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.

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.

……

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.

On February 1, 2003, the nation was stunned to watch the shuttle Columbia disintegrate into a blue-green sky. Despite the numerous new reports surrounding the tragedy, the public remained largely unaware that three men, U.S. astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox, and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin, remained orbiting Earth. With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts, who were already near the end of a fourteenweek mission, bad suddenly lost their ride home.

Out of Orbit is the harrowing behind-the-scenes chronicle of the efforts of beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow, who worked 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.

Given that no shuttle could come for them, the astronauts' only hope for a return flight became a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-I capsule latched to the side of the space station--a piece of equipment roughly the equivalent of a "padded box attached to a parachute," with a troubled history (in 1971 a malfunction in the Soyuz I 1 capsule left three Russian astronauts dead) and dated technology.

Gripping and fast-paced, Out of Orbit is an adventure in outer space that will keep you on the edge of your seat. In a day and age when space travel is poised to become available to the masses. Out ofOrbitvividlv cantures both its hazardous realities and soaring majesty.