Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir - Softcover

Linenger, Jerry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 007137230X ISBN 13: 9780071372305

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education, 2001

Synopsis

This is the first complete and uncensored account of one of the most dangerous missions in the history of manned space travel, "Off the Planet" is Dr. Jerry Linenger's dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission. Not since Apollo 13 has an astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission, and lived to tell about it.

About this title

Review:

Imagine yourself in a decaying space station far away from the atmosphere you never realised you needed so badly, not knowing if the next malfunction would kill you or just keep you busy. Dr Jerry M Linenger experienced just this and describes his harrowing but ennobling five months aboard Mir in Off the Planet, a memoir that evokes the excitement of living every day as a life-threatening adventure. Linenger's very personal writing style draws the reader into the story quickly, breezing through his childhood, Annapolis training, medical school and selection as an astronaut, then moving quickly to the Mir assignment and its aftermath.

Linenger isn't shy about sharing his opinions; chapter titles such as "Broken Trust" and "An Attempted Coverup" show his feelings about the bizarre relationship between the crew and mission control that may have kept him and his Russian comrades in constant danger. He also heaps praise on his fellow crew members and family for their strength and perseverance throughout the mission--between communication difficulties, the cloud of doubt surrounding the station's systems, and problems such as fires and toxic fumes, it's a wonder anyone survived with their sanity intact. The full-colour pictures accompanying the text add further insight into life aboard Mir. --Rob Lightner

Review:

'Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir' by Jerry M. Linenger is one of the most readable. Off the Planet sheds new light on such present developments as the Russians' determination to continue the Mir after their repeated commitments to abandon it, combined with their commitments to the International Space Station. The book makes one think that perhaps the United States would be better off partnering in space with, say, Somalia or Lower Slobovia. Russian Psychologist, cure thyself and thy kindred. The Washington Times 20000305 The author, a NASA astronaut, orbited the earth more than two thousand times in the space station Mir and became the first American to spacewalk outside a foreign spacecraft. But he paid a high price for these distinctions. Inside, Mir was as mess, and several power failures lefts its inhabitants in total darkness. Worst of all, Linenger reports, was the lack of professionalism among their Russian handlers. "Mission control in Moscow became our enemy rather than our friend." he writes, "our nemesis rather than our support structure." Mission control threatened to cut the Russian astronauts pay if they performed poorly, and dangled bonuses for doing well. And mission control's propensity to micromanage was so extreme that the astronauts had their every activity programmed down to the minute. The Washington Post Book World 20000214

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 007137230X
• ISBN 13: 9780071372305
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272