Infinite Wonder

December 1, 2018
Astronaut Kelly proved to be a vivid writer in Endurance (2017), his memoir about the year he spent aboard the International Space Station. In this gorgeously produced volume, Kelly shares 260 color photographs that he took from that orbiting perch. He dedicates the book to his artist mother, Patricia, and he has clearly inherited her artist's eye and sensitivity. Kelly writes that he was awestruck by Earth's dramatic beauty during his first space flight in 1999, and how, during subsequent missions, he taught himself how to brace his body and his camera in space's microgravity environment to take focused images of Earth as it rushed past at a blistering 17,500 miles per hour. The first section, The Mission, offers crisp shots of life within the cluttered ISS interior. The Natural World is a stunning series of photographs of radiant celestial events and Earth's varied terrains. Earth Art is a revelation: a gallery of Kelly's painting-like, subtly computer-enhanced abstract images of Earth's phenomenal textures and patterns, its glory and vitality. Kelly has created a magnificent union of art and science.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2018

Commander Kelly lived for a year in outer space, and he has eye-opening photographs of Earth taken from 250 miles up. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

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