
Spaceman
An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe
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Narrated by:
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Mike Massimino
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By:
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Mike Massimino
About this listen
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself strapped to a giant rocket that's about to go from zero to 17,500 miles per hour? Or to look back on Earth from outer space and see the surprisingly precise line between day and night? Or to stand in front of the Hubble Space Telescope, wondering if the emergency repair you're about to make will inadvertently ruin humankind's chance to unlock the universe's secrets? Mike Massimino has been there, and in Spaceman he puts you inside the suit, with all the zip and buoyancy of life in microgravity.
Massimino's childhood space dreams were born the day Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Growing up in a working-class Long Island family, he catapulted himself to Columbia and then MIT, only to flunk his first doctoral exam and be rejected three times by NASA before making it through the final round of astronaut selection. Taking us through the surreal wonder and beauty of his first spacewalk, the tragedy of losing friends in the Columbia shuttle accident, and the development of his enduring love for the Hubble Telescope - which he and his fellow astronauts were tasked with saving on his final mission - Massimino has written an ode to never giving up and the power of teamwork to make anything possible. Spaceman invites us into a rare, wonderful world where science meets the most thrilling adventure, revealing just what having "the right stuff" really means.
©2016 Michael J. Massimino (P)2016 Audible, Inc.Critic reviews
Simply wonderful
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Brilliant
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Challenges and experiences shared by a familly.
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If you're a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you'll know the writer. He's the real-life American astronaut who appeared as himself and addressed Howard as Fruitloops in several episodes. This gets mentioned quite late on in the book, whereas in the introduction we get to learn just how scary your first flight into space is.
Having the book read by the writer himself is great. He's not just reading, he's remembering. And although the descriptions of space are wonderful, a lot of the rest is too, including the insights into what gives astronauts the right stuff.
The drama of being in space is nailed down in the repeated sentence I've used as a headline: "There is something wrong with your car." Sure, some part is worn, or there's a bit of grit in a spark plug, or whatever, and everything is fine despite this, until some future date when the problem makes itself known. And maybe it makes itself known when you're on your own late at night, or you're on your way to a job interview, or you've got a load of frozen food thawing in the boot. But what's the worst thing that can happen while you're waiting for the person from the AA or RAC to arrive? Whatever it is, compare it to having a failure in space, when oxygen is limited, and working in a spacesuit is more tiring than you probably realised.
This is a highly engaging and fascinating book, strongly recommended for anybody interested in modern space travel.
There is something wrong with your car
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The chapter when he was describing his spacewalk was so descriptive it brought a lump to my throat.
Superb, a true legend and an inspiration to all.
The best audiobook I have ever listened to by far.
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Heartwarming Story of childhood to Legend
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Amazing
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Learned a lot about space and space exploration too!
Amazing insight
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A Bright Star of a read.
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audio issues throughout ruined it for me
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