With the recent announcement that Tom Cruise will fly on SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) next year, I thought it would be fun to listen to the audiobook Ask An Astronaut: My Guide to Life In Space read by the author, Tim Peake. After learning the strenuous educational requirements for life on board the ISS, I wonder if Tom Cruise has “the right stuff”. Since learning Russian is one of the requirements to live on the ISS, I hope Tom is starting his language lessons now.
Tim Peake is a British Army Air Corps officer, European Space Agency astronaut, and a former International Space Station (ISS) crew member for six months beginning in December 2015. Tim went through a year-long application process and beat out over 8,000 others for the chance to be an ISS crew member. Then he had a rigorous 4 year training period before being assigned to a crew. Too bad he wasn’t a millionaire like Tom Cruise so he could skip this process.
Here is a link to a short BBC video that shows Tim Peake’s Top Moments in Space, including presenting a music award to Adele and running the London marathon. Watching this video shows the pure delight he experienced on the ISS. His personality shines through in the book. He has a great sense of wit, excitement, and joy as he discusses all aspects of training, launch, the structure of the ISS, life onboard the ISS, his return to earth, and the future of space flights. He is set to go back to the ISS in the future. Who knows, maybe he’ll be there with Maverick.
I learned a great deal of surprising information. Unfortunately, now know that I cannot apply to be an astronaut because I had Lasik eye surgery. Haha. Some of the information is a bit technical, but most of it is informative and very interesting for readers from middle school age and up. 5-Stars.
Here are pictures of my now 31-year-old son back in 2001 when he was 12 years old and attended Space Academy at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. FYI, there is even a space camp for adults! The coolest part of Joe’s graduation from Space Academy was the surprise guest speaker: Homer Hickam. If you have ever read the book Rocket Boys or seen the movie October Sky, you know how much Homer Hickam did for NASA.
And now for my Recipes For Readers recommendation:
NASA’s Jamaican Rice & Beans with Coconut Milk
Loved the review – thanks Kerrin! And I loved the pictures of Joe at Space Camp. Homer Hickam is such a big deal – that was very exciting for all of you. Space camp was just the coolest place to be back then. Wonder if they’ll ever revive it.