You’ve probably heard a lot of news about NASA’s New Horizons’ Pluto flyby. By the time this is printed, we’ve hopefully received amazing new imagery from Pluto! I’ve always been fascinated by NASA and space exploration. Since most of us have no chance of becoming astronauts (seriously, those people are amazing), we can take the opportunity to read about them.

In An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield tells about his experiences preparing to become an astronaut, during his training and his three trips in to space. As the title suggests, he also relates these experiences into lessons that we here on Earth can learn from, including lessons about attitude, gratitude, perseverance, and more. One thing I learned is that dedication to learning is essential to being an astronaut. Commander Hadfield spent the vast amount of his time in the Canadian Space Agency and with NASA just learning more and more, in areas that he may never need as an astronaut. This book gives us earthbound plebeians a peek in to what it takes to become an astronaut and what their day to day jobs look like.

Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars gives a different perspective on space travel; specifically, she likes to cover the gross and really weird parts. For example, have you ever considered the role that gravity plays in going to the restroom? Or what happens to a human body after months without gravity? Can you imagine the dire consequences of uncontrolled motion and/or zero-g sickness? These are all issues that NASA has had to study, along with even more bizarre matters.

Connect with exploring space with the Buda Public Library!