Too Far From Home
A Story of Life and Death in Space
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
On February 1, 2003, ten astronauts were orbiting the planet. Seven headed back to Earth on the space shuttle Columbia. They never made it. And the three men left behind found themselves too far from home.
Chris Jones chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Control 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. Yet even amid the danger, the call of space is a siren song, and Too Far From Home details beautifully the majesty and mystique of space travel, while reminding us all how perilous it is to soar beyond the sky.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When the space shuttle Columbia broke up during its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in February 2003, two American astronauts were still aboard the International Space Station, along with a Russian flight engineer. With further NASA flights suspended for months, perhaps years, questions began to emerge not only about how to bring the three men back, but how to provide them with enough supplies while they remained in space. Jones first wrote about the Expedition 6 team in an award-winning article for Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), and his story combines gripping narrative and strongly defined characters. Though extensive accounts of the Americans' backgrounds seems at first to put the brakes on, it's a necessary counterweight to parallel passages about the little-understood Russian space program essential information because the three eventually took "an accelerated, lung-crushing dive" in a Soyuz capsule. In addition to that adventure, Jones's reporting is filled with details of life aboard the space station, from the amazing beauty of a space walk to the more mundane problem of "taking a crap" in zero gravity. That sort of frank talk enhances readers' identification with the astronauts, making their drama all the more engrossing.
