Review: Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly

Title: Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery
Author: Scott Kelly
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Publish Date: October 17, 2017
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "The veteran of four space flights 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 inimical to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, both existential and banal: the devastating effects on the body; the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth; the pressures of constant close cohabitation; the catastrophic risks of depressurization or 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 another mission, his twin brother's wife, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space. Kelly's humanity, compassion, humor, and passion 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 American spaceflight."

My Two Cents:

"Endurance" is an amazing memoir by Scott Kelly, NASA astronaut. This book spoke to me on a few levels. First, I am fascinated by anything having to do with space. Also, as I have identical twins of my own, I've been super interested in both following Scott and his identical twin brother, Mark, through their careers and through the studies that NASA did on the brothers as Scott spent a year in space while Mark remained here on earth.

In this book, Scott goes through his life before becoming an astronaut as well as in depth detail into his life as one of the few Americans to enter space through the Space Program. I loved his detail about all of the training that he had to go through. Let me say, astronauts are no joke. It's no wonder they are so good at their jobs with the amazing amount of work that they have to go through just to possibly get chosen for a mission (a mission is not assured even if you get to the point of being an astronaut).


His ruminations of what it was like to be in space, especially for the year-long mission to the International Space Station was really something. Here is a man that has had an experience that no one else in the world has had and the way that he describes it makes you feel like you are right there with him. I really enjoyed it!