USA Today: Columbia disaster stranded three men in space with 'no return ticket'

[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's not
and never was a 'fact'...grin]

USA Today: Columbia disaster stranded three men in space with 'no return
ticket'

Book review: "A smart read. The narrative is lively and informed.. [Few
Americans] recall that the [Columbia] tragedy strand[ed] two U.S. astronauts
and one Russian cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station. For nearly
six months and 250 miles above Earth, they had no return ticket."

Too Far From Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space, By Chris Jones
Doubleday, 284 pp., $24.95



2003 space odyssey 'Too Far' hits close to home

By Don Oldenburg, Special for USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/r...e_N.htm?csp=34

Most of us remember when space shuttle Columbia, returning from a routine
mission, broke apart over north Texas in 2003, killing seven astronauts and
stunning the nation.

Fewer recall that the tragedy indefinitely suspended the American space
program, stranding two U.S. astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut aboard the
International Space Station. For nearly six months and 250 miles above
Earth, they had no return ticket.

In Too Far From Home, Esquire writer Chris Jones crafts an impressive
account of Expedition Six's travails and the heroics of its crew, Ken
Bowersox, Don Pettit and Nikolai Budarin, who survived and even thrived
during their stay in space.

A former sportswriter, Jones tells the story with the ease and argot of
reporting a basketball game in zero gravity. His style is down-to-earth, yet
he takes exhilarating leaps page after page. The narrative is lively and
informed, striking a fine balance between "the epic and the everyday" in
space exploration, from mundane issues such as weightless bowel movements to
terrifying threats such as wounds from space-trash fragments that could end
in a horrifying death.

Though Jones reveals a dizzying inventory of space dangers, he doesn't
belabor the risks. Like Tom Wolfe in his 1979 best seller, The Right Stuff,
he prefers to venture into the intrigues of inner space, delving deeply into
the personalities, ambitions and goals of those who would strap themselves
to a gigantic roman candle and ride it out of this world.

The book detours here and there into that requisite non-fiction black
hole of background. The history of American and Russian-Soviet space
programs provides context to Expedition Six's predicament. But Jones breezes
past much of the science and engineering that might bog down lesser writers,
and he never eclipses the story's drama with extraneous history.

Revisiting the theme of distance between home and away, the author
develops characters more fully through their home life, and the highs and
lows the wives and children ride as their husbands and fathers sit tight in
outer space.

A smart read, the book proves to be an illuminating and enjoyable journey
into the complexities of spaceflight's pernicious perils and tranquil
beauty.



From the publisher:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/d...=9780385514651

".These astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home. Too Far from Home
chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and
Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men safely
back to Earth, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best, like a long
shot. Latched to the side of the space station was a Russian-built Soyuz
TMA-1 capsule, whose technology dated from the late 1960s (in 1971 a
malfunction in the Soyuz 11 capsule left three Russian astronauts dead.)
Despite the inherent danger, the Soyuz became the only hope to return
Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit home."



Sunday, March 18, 2007 // By Jon Caroulis, Pittsburg Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07077/769861-148.stm

"He wrote an award-wining article for Esquire on how American astronauts
Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox and Russian engineer Nikolai Budarin were
stranded on the International Space Station after their ride home -- the
shuttle Columbia -- exploded on re-entry Feb. 1, 2003. With the remaining
shuttles grounded, there seemed to be no way to retrieve them.. The story of
how the trio of astronauts was nearly crushed to death by gravitational
forces during their re-entry is dragged on and on."



On Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Too-Far-Home-S.../dp/0385514654

From Publishers Weekly: "With further NASA flights suspended for months,
perhaps years, questions began to emerge not only about how to bring the
three men back, but how to provide them with enough supplies while they
remained in space.. the three eventually took "an accelerated, lung-crushing
dive" in a Soyuz capsule."



Entertainment Weekly (By Wook Kim )

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20013802,00.html

".Few understood the plight of the three lonely souls still stranded on the
orbiting platform. In Too Far From Home, writer Chris Jones absorbingly
recounts how both U.S. and Russian space agencies raced to rescue these
men." // Mar 02, 2007



Science-a-Go-Go

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/books-1-3-07.shtml

"How many of us remember the subsequent plight of the astronauts left
stranded on the International Space Station? What would have gone through
these astronauts' minds as they were made aware that they no longer had a
ride home? Esquire journalist Chris Jones, captures superbly the sobering
mood that descended upon NASA and the astronauts of the Expedition 6 team
after realizing that another shuttle mission may be months, or even years,
away. In the short term, how could supplies be transferred to the ISS, and
how, ultimately, could the men be brought home? Together, both Houston and
Moscow worked against time to arrive at a solution to a problem that seemed
to have come straight from the pages of a Hollywood script. There was really
only one option left open, but it was a long shot, and ground control knew
it. Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit would have to stake their lives on the
Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule that was attached to the ISS. The Soyuz
capsule was constructed in the 1960s, and in 1971 it was responsible for the
deaths of 3 Russian astronauts, so the chances of the Soyuz 11 transporting
3 more astronauts safely back to Earth seemed remote at best. Too Far From
Home could quite possibly turn out to be the most heart-pounding adventure
narrative of 2007... and it's all true!"

Jim Oberg wrote:
[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's not
and never was a 'fact'...grin]


My favorite is the book where the X-1 gets dropped off the B-52 mothership.
I know it's old, but not quite _that_ old. :-)
(Can you imagine the effect on Japanese morale if a squadron of those
had shown up over Tokyo?)

Pat

Over here we call that type of sensationalism, 'over egging the pudding'.

:-)

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's not
and never was a 'fact'...grin]

USA Today: Columbia disaster stranded three men in space with 'no return
ticket'

Book review: "A smart read. The narrative is lively and informed.. [Few
Americans] recall that the [Columbia] tragedy strand[ed] two U.S.
astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut aboard the International Space
Station. For nearly six months and 250 miles above Earth, they had no
return ticket."

Too Far From Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space, By Chris Jones
Doubleday, 284 pp., $24.95



2003 space odyssey 'Too Far' hits close to home

By Don Oldenburg, Special for USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/r...e_N.htm?csp=34

Most of us remember when space shuttle Columbia, returning from a
routine mission, broke apart over north Texas in 2003, killing seven
astronauts and stunning the nation.

Fewer recall that the tragedy indefinitely suspended the American space
program, stranding two U.S. astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut aboard
the International Space Station. For nearly six months and 250 miles above
Earth, they had no return ticket.

In Too Far From Home, Esquire writer Chris Jones crafts an impressive
account of Expedition Six's travails and the heroics of its crew, Ken
Bowersox, Don Pettit and Nikolai Budarin, who survived and even thrived
during their stay in space.

A former sportswriter, Jones tells the story with the ease and argot of
reporting a basketball game in zero gravity. His style is down-to-earth,
yet he takes exhilarating leaps page after page. The narrative is lively
and informed, striking a fine balance between "the epic and the everyday"
in space exploration, from mundane issues such as weightless bowel
movements to terrifying threats such as wounds from space-trash fragments
that could end in a horrifying death.

Though Jones reveals a dizzying inventory of space dangers, he doesn't
belabor the risks. Like Tom Wolfe in his 1979 best seller, The Right
Stuff, he prefers to venture into the intrigues of inner space, delving
deeply into the personalities, ambitions and goals of those who would
strap themselves to a gigantic roman candle and ride it out of this world.

The book detours here and there into that requisite non-fiction black
hole of background. The history of American and Russian-Soviet space
programs provides context to Expedition Six's predicament. But Jones
breezes past much of the science and engineering that might bog down
lesser writers, and he never eclipses the story's drama with extraneous
history.

Revisiting the theme of distance between home and away, the author
develops characters more fully through their home life, and the highs and
lows the wives and children ride as their husbands and fathers sit tight
in outer space.

A smart read, the book proves to be an illuminating and enjoyable
journey into the complexities of spaceflight's pernicious perils and
tranquil beauty.



From the publisher:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/d...=9780385514651

".These astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home. Too Far from Home
chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and
Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men
safely back to Earth, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best,
like a long shot. Latched to the side of the space station was a
Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, whose technology dated from the late
1960s (in 1971 a malfunction in the Soyuz 11 capsule left three Russian
astronauts dead.) Despite the inherent danger, the Soyuz became the only
hope to return Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit home."



Sunday, March 18, 2007 // By Jon Caroulis, Pittsburg Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07077/769861-148.stm

"He wrote an award-wining article for Esquire on how American astronauts
Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox and Russian engineer Nikolai Budarin
were stranded on the International Space Station after their ride home --
the shuttle Columbia -- exploded on re-entry Feb. 1, 2003. With the
remaining shuttles grounded, there seemed to be no way to retrieve them..
The story of how the trio of astronauts was nearly crushed to death by
gravitational forces during their re-entry is dragged on and on."



On Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Too-Far-Home-S.../dp/0385514654

From Publishers Weekly: "With further NASA flights suspended for months,
perhaps years, questions began to emerge not only about how to bring the
three men back, but how to provide them with enough supplies while they
remained in space.. the three eventually took "an accelerated,
lung-crushing dive" in a Soyuz capsule."



Entertainment Weekly (By Wook Kim )

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20013802,00.html

".Few understood the plight of the three lonely souls still stranded on
the orbiting platform. In Too Far From Home, writer Chris Jones
absorbingly recounts how both U.S. and Russian space agencies raced to
rescue these men." // Mar 02, 2007



Science-a-Go-Go

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/books-1-3-07.shtml

"How many of us remember the subsequent plight of the astronauts left
stranded on the International Space Station? What would have gone through
these astronauts' minds as they were made aware that they no longer had a
ride home? Esquire journalist Chris Jones, captures superbly the sobering
mood that descended upon NASA and the astronauts of the Expedition 6 team
after realizing that another shuttle mission may be months, or even years,
away. In the short term, how could supplies be transferred to the ISS, and
how, ultimately, could the men be brought home? Together, both Houston and
Moscow worked against time to arrive at a solution to a problem that
seemed to have come straight from the pages of a Hollywood script. There
was really only one option left open, but it was a long shot, and ground
control knew it. Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit would have to stake their
lives on the Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule that was attached to the
ISS. The Soyuz capsule was constructed in the 1960s, and in 1971 it was
responsible for the deaths of 3 Russian astronauts, so the chances of the
Soyuz 11 transporting 3 more astronauts safely back to Earth seemed remote
at best. Too Far From Home could quite possibly turn out to be the most
heart-pounding adventure narrative of 2007... and it's all true!"

Jim Oberg wrote:

Sunday, March 18, 2007 // By Jon Caroulis, Pittsburg Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07077/769861-148.stm

"He wrote an award-wining article for Esquire on how American astronauts
Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox and Russian engineer Nikolai Budarin were
stranded on the International Space Station after their ride home

Whoever gave that award should be shot. Some book which takes fiction and
pretends to make it real and sensationolises the story does not deserve any
award. The folkls who gave the award should have checked. If *I* know that the
author's claims are totally false, then plenty of people would know and it would
not have been difficult for the award people to check the accuracy of the
sensationalistic claims.

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 01:51:17 -0500, "Jim Oberg"
wrote:

[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's not
and never was a 'fact'...grin]

From Don Oldenburg:

But Jones breezes past much of the science and engineering that might bog
down lesser writers, and he never eclipses the story's drama with extraneous
history.

Nor many "extraneous" facts, apparently!

I like this munge job from "Science-a-Go-Go":

There was really only one option left open, but it was a long shot, and ground
control knew it. Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit would have to stake their lives on
the Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule that was attached to the ISS. The Soyuz
capsule was constructed in the 1960s, and in 1971 it was responsible for the
deaths of 3 Russian astronauts, so the chances of the Soyuz 11 transporting
3 more astronauts safely back to Earth seemed remote at best.

Indeed

Dale

I trust you're educating these clowns a bit, Jim.

"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
Science-a-Go-Go

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/books-1-3-07.shtml

"How many of us remember the subsequent plight of the astronauts left
stranded on the International Space Station? What would have gone through
these astronauts' minds as they were made aware that they no longer had a
ride home? Esquire journalist Chris Jones, captures superbly the sobering
mood that descended upon NASA and the astronauts of the Expedition 6 team
after realizing that another shuttle mission may be months, or even years,
away. In the short term, how could supplies be transferred to the ISS, and
how, ultimately, could the men be brought home? Together, both Houston and
Moscow worked against time to arrive at a solution to a problem that
seemed to have come straight from the pages of a Hollywood script. There
was really only one option left open, but it was a long shot, and ground
control knew it. Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit would have to stake their
lives on the Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule that was attached to the
ISS. The Soyuz capsule was constructed in the 1960s, and in 1971 it was
responsible for the deaths of 3 Russian astronauts, so the chances of the
Soyuz 11 transporting 3 more astronauts safely back to Earth seemed remote
at best. Too Far From Home could quite possibly turn out to be the most
heart-pounding adventure narrative of 2007... and it's all true!"

Yea, that Soyuz is so bad it's safety record is essentially statistically
identical to the shuttle's. It's a real wonder that Russia has paying
customers that want to ride in it. :-P

What a crock of $#!^. The reviews of this book make it sound like a bad
*fictional* TV drama "based on real events".

Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)

Jim Oberg wrote:
[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's not
and never was a 'fact'...grin]


Yikes. Didn't anybody attempt to research why it is that there are
NEVER more than 3 occupants of the Space Station when there's no
shuttle around?

Dave

On Mar 20, 2:51 am, "Jim Oberg" wrote:
[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's not
and never was a 'fact'...grin]

USA Today: Columbia disaster stranded three men in space with 'no return
ticket'

My immediate thought was that I'd rather be one of the stranded three
on ISS rather than one of the doomed seven in Columbia.

This type of story sort of reminds me of the Challenger disaster when
along with the loss of seven astronauts we also lost the TDRS-B
satellite to the tune of about a billion dollars.

A billion dollars is a lot of money, but would anyone one in their
right mind even write a story about that loss in lieu of the loss of
life? No!

Now I'm not claiming that the story described below shouldn't be
written as lives were indeed on the line and not just equipment. But I
still find it ironic to discuss 'what-if' scenarios in the face of
real and nasty 'what weres'.

Eric


Book review: "A smart read. The narrative is lively and informed.. [Few
Americans] recall that the [Columbia] tragedy strand[ed] two U.S. astronauts
and one Russian cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station. For nearly
six months and 250 miles above Earth, they had no return ticket."

Too Far From Home: A Story of Life and Death in Space, By Chris Jones
Doubleday, 284 pp., $24.95

2003 space odyssey 'Too Far' hits close to home

By Don Oldenburg, Special for USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/r...oo-far-from-ho...

Most of us remember when space shuttle Columbia, returning from a routine
mission, broke apart over north Texas in 2003, killing seven astronauts and
stunning the nation.

Fewer recall that the tragedy indefinitely suspended the American space
program, stranding two U.S. astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut aboard the
International Space Station. For nearly six months and 250 miles above
Earth, they had no return ticket.

In Too Far From Home, Esquire writer Chris Jones crafts an impressive
account of Expedition Six's travails and the heroics of its crew, Ken
Bowersox, Don Pettit and Nikolai Budarin, who survived and even thrived
during their stay in space.

[...]

Pat Flannery wrote:


Jim Oberg wrote:
[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's
not and never was a 'fact'...grin]


My favorite is the book where the X-1 gets dropped off the B-52 mothership.
I know it's old, but not quite _that_ old. :-)
(Can you imagine the effect on Japanese morale if a squadron of those
had shown up over Tokyo?)
Pat

Headline from Asai Shinbun:

Tokyo Residents Irked by American Booms...

Large squadron of a new aircraft with stubby wings rocked Tokyo today,
sending loud exploding sounds across the city. Several windows were
damaged and neighborhood dogs sent scurry around streets barking.

Little other apparent damage.

Air defense reports planes appeared and disappeared rather quickly.

;-)

Dave

Pat Flannery wrote:


Jim Oberg wrote:
[JimO: I suspect that I don't 'recall' this fact because -- well, it's
not and never was a 'fact'...grin]


My favorite is the book where the X-1 gets dropped off the B-52 mothership.
I know it's old, but not quite _that_ old. :-)
(Can you imagine the effect on Japanese morale if a squadron of those
had shown up over Tokyo?)
Pat

Headline from Asai Shinbun:

Tokyo Residents Irked by American Booms...

Large squadron of a new aircraft with stubby wings rocked Tokyo today,
sending loud exploding sounds across the city. Several windows were
damaged and neighborhood dogs sent scurry around streets barking.

Little other apparent damage.

Air defense reports planes appeared and disappeared rather quickly.

;-)

Dave