Simply wonderful

Whether or not you are into Space books I really urge you to listen to this. Yes it's about one person's dream of becoming an astronaut but it's about so much more too. Mike's narration is excellent. Read this, you won't be disappointed.

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Brilliant

Well told, honest and a fascinating behind the scenes view of the road to becoming an astronaut, warts and all.

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Challenges and experiences shared by a familly.

This book shows the experiences and challenges felt by astronauts before and after astronaut candidate selection. It highlights the importance of individual astronaut figures in the public view as individuals are relatable and can catch the interests of many (without public interest NASA doesn't get funding). However it also shows that while individuals can inspire many ,the reality is that, all astronauts are a close family and team. No matter the problem all astronauts come to the aid of another if it is needed.

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There is something wrong with your car

The Moon landings were a long time ago. It's sometimes too easy to forget that there's been a lot going on since then, even if it has been either a) unmanned or b) low Earth orbit.
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.

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The best audiobook I have ever listened to by far.

Absolutely mesmerising, fascinating and enlightening, I just could not stop listening.
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.

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Heartwarming Story of childhood to Legend

Well written and read by Mike Massimino, the man who’s eyes were fixed by the Universe, so that he could fix our eye on the Universe. Genuine, Honest & full account of his journey through life and into NASA and beyond, a must read/listen for any space enthusiast. It really gave the feeling you were there with him, through the rough times and great times, thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I’d encourage anyone to give it a listen/read.

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Amazing

This book had me griped from the start, it’s a perfect story, funny, interesting and thought provoking! Mike give such a personal insight in to his life and career at NASA with all its highlights and occasional sadder times. Truly inspiring.

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Amazing insight

A fascinating insight into the real life of an astronaut, but also I enjoyed Mike’s positivity and drive to keep going even when things were knocking him back.
Learned a lot about space and space exploration too!

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A Bright Star of a read.

Amazing insight into the American space program and an insiders guide to becoming a flyer!

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1 person found this helpful

audio issues throughout ruined it for me

noisegating on the microphone really distracted me as the last word on most sentences was cut short. whilst not a massive issue, for an audio nerd like me, it became the focus of the recording. I even considered returning this book because of this noisega-

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