Author Topic: "Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery" by Scott Kelly (Oct 2017) (Read 10449 times)

Oersted · « **on:** 03/29/2017 10:11 pm »

Just found this:

Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery
by Scott Kelly

Publishing date: October 17, 2017.

https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Year-Space-Lifetime-Discovery/dp/1524731595

Blurb:
"A stunning memoir from the astronaut who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station--a candid account of his remarkable voyage, of the journeys off the planet that preceded it, and of his colorful formative years.

The veteran of four space flights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have. Now, he takes us inside a sphere utterly inimical to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, both existential and banal: the devastating effects on the body; the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth; the pressures of constant close cohabitation; the catastrophic risks of depressurization or colliding with space junk, and the still more haunting threat of being unable to help should tragedy strike at home--an agonizing situation Kelly faced when, on another mission, his twin brother's wife, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space.

Kelly's humanity, compassion, humor, and passion resonate throughout, as he recalls his rough-and-tumble New Jersey childhood and the youthful inspiration that sparked his astounding career, and as he makes clear his belief that Mars will be the next, ultimately challenging step in American spaceflight. A natural storyteller and modern-day hero, Kelly has a message of hope for the future that will inspire for generations to come. Here, in his personal story, we see the triumph of the human imagination, the strength of the human will, and the boundless wonder of the galaxy."

- Let's see if it is as good as Mike Massimino's "Spaceman".

IanThePineapple · « **Reply #1 on:** 03/29/2017 10:12 pm »

Looks like an amazing book, I preordered a signed copy 2 weeks ago. Can't wait to read it this Fall!

Oersted · « **Reply #2 on:** 10/22/2017 08:20 pm »

https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Year-Space-Lifetime-Discovery-ebook/dp/B01EE0FCEK

I'm a third through Scott Kelly's book in which he intersperses the story of his one year in space with his life story. I must say it really is captivating reading. One of the best, if not the best, astronaut bio I have read (and I have read a lot). Kelly is not afraid to let his personality shine through and also takes some potshots at NASA and the Russians, as well as detailing his own faults. The book just comes through as very straightforward and truthful.

Fully recommended!

IanThePineapple · « **Reply #3 on:** 10/22/2017 08:38 pm »

I love it too, though I'm not as far in. I got the preordered signed copy early this year, great deal. $19 for a signed copy, it's less than normal prices.

Oersted · « **Reply #4 on:** 10/27/2017 11:33 pm »

Quite a few things I didn't know about Kelly. He flew F-14 Tomcats in the Persian Gulf and called the plane terrible at maneuvering.. I didn't know that.

He also flew his first Shuttle mission up to the Hubble.

Was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer before his first ISS stay, but was successfully operated on.

A wonderfully engaging book!

KelvinZero · « **Reply #5 on:** 10/28/2017 11:42 am »

A truely great American. The realisation of a dream begun by Stanley Kubrick's 2001.

Oersted · « **Reply #6 on:** 10/29/2017 07:39 pm »

Finished the book, just excellent from start to finish! - Best astronaut bio I ever read.

A slight criticism is that Kelly keeps juxtaposing his past with his present in the one-year-mission. It works really well, except where he gets to the chapters where he flips between his 159-day ISS mission and his one-year-mission. There it gets a bit confusing...

I was also surprised when he wrote about a cosmonaut who almost drifted away from the ISS during a spacewalk. He said that the fellow would be irretrievably lost if he floated away and that all they could do would be to patch his radio link up with the family for last words before he would die. - Surely they would undock the Soyuz and try to retrieve him? I know it could possibly leave the ISS without a lifeboat and would probably be against procedures, but if it really happened... wouldn't they do what they could to bring him back in?

savuporo · « **Reply #7 on:** 10/29/2017 10:48 pm »

Quote from: Oersted on 10/29/2017 07:39 pm

I was also surprised when he wrote about a cosmonaut who almost drifted away from the ISS during a spacewalk...

Made a thread about this a few weeks ago. Would be interesting to know if this really happened.

Oersted · « **Reply #8 on:** 10/30/2017 11:53 pm »

Kelly retired from NASA so can now speak more freely, I guess. His frank evaluations of colleagues and crewmates certainly indicate that he doesn't hold back (he mentions a Kazakh ISS crew member who had nothing to do and just sat in a corner reading a Russian car magazine!). I think that if he wrote that it happened it almost certainly happened.

Tomness · « **Reply #9 on:** 10/30/2017 11:58 pm »

He seemed kinda frank with his interviews and stuff... I am have to check this out.. seems interesting...

Lars-J · « **Reply #10 on:** 10/31/2017 03:49 pm »

Quote from: savuporo on 10/29/2017 10:48 pm

Quote from: Oersted on 10/29/2017 07:39 pm
I was also surprised when he wrote about a cosmonaut who almost drifted away from the ISS during a spacewalk...

Made a thread about this a few weeks ago. Would be interesting to know if this really happened.

Quote from: Oersted on 10/30/2017 11:53 pm

Kelly retired from NASA so can now speak more freely, I guess. His frank evaluations of colleagues and crewmates certainly indicate that he doesn't hold back (he mentions a Kazakh ISS crew member who had nothing to do and just sat in a corner reading a Russian car magazine!). I think that if he wrote that it happened it almost certainly happened.

It would be good to know... Knowing how accurate his assessment is of the EVA issue would certainly help clear up how much rest rest of his anecdotes can be taken at face value, or as a "more colorful" retelling.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #11 on:** 11/01/2017 08:43 pm »

I am going to his presentation tomorrow night here in Tampa. I will get his book then and look forward to meeting him.

Oersted · « **Reply #12 on:** 11/03/2017 05:41 pm »

Lucky you!

I hope to hear a bit about your impressions of the event and of Kelly.

Ronpur50 · « **Reply #13 on:** 11/03/2017 11:03 pm »

Well, he was an amazing speaker. He had some great stories, and they are in his book. The crowd loved him, except for a flat earther/NASA denier who some how asked a question about air bubbles in EVA videos. Scott handled it well, even telling the guy he would check out his website. Of course, we booed "bubble boy." I loved how he through some jabs at his brother, and his discussion of the time he was on ISS and Mark's wife was shot was heart breaking. But his stories of the differing attitudes of the Russians was amazing.

I was disappointed that there was no meet and great, or even a quick photo opp. But he was well worth listening too.

Oersted · « **Reply #14 on:** 11/04/2017 12:42 am »

Thanks for the report ronpur!

A flat-earther going to an event for a guy who circled the Earth so many times! - How idiotic does it get.... Pff.

okan170 · « **Reply #15 on:** 11/20/2017 02:29 am »

Proud to have contributed two illustrations for this book - a diagram of the ISS and one of Soyuz! And Mr. Kelly was great to work with!

jacqmans · « **Reply #16 on:** 01/02/2018 10:15 am »

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly Q&A session at Space Expo in Noordwijk, the Netherlands on the 27th of January, 2018.

He will be talking about his book ' Endurance: A Year in Space: a Lifetime of Discovery'.
Arrival time 13:00-13:30/start of Q&A session at 14:00.
The Q&A will be held in the exhibition of Space Expo.

Ticket information:
No registration!
Free entrance with a Museumkaart.
Tickets can be bought at Space Expo.
If you pre-purchased your book, €2

reduction (maximum of 2 people per group can be awarded this reduction).

There will be a signing session with Scott Kelly.

There are limited parking spots available.
Wheelchair accessible.

The event is in English.

Oersted · « **Reply #17 on:** 01/02/2018 01:38 pm »

thanks for the info jacqmans!

jacqmans · « **Reply #18 on:** 01/22/2018 01:36 pm »

Since there is a Q & A session planned with Scott at Space Expo this Saturday...

Maybe some of you have questions for him that I can ask and hopefully get an answer

So submit your - BEST - questions here or with a PM to me and I will see what I can do Saturday.

Oersted · « **Reply #19 on:** 01/22/2018 09:57 pm »

"Is it really true that his cosmonaut colleague was in grave danger of floating away?" "If yes, wouldn't they have tried to retrieve him with a Soyuz?"

Wicky · « **Reply #20 on:** 01/22/2018 10:31 pm »

Will Lunar and Martian g be sufficent for humans to survive or thrive long term off world ?

deruch · « **Reply #21 on:** 01/24/2018 08:07 am »

Quote from: jacqmans on 01/22/2018 01:36 pm

Since there is a Q & A session planned with Scott at Space Expo this Saturday...

Maybe some of you have questions for him that I can ask and hopefully get an answer

So submit your - BEST - questions here or with a PM to me and I will see what I can do Saturday.

Given the physical and personal costs, if offered a second opportunity to go spend a year in orbit, would he do it?

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #22 on:** 01/24/2018 08:15 am »

Quote from: Wicky on 01/22/2018 10:31 pm

Will Lunar and Martian g be sufficent for humans to survive or thrive long term off world ?

Martian g should be. But long term lunar habitation should probably utilize exercise sessions in a centrifuge.

jcm · « **Reply #23 on:** 01/25/2018 03:37 am »

Just finished the book. The VKD-26 EVA nearly-lost-a-cosmonaut story is important if true, but I was also struck by Kelly's complaints about the effects of and danger of high CO2 levels and his feeling that NASA isn't taking his concerns seriously. Does anyone have insight into this? If he's right, it is a serious risk to flight safety.

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #24 on:** 01/25/2018 04:35 am »

I've always been intrigued by the high C02 levels on the ISS. I wonder how the levels compare in operational nuclear submarines?

clevelas · « **Reply #25 on:** 01/25/2018 04:53 pm »

Quote from: MATTBLAK on 01/25/2018 04:35 am

I've always been intrigued by the high C02 levels on the ISS. I wonder how the levels compare in operational nuclear submarines?

It's been a while since I read the book, but I recall him specifically comparing the issue with nuclear submarines. The Navy takes the issue way more seriously and has much lower acceptable CO2 limits.

MATTBLAK · « **Reply #26 on:** 01/25/2018 08:50 pm »

I really need to buy Kelly's book - it's one of the few Astronaut bios I don't have yet.

eric z · « **Reply #27 on:** 01/25/2018 09:02 pm »

Matt, I think you will find it a very interesting and informative read -we've got tons of astronaut books and it ranks right up there near the top. The stress, excuse the pun, he puts on the co2 issue is remarkable, and kinda scary, really! The book also has less of the "ghost-writer" effect coming through than in some works of this type. He's a remarkable man, in a remarkable family with a, dare-I-say-it, remarkable story to tell.

jacqmans · « **Reply #28 on:** 01/27/2018 10:12 am »

Scott is already at space expo aheadof the Q and A session... he signed the astronaut table in the expo.

jacqmans · « **Reply #29 on:** 01/31/2018 11:27 am »

The Q & A session last Saturday was really short, only about 5 or 6 questions from the crowd.. so it was not possible for me to asked the questions I wanted. Sorry for that.

Here are some more photos from the event.

jacqmans · « **Reply #30 on:** 01/31/2018 11:28 am »

Oersted · « **Reply #31 on:** 02/04/2018 07:44 pm »

No worries about the questions, jacqmans, and thanks for posting those photos!

James54 · « **Reply #32 on:** 02/13/2018 04:32 pm »

Quote from: MATTBLAK on 01/25/2018 04:35 am

I've always been intrigued by the high C02 levels on the ISS. I wonder how the levels compare in operational nuclear submarines?

Astronaut Scott Kelly’s comments on carbon dioxide levels in the space station from his book “Endurance”
Chapter 5 excerpts. Bold text is from me.
The carbon dioxide level is high today, nearly four millimeters of mercury. I can check it on the laptops and see exactly what the concentration of CO2 is in our air, but I don’t need to—I can feel it.

A new space station program manager had just been appointed, and soon after I was back on Earth I helped arrange to bring him on a visit to a Navy submarine under way in the Florida Straits. I thought the submarine environment would be a useful analogy for the space station in a number of ways, and I especially wanted my colleagues to get an up-close look at how the Navy deals with CO2. What we learned on that trip was illuminating: the Navy has their submarines turn on their air scrubbers when the CO2 concentration rises above two millimeters of mercury, even though the scrubbers are noisy and risk giving away the submarine’s location. By comparison, the international agreement on ISS says the CO2 is acceptable up to six millimeters of mercury!

..we now have a device called the carbon dioxide removal assembly, or CDRA, pronounced “seedra ,” and it has become the bane of my existence.

From the Epilogue
NASA has agreed to manage CO2 at a much lower target level, and better versions of carbon dioxide scrubbers are being developed that will one day replace the Seedra and make life better for future space travelers, and I’m thankful for that.

Atlantis83 · « **Reply #33 on:** 05/27/2020 03:07 pm »

I've found a very recent interview of the often overseen other hero of the 'year in space' mission. Scott Kelly's crew mate cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko:

https://www.shymkent.info/2020/05/24/cosmonaut-mikhail-kornienko-one-year-in-space/

This guy is now 60 yrs old but climbed up to the highest point of the Southern hemisphere at New Year and finished his helicopter pilot license. Now he want to make his plane pilot license. Tough guy!

He talked also about today's Crew Dragon flight and a Mars mission. Nice to read. I'm curious how this magazine made contact with him.