Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station MIR
Jerry Linenger | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | McGraw-Hill | 256 | Business
An engrossing report.--Booklist
Vividly captures the challenges and privations [Dr. Linenger] endured both before and during his flight.--Library Journal
Nothing on earth compares to Off the Planet--Dr. Jerry Linenger's dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission during his 132 days aboard the decaying and unstable Russian space station Mir.
Not since Apollo 13 has an American astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission. In his remarkable narrative, Linenger chronicles power outages that left the crew in complete darkness, tumbling out of control; chemical leaks and near collisions that threatened to rupture Mir's hull; and most terrifying of all--a raging fire that almost destroyed the space station and the lives of its entire crew.
Imagine yourself in a decaying space station far away from the atmosphere you never realized you needed so badly, not knowing if the next malfunction would kill you or merely keep you busy. Dr. Jerry M. Linenger experienced just this and describes his harrowing but ennobling five months aboard Mir in Off the Planet, a memoir that evokes the excitement of living every day as a life-threatening adventure. Linenger's very personal writing style draws the reader into the story quickly, breezing through his childhood, Annapolis training, medical school, and selection as an astronaut, then moving quickly to the Mir assignment and its aftermath.
Linenger isn't shy about sharing his opinions. Chapter titles like "Broken Trust" and "An Attempted Coverup" show his feelings about the bizarre relationship between the crew and mission control that may have kept him and his Russian comrades in constant danger. He also heaps praise on his fellow crew members and family for their strength and perseverance throughout the mission--between communication difficulties, the cloud of doubt surrounding the station's systems, and problems like fires and toxic fumes, it's a wonder anyone survived with their sanity intact. The full-color pictures accompanying the text add further insight into life aboard Mir. --Rob Lightner
Reviews
Ever wonder what life in a space station is like? Read this book and find out. Linenger details the day to day problems the inhabitants of the aging Mir faced, some of them life-threatening. It is an entertaining read as well as being the most informative book about the actual workings of the Russian-American cooperation in space I have read. Some of the ongoing problems, such as the continuous coolant leaks, on Mir as well as the Russian mission controller's blasé approach to safety come as a surprise but Linenger's descriptions are clear and believable. On a personal note, Linenger's can-do attitude is inspiring and after reading his book I think a little of it may have rubbed off on me, at least I hope so. Great book!
Reviews
Jerry Linenger's account of his preparation and 5 month stay aboard the Mir space station is an interesting peak into one man's extended stay in space and the façade of the NASA/Russian space partnership. However, what was an unbelievable journey for Mr. Linenger seems mundane (and almost boring) due to the writing style and immense scope of information provided.
The first half of the book sets up who Dr. Linenger is as a man (or as his name properly written is: Jerry Michael Linenger, M.D., M.S.S.M., M.P.H., and Ph.D.). It gives the reader a breakdown of his accomplishments (which are very impressive to say the least), his drive towards space, and his training in Russia with his wife and infant son. All very interesting and necessary information but the reader needs to slog through the mud of too many uninteresting antidotes and peripheral information.
The second half of the book which tells the tale of his stay on Mir again starts off very slowly but really finds its footing about halfway through. Once Mr. Linenger begins to get into the meat of specific challenges and issues, he communicates these scenes effectively by painting a clear picture of this dangerous and exciting adventure.
From the Fire on board Mir, to the attempted Progress re-dock, to the anti freeze leaks and eventual breakdown of trust between Mir and ground control, to a frightening space walk, to the conclusion explaining his struggles re-adapting to the earth's gravity, the book earns an A. Unfortunately the remainder of the books seems weighted down when it should have soared in weightlessness.
Reviews
I bought the book after hearing Mr. Linenger speak. It was easy to read and very interesting.
Reviews
As Jerry Linenger capitvatingly and brutely describes his experience with the Russian traning center and MIR leadership, I was both shocked and amused. To the average person, it is unbelieveable that the Russian Space Program was so adhoc, unscientific and unorganized. The disorganization that is described is so prevalent that I wonder how the Russians could manage any space travel sucessfully.
Before I read this book I imagined the life of astronaut was a hero's life, little did I realize the patience, team work and politics involved in Space travel.
Recommended for it's great story and window into a world very few of us will ever experience.
Reviews
Unexpectedly, the best book by an astronaut I have ever read. Utterly honest, detailed but not too much, Linenger certainly had "the right stuff". Brilliant, adaptable and a jock, he survived 5 months in an unreliable, uncomfortable Mir space station, and got along very well with two pairs of Russian Cosmonauts, after "learning" Russian in a 5-week crash course. He gives the lowdown on Russian competence in the space program, the political reason for funneling US funds into joint space activity, the excessive control of by Russian ground crew of their cosmonauts. Much is as expected for Russians long living in a repressive, loveless society. True, the poverty of the Russian Republic would make anyone difficult.
Descriptions of ordinary lavatory functions, repair of every imaginable device on the Mir, all of which broke down, and details of docking, undocking, and returning to Earth on a Space Shuttle were more complete than any other I have read. Details of bone density loss, odd effects of Earth gravity and other bits were seen by me for the first time. For me "Off the Planet" was far superior to the classics such as First on the Moon by Armstrong, Collins & Aldrin (too sanitized), "Return to Earth"? by Aldrin (too personally focused, but good), or "Last on the Moon". Only "Apollo 13" compares, but is too sanitized.
My only gripe is that the scientific experiments on which so much time and money were spent do not come in for any description at all, nor any refs. to their publication, or Principal Investigators. Minor gripes were an occasional ambiguous antecedent, pride in contributing to lowering the fat content of Navy diets (on p7; utterly discredited by "The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskow, 2000; "The Modern Nutritional Diseases" by Ottoboni, 2001; "The GReat Cholesterol Con" by Anthony Colpo, 2006; and many others. See http://www.health-heart.org/acceuil.htm). On p9, canned tuna is healthful, but Minute Rice is not for the carb-sensitive among us. Twice, p78 and 189, "hydrolysis" of water is used instead of the correct "electrolysis".
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