by John J. Nance (Narrator), John j. Nance (Author), Brilliance Audio (Publisher)

An audiobook

I read this book at the perfect time.  SPACE-X had just rescued and returned the two stranded Boeing pilots safely back to Earth from an overly long stay at the International Space Station.  So cool.

But this story is set in 2009. A similar private company is competing with NASA.  They offer the winner of their contest a passenger seat on their American Space Adventure’s first commercial spaceflight. A three-day trip. (Cue up the soundtrack from Gilligan’s Island.”) Haha.

I also thought of William Shatner’s passenger flight in 2021.

But Kip Dawson is not a Star Trek actor.  He’s a regular “Joe” with a scattered family, troubles with his wife, and an unsavory past with his father. But spaceflight is a dream come true for him, and he’s not letting Earth’s problems keep him from it. EVEN WHEN his wife has a premonition that she will never see him again.

The day comes and he and the pilot are thrust into space!  It’s amazing! it’s fantastical!. They reach Earth’s orbit and Kip is having the absolute time in his life. Until he isn’t.

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(Spoiler alert – I probably tell a bit too much about the story, so maybe skip from here to the end.)

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A freak accident kills the pilot and shuts down all communication links with the command center. Kip panics. Although he has had some flying experience in a Cessna airplane, he is totally unprepared to fly a spacecraft.

Fear, regret, helplessness, fatalistic thoughts, desperation, and agony; all cycle through Kip’s mind and heart as he circles the earth every 90 minutes. He attempts to maneuver the craft, but nothing works.  Only the life-support system.  He knows he has five days alone in space, and then he will die.

But wait!  What is this? A laptop. It was included so contest winners could send emails back to their loved ones. But with no communication with Earth, what good is it?

Kip decides to write a cross between a “Ship’s Log” and a stream-of-consciousness diary so that in 50 years or so when someone finds the craft, they’ll know what happened.  He writes what happened, and how he’s feeling, and then pours out his heart about the failures in his life. He apologizes, fantasizes, weeps, screams, remembers, and writes. For hours, and days.

Did he notice that he pressed “live” when he first opened the computer?

Kip does not know two things.

1)  There is a massive attempt to rescue him.  NASA does not have a rescue unit. (Only two of their Shuttles are left at this point and both are in “museum condition.”)  But still, they must try. You don’t leave an American stranded  They contact the Russians. Are they putting up a Soyuz craft soon?  There is infighting, sabotage, and a new danger in space.

2) The world begins to read Kip’s log.  Yes, millions of people sit mesmerized by their computers, weeping, laughing, and fixing up their own lives and relationships. The downlink from his laptop is on a separate system. And although they can’t communicate with Him, the world knows all that he is thinking, feeling, and doing, even when he decides to take a spacewalk…

The ending is exciting, suspenseful, jaw-dropping, a minute-by-minute, edge-of-your-seat read. Oh my gosh.

You gotta read this book.  Yes, I’ve probably written too much of the story, but John Nance‘s writing is wonderful. It’s like he was there, and now YOU are. Buy, rent, download, or borrow this book and read it. You won’t be sorry.

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