For a novel on the first women astronauts, Taylor Jenkins Reid studied old NASA PDFs

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Joan Goodwin, an astronomer who has been in love with the stars since childhood, learns one day in 1980 that NASA is seeking the first women astronauts to join its space shuttle program. Taylor Jenkins Reid's new novel Atmosphere follows Joan as she becomes one of those astronauts, navigating new challenges, disaster, and a secret romance along the way. In today's episode, Reid speaks with NPR's Debbie Elliott about her research process for the novel, which included visiting the Johnson Space Center, conversations with a former NASA employee, and a lot PDFs. They also discuss the early days of NASA's shuttle program and the way the agency had to adjust to women joining the astronaut corps.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I went to interviewed a big-time
0:06.6	novelist who shall not be named, and I asked them, oh, how did you research this aspect of the book,
0:11.7	or that section? And they went, I didn't. I made it up. I write fiction. All right, on the one hand,
0:18.0	I understand the points. But on the other, it made me respect even more the authors who do try and get things right.
0:25.3	Like Taylor Jenkins read, her new novel, Atmosphere, is about the first women astronauts, and for the book, she went to the Johnson Space Center and got on a decommissioned space shuttle, but she also did the less romantic parts of research,
0:38.1	which just involved reading tons and tons of documents. She talked to NPR's Debbie Elliott
0:42.5	about what she learned specifically about female astronauts after the break.
0:47.4	The new novel Atmosphere starts in 1984 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
0:58.1	Joan Goodwin is an astronaut, but her job this day is with mission control. She's tasked with being the only person who speaks directly to the crew
1:04.4	aboard the space shuttle navigator. Joan is a calm person, which is good, given the crisis that quickly unfolds.
1:13.3	Everyone is up out of their seats. Joan can barely hear herself think.
1:17.3	She has been through simulations like this, with the pressure dropping rapidly and no way to stabilize it.
1:22.7	They have ended only when the leak is found, or the crew dies.
1:29.9	This is NASA. We have a plan for this.
1:37.5	We have a plan for this. I love that line. Thank you. I think I stole it from NASA. So all compliments go to NASA on that one. That's author Taylor Jenkins read. She didn't just write a gripping story about a space accident.
1:46.3	Atmosphere covers the early days of the shuttle program and the challenges faced by the first
1:52.2	women astronauts. That includes proving themselves. It also includes self-discovery. High-achieving
1:59.3	astronomer Joan Goodwin never thought she'd ever fall in love.
2:03.4	When she does, with fellow astronaut Vanessa Ford, the two have to keep their relationship quiet.
2:09.8	The stakes get especially high during the crisis 250 miles above the Earth,
2:15.6	when Vanessa is the only astronaut aboard the navigator who can communicate
2:20.4	with mission control. They are deploying a satellite when something goes wrong. There are two
	...

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