Letters from MIR: An Astronausts Letters to His Son

An inspiring, deeply moving testament to the timelessness of paternal love

Dr. Jerry Linenger's 132 days aboard the decaying Russian space station Mir were beset by power outages that left the crew in total darkness and tumbling out of control, poisonous chemical leaks, and near collisions with space debris. Most terrifying of all was a raging fire that, in a matter of minutes, nearly destroyed the station and all on board.

It was with that last event, when, with the crew cut off from the world below and locked in a battle for survival, Linenger's letters to his son changed from a routine chronicle of daily events into the eloquent, deeply moving serial narrative presented in Letters from Mir. Combining wise meditations on life, destiny, and the future of space exploration with wryly playful observations on everyday life, this openended conversation between a father and his beloved son is as contemporary as the latest Mars Explorer mission, yet as timeless as the paternal sentiments they express.

Jerry M. Linenger, M.D., Ph.D., at the completion of his mission to Mir, had spent more continuous time in space than any other male American astronaut. A Naval Academy graduate and physician, he holds advanced degrees from the University of North Carolina, the University of Southern California, and Wayne State University. The author of the best-selling memoir Off the Planet: Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir, he lives in Michigan with his wife, Kathryn, and their four young children.