Ask an Astronaut

By: Tim Peake

Narrated by: Robin Ince, Tim Peake - introduction

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

What happens when you sneeze in space? Was it fun to do a space walk? How squashed were you in the capsule on the way back? What were your feelings as you looked down on Earth for the first time? Were you ever scared? Where to next - the moon, Mars, or beyond?

Based on his historic mission to the International Space Station, Ask an Astronaut is Tim Peake's guide to life in space and his answers to the thousands of questions he has been asked since his return to Earth. With explanations ranging from the mundane (how do you wash your clothes or go to the bathroom while in orbit?) to the profound (do humans have a duty to explore the unknown?), all written in Tim's characteristically warm style, Tim shares his thoughts on every aspect of space exploration.

From training for the mission to launch to his historic spacewalk to reentry, he reveals for listeners of all ages the cutting-edge science behind his groundbreaking experiments and the wonders of daily life onboard the International Space Station.

©2017 Tim Peake (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Inspiring

I've been longing to get a copy of this book since it was released. After such a long wait for it I was not disappointed.

I closely followed Tim Peake, Tim Kopra and Yuri Malenchenko's expedition to the ISS from start to end, listening to morning DPCs, seeing their media engagement programs and, in my free time, learning about the Space Station and a bit of Russian along the way. These three men, crew mates and ground team inspired me to try and pursue a career to aid space exploration in any way I can.

Yet I'm only a middle class Ecuadorian girl, with subpar maths skills and no University studies.

But I am young, and I still have time to do something meaningful in my life if I work hard for it - maybe aiding human spaceflight in any way I can, who knows?

Mr Peake's words and insight on his path and time in the ISS gave me the optimism (and occasionally a good laugh) that I needed to make the next step. Thank you Tim.

55 people found this helpful

fun entertaining informative

I can scratch being an astronaut from my choice of occupations this book gave me a very in-depth View and I feel like I've already been there

24 people found this helpful

Get the physical book or an ebook.

It's ok, but I got it at a discount on audio and it really doesn't work in this format. Hours and hours and hours of reading questions, then reading answer to those questions gets really, really, really boring. I'd start drifting off in 30-60 minutes. Or less.

2 people found this helpful

Many interesting facts

But also lots of “who cares”, personal observations on the part of the author. Author/narrator almost always a bad idea, but less bad in this case.

All you ever wanted to know but had no one to ask

I still remember the disappointment I felt when a friend told me that only men with perfect vision could be an astronaut. It was when America’s space program was booming and it was starting to seem to be a regular thing to shoot men up into space. And, I had just gotten my first pair of glasses. To be an astronaut was probably every American boy’s dream at some time in the 60’s. Tim Peake was spent 170+ days on the space station and after his return, was peppered with questions in every conversation, and every interview, every opportunity. So, he decided to write this book. The book is organized seemingly as a chain of consciousness but is written in question and answer format. He simply answers questions that were given to him and does so in an interesting way. It’s written in such a way as to be interesting to an adult or a child and covers pretty much everything I can think of to ask. Quite an interesting book.  

love books about astronauts

I love books about astronauts and this is another take on the this. really worth a listen.

No answer went beyond a quick web search.

How does one go to the loo in space? Is space scary? How do you eat in space? How does one become an astronaut? Can you drink a cup of tea in space? What surprised you the most? What is the best part? What is the worst part?

Those questions and more are answered at a 5th-grade level in Tim Peake's "Ask an Astronaut".

This book may have been useful 10 years ago when endless space knowledge was not at my fingertips. Basically, Tim took a FAQ and turned it in to a short book written for middle schoolers fascinated by space (and who wasn't excited at that age? Or still fascinated, really).

Probably, the real value in this book is Tim organizing the list for me. Sometimes, one does not know what question to ask. A particular gem that I did not think about is, "Does space smell?" According to Tim, it actually does have a smell. He went through a list of comparisons. Afterwards, I visualized the odor burnt gadgets give off.

Details about re-entry was interesting. I did not know about the 3-piece approach and the shuttle is actually quite accurate in finding its landing place. Also, the shuttle is built to take a rough collision to land. I also did not realize just how important Russia is to space these days.

If you are interested in space (and who isn't?) but not sure what questions to ask, this book is for you. I imagine everybody will find some nugget of info. Whether that nugget is worth a whole book versus a web search, I am not sure.

You learn something new everyday

This started slow, but became more engaging farther along. I enjoyed it and learned several new tidbits about life in space.

Thoroughly enjoyable

Most of this required small bites, but it was very enjoyable. My grandson and I enjoyed it, and he had his horizons widened considerably.

Interesting read!

I found this book to be fascinating. If you're in the mood to learn lots of trivia and get a good dose of elementary-science, this is a quick and enjoyable read. Narration was great as well.