Sunday, June 9, 2019

Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery

Book: Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : References

Basic Information:
Author: Scott Kelly
Edition: epub on Overdrive from Fresno County Public Library
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 1524731595 (ISBN13: 9781524731595)
Start Date: June 2, 2019
Read Date: June 9, 2019
400 pages
Genre: History, Biography, Space
Language Warning: Medium
Rated Overall: 3½ out of 5


History: 4 out of 5



Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
Like most stories and biographies these days, the book starts at the end after Kelly has returned from a year in space. From there, he traces his boyhood with less than stellar achievements. The Right Stuff (book) excited him from somebody who was on the road to drop out of college to a goal. He ends college and goes to the Merchant Marine Academy. There he proves his worth and gets on the road to joining the Navy. He then is accepted into the jet pilot program.

From there, he advances to being a test pilot. The time in the nNavy was 25 years. Then the big step: he was accepted as an astronaut in training. He was the co-pilot on a mission. Then was promised a slot on another shuttle as the pilot.

Then the space shuttle program ended. All manned launches were from Russia. This is when he goes into the International Space Station program. The first time up, he does things which normal astronauts do.

But the next time up, he spends a year in space-as a human guinea pig. Much of the book notes the passing of time and the various things Kelly does.


Cast of Characters:
Scott Kelly-author, astronaut
Mark Kelly-astronaut, Scott Kelly’s twin brother
Mikhail Korniyenko-cosmonaut who spent the year in space with Kelly
Leslie S. Yandell-Kelly’s ex-wife, mother of their two children
Amiko Kauderer-current wife
Gennady Padalka-Russian cosmonaut. Commander of ISS


Expectations:
Recommendation: Osher Book Group
When: May 2019
Date Became Aware of Book: September 2017
How come do I want to read this book: Part of our OSHER book group
What do I think I will get out of it? Unknown


Thoughts:
Kelly professes to be non-religious. It shows, not in immorality, but in how he lives his life. His divorce is all about himself without regard for his wife. He recognizes beauty in the sight of earth from space, but has no place to put the awe he feels.


Prologue
Talks about coming back from space

I like the description of him getting used to gravity after a year without. Feeling like an old man getting out of a recliner. I could really relate to this description.

Also at the end of the book, he talks about wanting simple pleasures such as eating a meal with his family. The opening chapter starts with the fulfillment of this desire. The problem is that there is no context for this. I am left with, this is a nice way to rejoin his family from space.

To both Scott and Mark Kelly, doing the hard things in life was the only way to live. Are they adrenaline junkies? What about having the fortitude to continually doing the boring things in life? What about the people back at mission control who make it possible for him to do the hard things? Every time I took a risk, I lived to draw another breath. Every time I got myself into trouble, I made it out alive.

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe was his inspiration which turned his life around.


Chapter 1
Kelly points out that both the Russians and Americans have their own set of rituals. Speeches given, tires peed upon, moments of silence, …

Banya-being beaten by birch branches, followed by a quick dip in cold water and a beer.

Dill-gets rid of farts

Astronauts and Cosmonauts both are surrounded by past failures. Safety measures get implemented after a failure. Even putting on a space suit is a reminder of that. It is good to do an autopsie on a failure. But when it is life and death, every precaution needs to be made to try to mitigate failure.

Is the International Space Station worth it? Kelly says yes. Because it brings two former enemies together.

If you are living together for five years and have the commitment like the vows say, why not get married? Kelly does get married a year after this book is published.


Chapter 2
Early on, the Kelly’s had a vacation house on the Jersey Shore where Mark and Scott learned about the sea. But their father was an alcoholic and sometimes left his family for a bar. Kelly’s comment about hunger was that the feeling of hunger is horrible, but much worse is the bottomlessness of not knowing when it will all end.

Their mother became the first female police officer of their town through her sheer determination. Kelly’s comment is that he still did not have a goal in life, but now he saw what one looked like and the determination to achieve it. Example-powerful.


Chapter 3
Kelly’s original thoughts upon entering the ISS for his year-long stay is that this may be one of the stupider things he has done.


Chapter 4
Chapter about working to achieve his goals of being an astronaut and fighter pilot.

He realized why people forego pleasure to work forgo etching. Goal setting and working towards achievement. But motivation can only make up somewhat for lack of background and foundational work. Catching up was required. Kelly learned how to study.

On the other hand, he learned discipline though the military. He craved the structure it provided. He figured out several things. First, it taught him to be organized, how to achieve challenges. Also he learned what was right and what was out of place. Learned that just getting by was harder than trying to excel. The first, you always feared failure, the latter you were trying to do your best. Going on his first cruise at the Maritime Academy made him into a different, more confident person.


Chapter 5
Life aboard the ISS.

The ISS felt less like and object and more like a place. He subscribes that it has a personality and uniqueness.

Time schedulers are optimists about how long something will take. But rather than penalize them, it will come out of some of the astronauts personal time.

A personal experiment for Kelly is how long can he wear a piece of clothing before it wears out. One item has flown with him for three flights now.

Some comments about the Russians. Less flight time, but just as talented. One of the Russians was so well respected, Gennady, that Russian yielded to his implied authority. Keyy’s comment is that things simply seem to go better when he is around,...

Being on the ISS is a series of hard challenges. Not necessarily what he thought about doing as a pilot. But he is content in that role.

Is the purpose of space flight exploratory or scientific? He feels like both, similar to Captain Cook’s journey.


Chapter 6
Space shuttle pilot

Risk made things more appealing to Kelly.

Talks about the Challenger disaster both in terms of the physical failure of an O-ring, but the management failure at NASA of not comprehending risk and listening to concerns.

Navy saying: There are those who have and those who will.


Chapter 7
More life aboard the ISS.

A bit of brown floats by. They think candy. Turns out it is a band aid. Can also be some garbage.

I am surprised. Both on the ISS, they keep pretty much a Monday through Friday schedule, unless something critical failed. When one of the CO2 exchangers fail and it is not fixable on a Friday. Kelly knows that it will be a long weekend support comes in Monday. Seems more in the mode of an appliance repair than space. I thought that the ISS would be pretty much full support 24x7.

Kelly starts to feel cut off family. A bit of loneliness. Unable to be with his daughter to sympathize with a period of loneliness on her part.

Religion-none except be nice. Respects religious people but it is not for him. Not sure he really understands religious aspects are the relationship and responsibility with God part.


Chapter 8
If you,re not cheating, you’re not trying hard enough. naval aviator motto

He learns that being within the boundaries of acceptable is not good enough. Being precise will get you where you want to be.

Kelly gets married. But it is less out of love, more out of a need to show stability. Also he did not want to lose face by backing out. Right from the get go, he was thinking of divorce as an option if this did not work out.

Diverse teams are strong teams. Each person brings their own strengths and perspectives to the mission.


Chapter 9
A satellite crashing into the ISS will probably obliterate it. The occupants may never have known the time of impact when the ISS is going at 17,500mph.


Chapter 10
Kelly is trolled on Twitter by Neil Armstrong, but has a conversation with President Obama.


Chapter 11


Chapter 12
Kelly pictures himself as a below average guy trying go over an above average position-being a pilot in NASA. He was always trying to get ahead. Such as being the first in his class to fly.

Risk-flying the space shuttle had about the same odds as an infantryman on D-Day. Sort of pungent since I was reading this on the anniversary of D-Day.

His first flight, he experiences dawn in space. This was the most beautiful thing he ever saw.

Weightlessness affects people differently.


Chapter 13


Chapter 14
Using any available tool I had to excel on the test was at least as important as following the rules blindly. As he points out, that the test may have been could he use all of his resources, even cheating. Or maybe it was a test of his honesty. The test was to see if he could tell when ten minutes was up. The examiner had a watch on his wrist which was plainly visible to Kelly.

He is impressed with the work of the Salvation Army. They were were on the scene help crews recover bodies after the Columbia disaster.

Marchen and Happy for you poem.

When Kelly divorced his wife, it seemed his big concern was how will this affect his career. His ex-wife was accepting of his new girlfriend. Sounds like because Amiko carried for Leslie’s daughters.

Chapter 15
Even mundane jobs are critical. In this case, the person going through the steps to get the people ready for a space walk.

Missing things such as an Uncle’s funeral.

Votes from space, even if they are only propositions. Inconvenience is not an excuse not to vote. He is concerned about how 2016 elections are shaping up. He sees storm clouds like that of a hurricane


Chapter 16
Anytime you leave earth, it is serious business-as I am writing this in a plane-no comparison. But it does play to my fears.


Chapter 17
Alarms are a good reminder of risk.


Chapter 18
Christmas time brings a bit of loneliness for Kelly. But even more so for his girlfriend. She is without him. But his is more general in that he does not get to partake in any of the usual Christmas activities. He relates his situation with Shackelton’s men. They felt lonely on their ice flow without human contact. But they also enjoyed their own self-reliance. Made them feel more like men.


Chapter 19
Slow is efficient. Efficient is fast. Slow is fast. Navy SEAL saying a friend of ours has a similar saying.

Kelly goes through a litany of things he misses.

Chapter 20
The descent of the Soyuz capsule is like a wild rodeo ride. Kelley loves it.


Epilogue
His year in space did not yield any profound scientific discovery or an insight, or new philosophical thought. He can only say that the data is still being examined and understood.

Small steps add up to giant leaps.

He found that he yearned for more family time and getting together.

The Russians have a more complex language and their friendships are more complex as well.

The ISS is a triumph of engineering and cooperation. It is the hardest thing humans have ever attempted. To Kelly, it is proof that humans can work together to solve their problems.


Evaluation:
 Scott Kelly spent a year in space. This book takes us through that year, interspersed with scenes from his childhood and his development through his Navy and into NASA. Usually I do not like these flashback episodes breaking into a narrative. In this case, it works-think about narrating a year of your life, unbroken.

But there are weaknesses. First, these breaks usually have nothing to do with the narrative. Next, each chapter opens with a dream, usually of impending woe. The first one or two were OK, but after awhile I wonder about what does he in eat before he goes to bed. Lastly, and I do not think it is out of place, Kelly’s Navy language is sprinkled throughout the book. I just do not appreciate so much of it. Also, he starts the book talking about coming back from space, but does not finish up on some of the descriptions.

On the whole, it is a good read. I got the understanding of the drive of Kelly and how he spent his time in space.

 
Notes from my book group:
What makes a place a place rather than an object?

Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
  • Why the title of Endurance? How does this book compare to Shackleton’s expedition book also called Endurance?
  • Does this story work as an auto-biography?
  • Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
  • Which character was the most convincing? Least?
    • Which character did you identify with?
    • Which one did you dislike?
  • Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
  • In what context was religion talked about in this book?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this book?
  • What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
  • What “take aways” did you have from this book?
  • What central ideas does the author present?
  • How did this book affect your view of the world?
    • Of how God is viewed?
    • What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
  • Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
    • What was memorable?


New Words:
  • Vestibular system (Prologue): the sensory system that provides the leading contribution to the sense of balance and spatial orientation for the purpose of coordinating movement with balance.
Book References:

Good Quotes:
    • First Line: I’m sitting at the head of my dining room table at home in Houston, finishing dinner with my family: my longtime girlfriend, Amiko; my daughters, Samantha and Chaelotte; my twin brother, Mark; his wife, Gabby; his daughter, Claudia; our father, Richie; and Amiko’s son, Corbin.
    • Last Line: But I know now that if we decide to do it, we can.
    • There are those who have and those who will. Navy saying
    • Slow is efficient. Efficient is fast. Slow is fast. Navy SEAL saying

      References:
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