Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir

Rating:
Summary: at least he doesn't do everything perfectly
Review: I read the letter the author wrote the amazon customers and was disappointed that he had not let a ghost writer do the writing. Indeed, it is a great story, and I relish the fact that the book is a kiss and tell of sorts: divulging the truths that neither the soviet space agency or NASA for that matter would care to be told. The entire narrative, however, is weakened by this "aw shucks, I'm just son of simple folks who just wants to do well for my country and family" sentiment. When I pick up a book about an astronaut I'm frankly interested in the psychology of an over-achiever like Dr. Linenger as much as I'm interested in stories of space travel. You just don't bump into people like Jerry everyday, who seem blessed in every aspect of their life. A good biographer would find a few nuggets to make this guy seem less like a ken doll and more three dimensional. His writing, unfortunately, is not great. Whereas J. Krakauer's Into Thin Air is superbly written, creating suspense in every chapter describing the escalating crisis with candor and lucidity, Linenger's account is poorly organized and littered with embarrasing phrasing "we are really rocking and rolling!" and platitudes. While, he can add a "published author" hat to the many already on his rack at home, this book could have been so much better if someone else had written it. At least he can't do everything perfectly.

Rating:
Summary: at least he doesn't do everything perfectly
Review: Indeed, it is a great story, and I relish the fact that thebook is a kiss and tell of sorts: divulging the truths that neitherthe soviet space agency or NASA for that matter would care to be told. The entire narrative, however, is weakened by this "aw shucks, I'm just son of simple folks who just wants to do well for my country and family" sentiment. When I pick up a book about an astronaut I'm frankly interested in the psychology of an over-achiever like Dr. Linenger as much as I'm interested in stories of space travel. You just don't bump into people like Jerry everyday, who seem blessed in every aspect of their life. A good biographer would find a few nuggets to make this guy seem less like a ken doll and more three dimensional. His writing, unfortunately, is not great. Whereas J. Krakauer's Into Thin Air is superbly written, creating suspense in every chapter describing the escalating crisis with candor and lucidity, Linenger's account is poorly organized and littered with embarrasing phrasing "we are really rocking and rolling!" and platitudes. While, he can add a "published author", hat to the many already on his rack at home, this book could have been so much better if someone else had written it. At least he can't do everything perfectly. END

Rating:
Summary: A Good Book About One Astronaut's Life Onboard Mir
Review: Jerry Linenger is a former NASA astronaut who spent just over 132 days in space, most of it aboard the Russian space station Mir. During his stay, Dr. Linenger accomplished many first for an American astronaut. He became the first American to conduct a space walk from a foreign space station and in a non-American made spacesuit. During this five hour EVA, he and his Russian crewmate tested the newly designed Orlan-M Russian-built spacesuit. He and his crewmembers also performed a flyaround of the Mir in the Soyuz spacecraft, undocking from one docking port of the station and redocking at a different location.

While living aboard the MIR space station, Jerry Linenger and his two Russian crewmembers faced numerous difficulties, such as the most severe fire ever aboard an orbiting spacecraft, clearly the best written and most interesting section of the book, the failures of onboard systems (oxygen generator, carbon dioxide scrubbing, cooling line loop leaks, communication antenna tracking ability, urine collection and processing facility), a near collision with a resupply cargo ship during a manual docking system test, loss of station electrical power, and loss of attitude control resulting in a slow, uncontrolled tumble through space. In spite of these challenges and the added demands on their time due to the repair work, they still accomplished all mission goals: the space walk, the flyaround, and the completion off all the planned U.S. science experiments. All of these harrowing adventures and many others, plus the grind of his daily life aboard Mir, are recounted in this book.

I would have to agree with the numerous other reviewers that feel the Jerry Linenger has a big ego, but as someone who has had a lot of contact with astronauts over the years, his ego is only somewhat greater than the norm. The first example of this personality trait, is the title. The title states that he spend five months on Mir, but his stay on Mir, was just a little more than 4 months (132 days total mission time minus the travel time to and from Mir, about five days). There are lots of references to "I did ..." and he seems to forget that all of the hardware onboard any space vehicle has been designed for easy astronaut use to assure success. I know because that's what I do for a living.

All things considered, this book is definitely one of the better astronaut biographies and covers a period of human space flight that is not frequently examined, the Space Shuttle era. Furthermore, Dr. Linenger deserves kudos for writing the book himself.

Rating:
Summary: The truth about life on Mir
Review: Jerry Linenger wrote "Off the Planet" to describe his out-of-this-world (literally) experiences on the Mir spacestation, as an American astronaut working with the Russians. This autobiographical book goes into Jerry's adventures with Mir's copious mechanical problems, his reflections on life on earth, and the politics of the cooperative space program between Russia and the United States. I received this book after Jerry spoke at a conference I attended. I do not usually read books in this genre, but to my surprise, it was an entertaining read and I ended up purchasing another copy for my father.

The format of the book is not exactly chronological. Each chapter could be a standalone essay, focusing on a different event or issue on Mir. The early chapters introduce Jerry, and show the progression of his career up to his training for Mir. The last few chapters go into Jerry's newfound perspective on existence, and the difficult adaptation back to earth life.

Jerry's writing style is as direct and unceremonious as his speeches. He explains complicated scientific issues with ease, and even this liberal arts major could understand what he was talking about. He talks about lofty topics, like Russian-US relations. Then he'll move on to discuss how astronauts use the bathroom, or the difficulties of eating pretzels in space.

There have been quite a few criticisms of this book. Some have said that Jerry is egotistical. If he hadn't admitted this fault in the book, I wouldn't have noticed it. It seems appropriate for an accomplished astronaut to be proud of his work. Others claim that there is another side to the story, but there is always another side to the story. I know that I am reading about Mr. Linenger's perspective of the events on Mir, and I can put it into context with other published works.

I already agree with the sentiments with which Jerry Linenger sums up his book. He tells us that we should live each day as if it is our last, to enjoy all the natural bounties that the earth gives us, and to value our precious time on the planet. Each breath of oxygen and moment in the sunlight should be cherished. I completely agree. One way that this book has changed me is that it has made me more aware of the space program. When I hear about unmanned landings on Mars or even events on Mir, I perk up and listen more closely than I had in the past.

Rating:
Summary: a great book about living in space
Review: this book shows the truth about living in space. the author describes all the hardships that he and the crew went through