Product Description

The first complete and uncensored account of one of the most dangerous missions in the history of manned space travel, Off the Planet is Dr. Jerry Linenger's dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission. Not since Apollo 13 has an astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission, and lived to tell about it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #959337 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Imagine yourself in a decaying space station far away from the atmosphere you never realised you needed so badly, not knowing if the next malfunction would kill you or just 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 such as "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 such as fires and toxic fumes, it's a wonder anyone survived with their sanity intact. The full-colour pictures accompanying the text add further insight into life aboard Mir. --Rob Lightner

From the Back Cover
IT WAS LIKE NOTHING ON EARTH.

"An engrossing report that NASA’s publicity machine will bemoan." —Booklist

"NASA astronaut Linenger spent five months aboard the Russian space station Mir, a spacecraft operating far beyond its design life. His personal account vividly captures the challenges and privation he endured both before and during his flight." —Library Journal

On January 12, 1997, Dr. Jerry M. Linenger took off aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, en route to an historic rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir.

But when he finally boarded Mir and took his first tour around the dark, ramshackle, and decaying space station, reminiscent of "six school buses all hooked together," Linenger knew he was in for a rough ride. Little did he know just how rough it would be, or how many brushes with death he and his Russian colleagues would face over the next 132 days…

The first complete and uncensored account of one of the most dangerous missions in the history of manned space travel Off the Planet is Dr. Jerry Linenger’s dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission. Not since Apollo 13 has an American astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission—and lived to tell about it.

About the Author
Capt. Jerry M. Linenger, M.D., Ph.D., is a retired U.S. Navy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut. A naval academy graduate, Dr. Linenger holds a doctorate in epidemiology, a master's in systems management, and a master's in public health policy. He has also been awarded three honorary doctorate degrees in science. During his mission aboard Mir, he logged fifty million miles in more than two thousand Earth orbits. He was the first American to undock from the space station in Soyuz spacecraft and the first American to spacewalk wearing a Russian spacesuit outside a foreign craft. At the completion of his mission, he had spent more continuous time in space than any male American.

Customer Reviews

A great book, despite Linenger's ego...
I read this book after reading the superior 'Dragonfly' by Bryan Burrough, and I was hoping that Burrough's stories of Jerry Linenger's monumental ego were false. Sadly, this book confirms them all- Linenger even admits it (though he says he is not the worst of the astronauts). Some of the opening chapters grate somewhat because of this, as Linenger describes just what an incredibly sucessful specimen of humanity he thinks he is.

Linenger's book does get really good, though, when he gets to MIR. The description of the onboard fire make the whole book worth reading- the bonechilling image Linenger gives is the best I have read, and Linenger's description of the extent and danger of the fire shows just how much it was played down elsewhere at the time. Linenger also gives a wonderful picture of the sheer hard work of life on MIR that Burrough and Colin Foale never quite get across in their books on the same theme.

So, in all, a great read. In some ways, though, I hope it sells badly. Linenger needs the wind knocked out of his sails a bit.

Can't do the job without total confidence
First of all, I loved the book. I'm approaching codgerhood and first fell in love with the stars and space in the 50's, read Van Vogt & Clark & Asimov and I felt as if I were there with Jerry on the Mir. My brother is a helicopter pilot and I certainly recognize the pilot mentality. I suppose that know-it-all attitude can be abrasive... just realize that it is a necessary part of the pilot's training and mentality...