Astronaut Tom Jones had trained for years for one climactic moment: his first step through an airlock into the vast nothingness of space. What neither he nor anyone else had counted on was a door that refused to open. But that is the nature of space flight (as recent experience tragically proves) -- anything can, and sometimes does, go wrong. Fully aware of the possibility of disaster, astronauts still dare to venture to the edge of the cosmos in search of knowledge and adventure. Sky Walking is the story of one of those brave explorers. Jones spent eleven years in the NASA astronaut program, making four trips into space. He ultimately spent fifty-two days orbiting Earth, including more than nineteen hours outside during extravehicular activity -- that is, sky walking. Jones's readers get the inside story, written with a lyrical pen, on life in the new century with NASA, the space shuttle, and the International Space Station.

They'll read about the shock and thrill of liftoff, find out how strange it was for a former Cold Warrior to find himself working hand-in-hand with his former rivals, the Russians, and get a vicarious feel for the overwhelming experience of a walk in space -- orbiting Earth at more than 17,000 miles per hour, 200 miles up, with only a spacesuit separating Jones from oblivion.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 29 reviews)

Outstanding

Jones is one of the best writers among all the astronaut memoirists, and probably one of the more humble ones. Don't look here for ugly gossip or mae culpas. He's a man of character and commitment, so you'll get a feeling for the kind of person it takes to pioneer the heavens. Best of all he captures the images, challenges and pleasures of space flight. A classic by a quiet hero.

December 03, 2008

An amazing personal account of the space program

This is a beautifully written account of one astronaut's experiences going through the NASA space program. If you are curious about what it takes to become an astronaut, the inner-workers of the organization, and what its like to truly live in space, this is a terrific book. And, the writer has a wonderful way of translating complex information into easily digestible bites. Truly a wonderful read!
May 15, 2008

Makes space flight dull and boring

Not the Right Stuff for me.
The writing is wordy, attempts to be profound and "educated" at every turn, and fails.

His single most dramatic story, the stuck hatch, is anti-climatic.

His second most dramatic story: too much air getting into the food packets.

There is very little "inside scoop" here, as NASA is portrayed as all glorious, and almost perfect. Yet we know, and see demonstrated on a regular basis, that the opposite is true.

Find this locally if you can, and browse through it first to see if its the right stuff for you.
April 10, 2007

A memoir by one of the "new breed" of astronauts

There are many excellent books written by and about the Right Stuff astronauts who flew during the earlier days of the space program. However, until recently, there has been a nearly total lack of books by and about the shuttle astronauts who fly now. For better or worse, today's space program is as different from the program of the early days as the shuttle is different from the Apollo capsules. And today's astronauts are different, too.

Mike Mullane was the first of the shuttle astronauts to write about his experiences in his book Riding Rockets. However, Mullane was a member of the group that made the transition from the Apollo program to the shuttle program, and the tone of his book is almost wistful; he clearly wanted to be one of the Right Stuff guys-- and he means guys-- but he ended up being a shuttle technician.

Sky Walking is a memoir by a very different sort of astronaut. Tom Jones was very young during the "glory days" of the space program, so he has no Right Stuff preconceptions about astronauts as death-defying heroes. Rather, he is an Air Force Academy graduate who flew B-52s, earned a PhD in planetary sciences, and became a dedicated, professional shuttle program technician. That could have made for a dull, technical book if it weren't for his intellect and, more importantly, his powers of observation and ability to reflect on what he experienced.

Jones flew four shuttle missions and took three space walks on his final mission, which was dedicated to construction on the International Space Station. His accounts of what space walks are like-- and of the hundreds of hours of training that precedes each one-- are first rate. His descriptions of the ISS and of the issues surrounding its planning, funding, and construction are excellent. I don't know of any other insider's book that deals with the ISS in such detail or with such authority. This is because Jones was an administrator in the ISS program between his third and fourth shuttle flights.

The subtitle says that this is "an astronaut's memoir," and that's exactly what it is. Jones takes us trough his selection as an astronaut, his general training, his years of waiting for flights, his training for those flights, and the flights themselves. There is considerable technical information in the book, but Jones does an excellent job of clarifying it for non-experts. The real focus is on Jones himself-- what he sees, thinks, and feels about what's happening to him.

This is an outstanding book. It answers the two basic questions many of us have always had: "What's it REALLY like to fly in space?" and "What are those people REALLY like?" I thoroughly enjoyed Sky Walking, and I recommend it most highly.
February 28, 2007

The Next Best Thing to Traveling to Space Yourself

Sky Walking is the best account of the experience of space that I have ever read. It takes you deep into the physical and emotional sensations of space travel where you the reader experience what astronauts experience right down to the mundane task trying to locate an item that has floated away in the cabin or trying to use an exercise bike with zero gravity. Tom Jones is an articulate writer capable of constructing wonderful imagery and some choice metaphors about every aspect of space travel from training to launch to rentry. His descriptions of his space walks and working aboard the International Space Station are particularly memorable. Jones is also not afraid to render an opinion about this America's commitment to space what can and should be done to maintain NASA as a shining symbol of American capability. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a curiosity about what space travel is really like.
-- Jerry Burton, author of Zora Arkus-Duntov the Legend Behind Corvette and Corvette, America's Sports Car, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
December 19, 2006

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