An Adventure of Intergalactic Proportions! Sunita Williams’s story is one of having to settle for second choices. She grew up wishing to be a professional swimmer. Then she wanted to train as a vet. Instead she went on to join the Naval Academy and serve as a pilot. Before long, however, space was calling. A new dream was born in Sunita. But it wasn’t all cakewalk. The path to becoming an astronaut called for resilience, patience and grit. Sunita had all this and more. As record holder for the longest spaceflight by a woman (195 days), Sunita’s story inspires one to look anew at the world of space missions. And even more than inspiration, she makes life as an astronaut seem thrilling and fun. Anecdotal, informative and pacy, this unputdownable biography, of one of the most famous astronauts of contemporary times, is packed with exciting facts and unusual trivia.

The possibilities, hopes and dreams that were once Suni's now belong to little girls everywhere. Beautifully illustrated by Aniruddha Mukherjee, and movingly told by Arthy Muthanna Singh and Mamta Nainy, the story of Sunita Williams.

Discusses activities astronauts do while they're in space.

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Most spiders spin a web and passively wait for prey to come to them. Jumping spiders, by contrast, actively hunt by jumping to catch their food. What if a jumping spider was sent to the International Space Station? When it jumped, it would simply float. No one knew if the spider could hunt in a weightless environment. This nonfiction picture book for elementary kids chronicles the amazing voyage of Nefertiti, the Spidernaut to the International Space Station and back. She’s a Phiddipus johnsonii, or Johnson jumping spider, native to western United States. Her colorful anatomy—red, black and teal—made for stunning photography and video. In 2012, Nefertitti clocked a record-breaking 100 days in space, during which time she circled Earth about 1584 times, traveling about 41,580,000 miles.

One of Literary Hub’s August “Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books” | Geek Tyrant’s “The Most Highly Anticipated Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of August 2021” | Gizmodo’s “49 New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Keep You Turning Pages in August” When evil forces are going unchecked on Earth, a principled astronaut makes a spilt-second decision to try to seek justice in the only place she knows how—the International Space Station. Walli Beckwith is a model astronaut. She graduated at the top of her class from the Naval Academy, had a successful career flying fighter jets, and has spent more than three hundred days in space. So when she refuses to leave her post aboard the International Space Station following an accident that forces her fellow astronauts to evacuate, her American and Russian colleagues are mystified. For Walli, the matter at hand feels all too clear and terrifying for her to be worried about ruining her career. She is stuck in a race against time to save a part of the world that seems to have been forgotten—and also the life of the person she loves the most. She will go to any length necessary, using the only tool she has, to accomplish what she knows is right.

Spaceflight historian Amy Shira Teitel tells the riveting story of the female pilots who each dreamed of being the first American woman in space. When the space age dawned in the late 1950s, Jackie Cochran held more propeller and jet flying records than any pilot of the twentieth century—man or woman. She had led the Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots during the Second World War, was the first woman to break the sound barrier, ran her own luxury cosmetics company, and counted multiple presidents among her personal friends. She was more qualified than any woman in the world to make the leap from atmosphere to orbit. Yet it was Jerrie Cobb, twenty-five years Jackie's junior and a record-holding pilot in her own right, who finagled her way into taking the same medical tests as the Mercury astronauts. The prospect of flying in space quickly became her obsession. While the American and international media spun the shocking story of a "woman astronaut" program, Jackie and Jerrie struggled to gain control of the narrative, each hoping to turn the rumored program into their own ideal reality—an issue that ultimately went all the way to Congress. This dual biography of audacious trailblazers Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb presents these fascinating and fearless women in all their glory and grit, using their stories as guides through the shifting social, political, and technical landscape of the time.

The countdown begins: “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five . . . ” Astronaut Sunita L. Williams is about to blast off for space. She will live on the International Space Station, or ISS, for six months. As the shuttle Discovery prepares to launch, her best friend and companion, a Jack Russell terrier named Gorby, watches with excitement and sadness. He will miss Suni while she’s away, but he’s happy and excited for her important adventure. He’s determined to make Suni proud of him while she’s in space. However, being good isn’t always easy for Gorby, especially when he’s having one of his many adventures with his friends Coal, Elsie, and Thomas the cat. It’s a good thing Suni is looking down from the ISS, guiding them in the right direction as they learn many lessons. Join Gorby, Coal, Elsie, and Thomas the cat, and more, in these stories that will warm your heart and lift your spirits and bring the wonders of space right into your hands.