Atmosphere

The Woman Who Wanted to Go to Space

The stars have been Joan Goodwin's lifelong passion, for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as an aunt to her seven-year-old niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first female astronauts for NASA's space programme. A previously suppressed desire awakens within Joan to become one of those who venture into space.
In the summer of 1980, she is indeed selected from thousands of applicants and begins her training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, alongside an exceptional group of other candidates: Hank and John, kind-hearted partners through thick and thin; the focused and determined Lydia; the warm and friendly Donna; and the mysterious and distinctive Vanessa—an aerospace engineer who can fix any engine and pilot any machine.
As the new astronauts become good friends despite all their differences and prepare for their first flight, Joan finds a passion and love she never dreamed of. And she begins to question everything that had defined her life until then.
Then, one day in December 1984, during a space mission, everything changes in a single moment...
The iconic author of *Daisy Jones & The Six* and *The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo* delivers her eagerly anticipated new novel about the extraordinary effort we put into living and loving, and the choices for which we can never be prepared.
Translated by Hana Sichingerová.