available had never made a descent before, and that even if another crew were delivered to relieve Expedition 6, Russia’s Progress capsules weren’t enough to keep a crew supplied: shuttles might have been dismissed as trucks, but like their eighteen-wheeled counterparts on the ground, it was the shuttles that delivered the goods.
January 11, 2022
This is a book which discussed the whole 'space race' and it's effects on our ability to travel outside of our planet. It starts at the top and with the main motivators behind it, going all the way down to the current age and how despite the fact that space travel is no longer as discussed as it was it is still something that we strive for on a regular basis.
The author of the book is trying to stay neutral about this topic, making sure to mention all of the aspects and cultural shifts. Mentioning both the Russian side and the USA side of the race, how their background and culture collided together not just metaphorically but also through their unified front about space travel. It shows that being stuck in a political situation does not mean scientists are not able to do their jobs if they just buckle down and allow themselves to work together.
It also shows how the space travel effects humans, not just those in space and those left behind but also anyone who is behind the scenes or anyone who is able to watch the progress on the news. Once I realised that this book was not one of fiction but rather an actual eventuality that people who travel is space may be met with and their effects, I didn't expect to like it as space is not a topic I found myself drawn towards and this book has taught me all the reasons why that is and all the way in which I could still participate.
I must admit this is a book that anyone is able to pick up, read and find something that appeals to them whether that would be the psychological and emotional effects of space travel, or whether it would be something of a more historical curiosity.
On the grounds of the Kennedy Space Centre, past the swamps and ragged shoreline made foul by red tides, there is a house on the ocean near Cocoa Beach. When its shutters were first opened, it was designed as a party place, a homespun gin joint in which hell-raising astronauts could kick back.
The author of the book is trying to stay neutral about this topic, making sure to mention all of the aspects and cultural shifts. Mentioning both the Russian side and the USA side of the race, how their background and culture collided together not just metaphorically but also through their unified front about space travel. It shows that being stuck in a political situation does not mean scientists are not able to do their jobs if they just buckle down and allow themselves to work together.
It also shows how the space travel effects humans, not just those in space and those left behind but also anyone who is behind the scenes or anyone who is able to watch the progress on the news. Once I realised that this book was not one of fiction but rather an actual eventuality that people who travel is space may be met with and their effects, I didn't expect to like it as space is not a topic I found myself drawn towards and this book has taught me all the reasons why that is and all the way in which I could still participate.
I must admit this is a book that anyone is able to pick up, read and find something that appeals to them whether that would be the psychological and emotional effects of space travel, or whether it would be something of a more historical curiosity.
On the grounds of the Kennedy Space Centre, past the swamps and ragged shoreline made foul by red tides, there is a house on the ocean near Cocoa Beach. When its shutters were first opened, it was designed as a party place, a homespun gin joint in which hell-raising astronauts could kick back.
June 23, 2019
When #space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon atmospheric entry in 2003 and seven precious lives were lost, it also created a challenge for three astronauts left in the international space station - how to get them back to earth now that the only vehicle to get them back was gone? It is a largely unknown tale of how three men braved all the odds and coped with some of the most unexpectedly harrowing time one could face - alone in space with no way to get home! Chris Jones has chronicled the ordeal extremely well, and I think it is a great story on how one could never be overprepared for any kind of exigencies, and how it is all about #people and the #team, especially when we are dealing with such high levels of #uncertainty and #risks.
On a more modest scale - and on terra firma - we all face challenges that even the most prepared minds can't anticipate and plan for. Our risk management strategies often leave a lot to be desired, and most often have no real strategy to deal with the "unknown unknowns". While heroism might occasionally save the day, it ultimately boils down to the more "boring" and mundane things like rigorous preparation, training, planning, etc. The book brings them out.
On a more modest scale - and on terra firma - we all face challenges that even the most prepared minds can't anticipate and plan for. Our risk management strategies often leave a lot to be desired, and most often have no real strategy to deal with the "unknown unknowns". While heroism might occasionally save the day, it ultimately boils down to the more "boring" and mundane things like rigorous preparation, training, planning, etc. The book brings them out.
February 23, 2016
I don't give out one-star reviews very often, but when I do, they are earned. This one is especially earned. My copy is still simmering from my enraged marginalia.
I bought this trade paperback, Out of Orbit, rather recently in a local used bookstore. It didn't dawn on me until sometime later that this version was renamed from the original hardcover printing, which was titled Too Far from Home--a book which I had had on my Goodreads want list. I wondered why the title had been changed between printings, and little alarm bells went off in my head signaling the potential for other surprises. As I was to find out, those little alarm bells did not fail me.
When the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over the central United States in February 2003, the accident stranded the three crewmembers of the International Space Station without their intended ride home to earth. The Expedition 6 crew--Nikolai Budarin, Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit--was originally supposed to return to earth a month later aboard space shuttle Atlantis. However, the Columbia accident grounded the space shuttle fleet (for more than two years), and Expedition 6 spent weeks not knowing how they would get back home. Eventually, they had to return in an untested Soyuz backup module two months after their original return date.
This book covers that story. It is an expanded version of an Esquire magazine article written by Canadian writer Chris Jones.
The only thing really going for this book is the basic subject itself--astronauts stranded in orbit following a fatal accident. It is an interesting, dramatic story, and it's worth covering. Perhaps it made for an engaging magazine article, I'm not sure . . . but as a book-length piece, it suffers from a litany of problems. At the very least, the manuscript should have had considerable additional development, as well as a competent editor to fact-check Jones' frequent errors and clumsiness.
The book opens--nonsensically--with a general overview of Apollo 11 as a prologue. And I think I know why Jones did it--Apollo 11 remains the greatest spaceflight of all time, and Jones probably thought it allowed him a chance to build some instant rapport with the reader. But Apollo 11 shares nothing at all in common with the book's subject, other than the fact that the two are space missions. That's it--that's where the similarities end. So instead of laying a groundwork, it made me immediately skeptical, as it told me Jones was already searching for ways to fill up the manuscript. This is not a good way to begin a book.
For the next several chapters, Jones takes us back and forth from coverage of the Expedition 6 mission interspersed with unrelated stories from space history past. Jones' knowledge of space history is tenuous at best, failing to show a depth of knowledge of just about any topic he touches on, whether it be the space shuttle or Apollo 13 or even Soyuz 1.
I was frequently irritated by Jones' glib descriptions and his desire to funnel things down to slick little phrases that a junior sportswriter would use. Jones appears incapable of writing seriously about a serious subject. As it turns out, my hunch about a sportswriter's style was right on the money--I learned later that Jones wrote about boxing in a prior phase of his career. But this is different stuff. When you're writing about a subject this technical, you don't get to cut corners and let your creative whims take hold--you have to be precise.
I'll give you one specific example of a technical error which is then embellished by Jones' laziness. He describes one of the Expedition 6 astronauts feeling space shuttle Endeavour sway in its moorings about 20 seconds from launch, with the main engines moving on their gimbals "to test their directional thrust." There are two errors here. First, the timing of this is incorrect--the space shuttle's main engines do not ignite until T-6 seconds, so the shuttle doesn't sway in its moorings until the last five seconds before launch. Second, the phrase "to test their directional thrust" is misleading and lazy. It is not a test of thrust--it is an automatic check of the main engines' directional capability while under power (and technically speaking, 'thrust' is a loosely applied term here, because thrust implies motion!). It's an important difference. Jones fumbles the description in his desire to simplify the language.
And there are many other examples of errors and lazy writing, like the above, strewn throughout the book. Jones has merely skimmed his sources and tried to summarize what he has learned, not realizing he knows very little.
He even misunderstands Tom Wolfe, which is really remarkable. Jones thinks modern astronauts have the 'right stuff'--let's remember that Wolfe's thesis in The Right Stuff was specifically about test pilots, and test pilots who become astronauts. So do try to explain to me why a mission specialist would have the 'right stuff.'
Jones' narrative gets a little better right near the end, when the Soyuz TMA-1 capsule reenters in a short, ballistic trajectory and the Expedition 6 crew's fate isn't known for over an hour. That is easily the best part of an otherwise decidedly mediocre book.
Jones writes reasonably well when he relates moments of human interest, away from the jargon and the stuff of astronauts. I'll be exceedingly generous and say I think he's probably a good writer at heart, at least when he sticks to non-technical subjects and actually knows something of what he's writing about. But the fact is, Chris Jones is seriously out of his depth with this book.
This book is not recommended, and I would specifically warn away casual readers who won't be able to spot his errors. Chris Jones has no business writing about space, any more than I would have any business writing about a subject I have little knowledge of, like dog shows or cooking.
I bought this trade paperback, Out of Orbit, rather recently in a local used bookstore. It didn't dawn on me until sometime later that this version was renamed from the original hardcover printing, which was titled Too Far from Home--a book which I had had on my Goodreads want list. I wondered why the title had been changed between printings, and little alarm bells went off in my head signaling the potential for other surprises. As I was to find out, those little alarm bells did not fail me.
When the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over the central United States in February 2003, the accident stranded the three crewmembers of the International Space Station without their intended ride home to earth. The Expedition 6 crew--Nikolai Budarin, Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit--was originally supposed to return to earth a month later aboard space shuttle Atlantis. However, the Columbia accident grounded the space shuttle fleet (for more than two years), and Expedition 6 spent weeks not knowing how they would get back home. Eventually, they had to return in an untested Soyuz backup module two months after their original return date.
This book covers that story. It is an expanded version of an Esquire magazine article written by Canadian writer Chris Jones.
The only thing really going for this book is the basic subject itself--astronauts stranded in orbit following a fatal accident. It is an interesting, dramatic story, and it's worth covering. Perhaps it made for an engaging magazine article, I'm not sure . . . but as a book-length piece, it suffers from a litany of problems. At the very least, the manuscript should have had considerable additional development, as well as a competent editor to fact-check Jones' frequent errors and clumsiness.
The book opens--nonsensically--with a general overview of Apollo 11 as a prologue. And I think I know why Jones did it--Apollo 11 remains the greatest spaceflight of all time, and Jones probably thought it allowed him a chance to build some instant rapport with the reader. But Apollo 11 shares nothing at all in common with the book's subject, other than the fact that the two are space missions. That's it--that's where the similarities end. So instead of laying a groundwork, it made me immediately skeptical, as it told me Jones was already searching for ways to fill up the manuscript. This is not a good way to begin a book.
For the next several chapters, Jones takes us back and forth from coverage of the Expedition 6 mission interspersed with unrelated stories from space history past. Jones' knowledge of space history is tenuous at best, failing to show a depth of knowledge of just about any topic he touches on, whether it be the space shuttle or Apollo 13 or even Soyuz 1.
I was frequently irritated by Jones' glib descriptions and his desire to funnel things down to slick little phrases that a junior sportswriter would use. Jones appears incapable of writing seriously about a serious subject. As it turns out, my hunch about a sportswriter's style was right on the money--I learned later that Jones wrote about boxing in a prior phase of his career. But this is different stuff. When you're writing about a subject this technical, you don't get to cut corners and let your creative whims take hold--you have to be precise.
I'll give you one specific example of a technical error which is then embellished by Jones' laziness. He describes one of the Expedition 6 astronauts feeling space shuttle Endeavour sway in its moorings about 20 seconds from launch, with the main engines moving on their gimbals "to test their directional thrust." There are two errors here. First, the timing of this is incorrect--the space shuttle's main engines do not ignite until T-6 seconds, so the shuttle doesn't sway in its moorings until the last five seconds before launch. Second, the phrase "to test their directional thrust" is misleading and lazy. It is not a test of thrust--it is an automatic check of the main engines' directional capability while under power (and technically speaking, 'thrust' is a loosely applied term here, because thrust implies motion!). It's an important difference. Jones fumbles the description in his desire to simplify the language.
And there are many other examples of errors and lazy writing, like the above, strewn throughout the book. Jones has merely skimmed his sources and tried to summarize what he has learned, not realizing he knows very little.
He even misunderstands Tom Wolfe, which is really remarkable. Jones thinks modern astronauts have the 'right stuff'--let's remember that Wolfe's thesis in The Right Stuff was specifically about test pilots, and test pilots who become astronauts. So do try to explain to me why a mission specialist would have the 'right stuff.'
Jones' narrative gets a little better right near the end, when the Soyuz TMA-1 capsule reenters in a short, ballistic trajectory and the Expedition 6 crew's fate isn't known for over an hour. That is easily the best part of an otherwise decidedly mediocre book.
Jones writes reasonably well when he relates moments of human interest, away from the jargon and the stuff of astronauts. I'll be exceedingly generous and say I think he's probably a good writer at heart, at least when he sticks to non-technical subjects and actually knows something of what he's writing about. But the fact is, Chris Jones is seriously out of his depth with this book.
This book is not recommended, and I would specifically warn away casual readers who won't be able to spot his errors. Chris Jones has no business writing about space, any more than I would have any business writing about a subject I have little knowledge of, like dog shows or cooking.
Read
June 2, 2022This true story centers mostly on the three astronauts who comprised Mission 6 to the International Space Station. They're the ones who were stranded in space when the shuttle Columbia broke up over Texas.
The book was published only four years after that tragedy, so it's both raw and a kind of time capsule. While some of the writing goes borderline purple for me, it's well-structured, informative, and by turns harrowing and moving.
It's good to have reminders like this that there is absolutely nothing routine about space travel, and that the people who do it are facing a spectacular array of dangers and challenges.
NB: Readers will be glad to know that Don Pettit (hey, he's my age!) made it back to the ISS.
The book was published only four years after that tragedy, so it's both raw and a kind of time capsule. While some of the writing goes borderline purple for me, it's well-structured, informative, and by turns harrowing and moving.
It's good to have reminders like this that there is absolutely nothing routine about space travel, and that the people who do it are facing a spectacular array of dangers and challenges.
NB: Readers will be glad to know that Don Pettit (hey, he's my age!) made it back to the ISS.
July 5, 2023
This book really drives home how precarious space is! Well researched and able to convey a lot of science for someone like me who doesn’t really know a lot about space. It’s just amazing how close to death astronauts really are. I have a new appreciation for the logistics of these missions too. Anytime the focus was on the station/expedition 6 I was fascinated.
My biggest complaint about the book is that it really jumps around and has very choppy transitions. All the space stuff is great, they get to the space station, and then it suddenly goes back and gives everybody’s boring biography including their families. I definitely was just dragging through these sections of the book. And then back on the ISS, then historical Russian flights. It could have been laid out a lot more logically. Maybe focusing more on expedition 6 instead of going off on tangents.
My biggest complaint about the book is that it really jumps around and has very choppy transitions. All the space stuff is great, they get to the space station, and then it suddenly goes back and gives everybody’s boring biography including their families. I definitely was just dragging through these sections of the book. And then back on the ISS, then historical Russian flights. It could have been laid out a lot more logically. Maybe focusing more on expedition 6 instead of going off on tangents.
September 9, 2020
It started slow, and I had some early moments of doubt and angst that I'd stumbled into a book that was more tech than story.
However, in Out of Orbit, Jones does a good job of balancing the necessary technology and operations narrative (and minimizing its dryness) with the meat of the story: the people, the mission, the risks and the journey. As a reader I assume there MUST be some interpretive license by the author in ascribing thoughts and emotions to the characters, but if so he's done it in a way that is believable and genuine, without an obviously heavy hand "for dramatic effect".
A Good Read overall, and about a topic not often covered.
However, in Out of Orbit, Jones does a good job of balancing the necessary technology and operations narrative (and minimizing its dryness) with the meat of the story: the people, the mission, the risks and the journey. As a reader I assume there MUST be some interpretive license by the author in ascribing thoughts and emotions to the characters, but if so he's done it in a way that is believable and genuine, without an obviously heavy hand "for dramatic effect".
A Good Read overall, and about a topic not often covered.
March 19, 2025
Finding this book in a used book store was a wonderful surprise. I have always been interested in the NASA space program, watch launches when they happen, and am always glad when these brave men and women return to Earth. I have always had questions about the "behind the scenes" situations. On February 1, 2003, ten astronauts were orbiting the planet. Seven wre headed back to Earth on the space shuttle Columbia. They never made it and three men left behind found themselves asking the questions, how do we get home as they found This was a themselves Too Far From Home. This was an informative and dramatic read.
July 16, 2019
Very well written. I was expecting more of a play by play of the events following the Challenger disaster which resulted in Expedition 6 being stranded on the ISS without a viable plan to bring the astronauts back.
Instead, the book skips between the past, present a future and takes a more wholistic approach. It discussed a few technical aspects of space travel but it mainly concentrates on the emotions and complexities of life in space. Everything is permeated by a rich, beautiful writing style which almost descends into poetry at times.
A must read for any space enthusiast!
Instead, the book skips between the past, present a future and takes a more wholistic approach. It discussed a few technical aspects of space travel but it mainly concentrates on the emotions and complexities of life in space. Everything is permeated by a rich, beautiful writing style which almost descends into poetry at times.
A must read for any space enthusiast!
December 11, 2017
This got on my radar because Mary Roach mentions it in Packing for Mars. And I was pleasantly surprised. It was a lot more interesting than I was expecting it to be considering the author wasn't actually there for any of these events. There's a really great mix of background information and forward motion. At first I really wasn't sure about all the extra information we were given, but I realized when I finished that I really dug it. This was a solid read.
February 21, 2024
The author jumps around the timeline a lot making it difficult to keep things straight in my head. One minute he's talking about the Columbia, next he's rewound 40 years telling a story about the Russian exploits. I never developed an attachment to what was going on, never felt the fear or uncertainty the astronauts left on the space station would've felt. Overall an ok book but fell short of what I was expecting.
April 3, 2018
While there was some out-lieing boring information given, the premise and intensity of this book was incredible. It was able to transform space and thoroughly explain the daily life and background of space and each of these men. It was truly an inspirational and compelling novel to read - and listen to!
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