Space: The Human Story

Space: The Human Story, written by British astronaut Tim Peake, tells the story of the 'astronaut species' and its evolution.

It charts the astronaut selection process and training, waiting/being picked for a mission, going into space, being in space, and coming home from space. It features various characters and events in spaceflight history, especially on both sides of the Space Race (USA and USSR).

Tim discusses his own experiences as an astronaut, and considers what future astronauts will be like. His book is filled with witty, sometimes hilarious observations. (I never thought I'd see S Club 7 mentioned in a book about space!)

The book starts with the final Apollo mission to the Moon - Apollo 17 - and Gene Cernan saying goodbye. That was in December 1972, and it's taken fifty years to go back, with the Artemis missions, which seems extraordinary.

The Space Race gained momentum when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial orbital satellite, Sputnik 1, in October 1957. A month later, Sputnik 2 was launched with one passenger, a dog named Laika. It was a one-way trip for poor Laika, who died shortly after reaching orbit. The race to get a human into space now became a matter of urgency.

In America, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) officially started in October 1958. Its first goal was Project Mercury, where military test pilots were recruited to be astronauts. Women were excluded - in the US, women were barred from military flight training at this time.

Also excluded at this time was a certain Neil Armstrong. He had been a naval pilot but had left the Navy and was now working as a civilian pilot. He would later be accepted by NASA, of course.

The candidates went through a whole host of extreme physical and mental examinations. One who failed at this time due to something slightly wrong in his blood test was Jim Lovell - three years later, he would be accepted by NASA too.

In 1959, the astronauts that would be known as the Mercury Seven were announced. They then began training for orbital spaceflight.

Meanwhile, in the USSR, a rival mission was under way with twenty trainee cosmonauts that included the Vanguard Six - one of these was Yuri Gagarin.

Gagarin became the first human in space in April 1961, completing one orbit of Earth in the Vostok capsule. It had been a choice between Gagarin and Gherman Titov, but Gagarin was picked, cementing his name in history.

Once again, the Soviets had beaten the Americans to it. Alan Shepard became the first American in space in May 1961 - his was just a quick flight up and down, with no orbit. Gus Grissom became the second American in space, again with a short flight, in July 1961.

Titov got his chance in August 1961, becoming the second human to orbit Earth. In February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth.

The USSR then learned of a rumour that the Americans were planning to put a woman into space. It was actually an experiment to see how women would deal with the same kind of astronaut training that the Project Mercury men went through.

The experiment was run by Dr William Lovelace, who was in charge of the medical screening of the Project Mercury candidates. Female aviation legends were brought in - including Geraldyn Cobb, who sailed through - and they were later known as the Mercury 13. The experiment wasn't officially sanctioned by NASA, so it went no further.

However, the Soviets did go further. In June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

It would be a while before another woman made it to space. Svetlana Savitskaya made it in 1982 - she later became the first woman to do a spacewalk. The next year, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.

After Project Mercury came the Gemini programme, the precursor to the Apollo programme. Tim writes about two notable incidents.

On the Gemini 3 mission, John Young managed to smuggle a sandwich into space.

On a far more serious note, the Gemini 8 mission in 1966 nearly ended in disaster. Aboard the craft were David Scott and Neil Armstrong, who successfully completed their objective of docking with another craft in space - an empty Agena module, which had been launched prior to the Gemini.

But problems started when the joined crafts went into a spin. Armstrong separated the Gemini from the Agena, but the spinning got worse - unknown to him, there was a fault with the thrusters. It was only Armstrong's exceptional piloting skills and presence of mind that stabilised the Gemini and got him and Scott home safely.

Armstrong had another brush with death while training for the Moon landing.

It had already been decided that a command module with a detachable Lunar Landing Module was how they would get to the Moon and back. In a dramatic incident, the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle malfunctioned with Armstrong inside, and Armstrong managed to eject just before the vehicle crashed.

On 20 July 1969, Armstrong safely landed the Lunar Module Eagle on the surface of the Moon. Armstrong made his "one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" and became the first human to step on the Moon. He was shortly followed by fellow crew member Buzz Aldrin. Meanwhile, Michael Collins remained in the command module in lunar orbit.

The Apollo 11 mission fulfilled the goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to land a man on the Moon and bring him home safely before the decade was out. It also brought about an end to the Space Race, and heralded a new age of international cooperation with space projects.

And in 1978, NASA's new astronaut draft "properly opened the doors for women and civilians."

These momentous events and continued exploration have come at a huge cost.

In 1961, cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko died after a fire during a training exercise. In 1967, the Apollo 1 crew - Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee - died in a fire during a pre-launch test on the launch pad. Also in 1967, Vladimir Komarov died when his Soyuz craft's parachutes failed to deploy correctly after re-entry and crashed into the ground.

In 1971, the crew of Soyuz 11 - Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev - were returning from a successful mission to the Salyut space station. The capsule arrived on Earth, seemingly intact, but all three were found dead inside. A valve in the craft had come open during descent, causing rapid decompression and loss of air supply. Had they been wearing spacesuits, they would have survived.

In 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart shortly after take-off. All seven crew members died, including teacher Christa McAuliffe and Judith Resnick (who two years earlier had become the second US woman in space). In 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart on re-entry, killing all seven crew members.

These tragedies, along with all the near misses (including the Apollo 13 mission), highlight just how dangerous these missions, and even training, were and continue to be. It also shows just how brave you need to be in order to be an astronaut.

Throughout the book, Tim gives personal accounts of the journey from trainee astronaut on Earth to astronaut in space. How you're in the hands of the scientists and medics. The difference between a Flown Astronaut and an Unflown Astronaut (who would become famous and who wouldn't). What it's like to be on the rocket as it heads for space. Space food, which has evolved from inedible gunk to something a lot more appetising.

Tim describes spacewalks, including the historic untethered spacewalk by Bruce McCandless in 1984 - his picture is on the front cover of the book.

And Helen Sharman, who in 1991 became the first British astronaut when she spent a week working on science projects on the Mir space station. Tim says, "Sharman had categorically - and for some of us, very inspiringly - proved that astronauts could come from Britain too."

At the back of the book is a list of recommendations for further reading. I've already read a couple, and there are a few others that look interesting.

I do recommend this book though. It's a thought-provoking analysis, sometimes fun, sometimes sad, told by someone who knows exactly what it's like to be an astronaut.

I've seen Tim Peake on one of his speaking tours. I recommend that too.