"Winner of the Nebraska Book Award
What's it like to travel at more than 850 MPH, riding in a supersonic T-38 twin turbojet engine airplane? What happens when the space station toilet breaks? How do astronauts ""take out the trash"" on a spacewalk, tightly encapsulated in a space suit with just a few layers of fabric and Kevlar between them and the unforgiving vacuum of outer space?
The Ordinary Spaceman puts you in the flight suit of U.S. astronaut Clayton C. Anderson and takes you on the journey of this small-town boy from Nebraska who spent 167 days living and working on the International Space Station, including nearly forty hours of space walks. Having applied to NASA fifteen times over fifteen years to become an astronaut before his ultimate selection, Anderson offers a unique perspective on his life as a veteran space flier, one characterized by humility and perseverance.
From the application process to launch aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, from serving as a family escort for the ill-fated Columbia crew in 2003 to his own daily struggles-family separation, competitive battles to win coveted flight assignments, the stress of a highly visible job, and the ever-present risk of having to make the ultimate sacrifice-Anderson shares the full range of his experiences. With a mix of levity and gravitas, Anderson gives an authentic view of the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies of life as a NASA astronaut."
By:
Clayton C. Anderson
Foreword by:
Nevada Barr
Imprint: University of Nebraska Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781496234735
ISBN 10: 1496234731
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 30 May 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword by Nevada Barr Acknowledgments Introduction 1. First Flight 2. Beginnings 3. Freshman Fifteen 4. Hey, There’s an App for That! 5. Answer the Phone, Will Ya? 6. Baby Astronauts 7. Hail Columbia! 8. Age of Aquarius 9. From Russia with Love 10. Survival of the Fittest 11. Sign of the Times 12. Sixty-Two and Counting 13. Dark Days of Summer 14. Crime and Punishment 15. The “Void” of Outer Space 16. The Doctor Is In 17. The Hard Thump of Reality 18. The Serendipity of Chance 19. Walking Tall 20. Fame and Fortune 21. Find Us Faithful 22. Impacts 23. The End Becomes the Beginning
Clayton C. Anderson retired in 2013 after a thirty-year career with NASA and two missions to the International Space Station. He is currently the president and CEO of the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in his hometown of Ashland, Nebraska. Anderson is the author of It’s a Question of Space: An Ordinary Astronaut’s Answers to Sometimes Extraordinary Questions (Nebraska, 2018), as well as the children’s books A is for Astronaut: Blasting Through the Alphabet and Letters from Space. Nevada Barr is an award-winning novelist and best-selling author of the Anna Pigeon series.
Reviews for The Ordinary Spaceman: From Boyhood Dreams to Astronaut
This is The Right Stuff for a new generation. Clayton Anderson is an astronaut for the rest of us; a regular guy from a small Midwestern town who set the bar high for himself and never lost sight of a lofty goal-even when most of us would have given up. As it turns out, it is not so much about having 'the right stuff' as it is about never doubting yourself and never settling for less. -Miles O'Brien, award-winning science journalist for PBS, the National Science Foundation, and CNN He may have been an ordinary spaceman, but The Ordinary Spaceman demonstrates he is certainly not ordinary. -Jeff Foust, Space Review
