Endurance, Scott Kelly
Endurance, Scott Kelly
36 Rating(s)
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
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Endurance
A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery

Bestseller

Author: Scott Kelly

Narrator: Scott Kelly

Unabridged: 13 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/17/2017


Synopsis

NATIONAL BEST SELLER

A stunning, personal memoir from the astronaut and modern-day hero who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station—a message of hope for the future that will inspire for generations to come.

The veteran of four spaceflights 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 hostile to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, both life-threatening and mundane: the devastating effects on the body; the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth; the catastrophic risks of 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 a previous mission, his twin brother's wife, American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space.

     Kelly's humanity, compassion, humor, and determination 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 spaceflight.

     In Endurance, we see the triumph of the human imagination, the strength of the human will, and the infinite wonder of the galaxy.

About The Author

SCOTT KELLY is a former military fighter pilot and test pilot, an engineer, a retired astronaut, and a retired U.S. Navy captain. A veteran of four space flights, Kelly commanded the International Space Station (ISS) on three expeditions and was a member of the yearlong mission to the ISS. During the Year in Space mission, he set records for the total accumulated number of days spent in space and for the single longest space mission by an American astronaut. He lives in Houston, Texas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rowan on August 13, 2022

This felt like two books rolled into one - part memoir on Scott Kelly’s year in space, and part autobiography about his life and astronaut journey. It took me a while to get into this. Chapters alternate between the year in space and his life and career. Some chapters were more interesting than othe......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on January 05, 2018

The worst argument I ever had with my dad when I was growing up was over astronauts. We were at the dinner table and I had remarked that astronauts had to be superior and my dad argued that they had to be 'normal'. Dad thought that normal meant a human body that functioned as it was supposed to, and......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on October 29, 2017

Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery is a memoir written by Scott Kelly. A former NASA astronaut, Scott Kelly is best known for spending nearly a year on the International Space Station (ISS) and (as of October 2015) for spending more time in space than any other American. He's also a......more

Goodreads review by Karen’s Library on July 09, 2020

Wow! 5 gazillion stars to this amazing memoir by Astronaut Scott Kelly. I loved this even more the second time around. I met both Scott and now wife Amiko a couple of years ago and I was utterly starstruck. Original review: When Scott Kelly spent his year in space, I followed him on social media and......more

Goodreads review by Yun on November 29, 2017

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut (like pretty much every other kid out there). To hear that Scott Kelly volunteered to spend a year in space to advance science and to further the mission to Mars completely thrilled the kid still in me. This book of his experiences during that year spent......more


Quotes

“Captivating, charming . . . . [Kelly] pulls back the curtain separating the myth of the astronaut from its human realities. . . . It is easy to imagine future generations of explorers and daredevils harnessing the lessons and truths within the pages of ‘Endurance’ as the blueprints for their own trips into the unknown.” —Jaroslav Kalfar, The New York Times Book Review

[Endurance] is a memoir of the right stuff that will hypnotize any space geek.” —The Wall Street Journal

Kelly brings life in space alive—the wonder and awe of it, and also the jagged edges, the rough parts of living in confined quarters in an alien element, far from everything familiar and beloved. . . . Endurance, with its honest, gritty descriptions of an unimaginable life, a year off Earth, is as close as most readers will come to making that voyage themselves.” —The Financial Times

“Kelly’s account is insightful, at times humorous, heart-tugging at others. And it’s inspiring enough to change the life of some lost kid, just like The Right Stuff did for him.” —USA Today

“For space junkies, it’s absolutely required reading. . . . We feel as though we’re right there with him. A great book.” —Booklist

“Scott Kelly’s saga is a deeply absorbing and vivid look at a year in space and the many trials and rigors of living weightless inside a football field-sized machine traveling at 17,000 miles per hour. But Endurance satisfies far more than the reader’s technological curiosities; it is replete with humor, thrills, surreal details, and recurring moments of ordinary humanity that turn Kelly’s tale into a loving tribute to the pioneering individuals who risk all to shepherd man’s exploration of the vast beyond.” —Khaled Hosseini, author of And the Mountains Echoed

“Read this book and you will believe in our American future, thrill at our human potential, and laugh at the absurdities of life.  Endurance is about excellence and perspective, a memorable read.” Senator Bill Bradley

“This isn’t your usual astronaut’s memoir.”The Philadelphia Tribune

“Scott Kelly’s book is as close as I and most everyone else on Earth will ever get to experiencing the fascinating, complex, almost preposterously dangerous business of going into space. When I closed the covers, I felt like I had been out there. Endurance is an utterly gripping book that can stand comfortably in the company of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff.” —Charles C. Mann, author of 1491

“Scott Kelly’s memoir of his year in space and all that preceded it is the real thing—honest, dramatic, illuminating, and simply riveting. With clear, compelling writing, he reveals the nature of space exploration, the current state of the space program, and the raw experience of leaving Earth as has no other book.” —T.J. Stiles, author of Custer’s Trials