The year is 1952, and a huge meteorite has fallen to earth, and slams into the ocean, and the aftereffects destroys almost the entire east coast of the United States, destroys much of the US government in Washington, DC. It is not long before it is realized that the steam from the meteorite under water is causing irreparable damage to Earth, and that it is just a matter of years, before the Earth will become inhabitable. Suddenly eyes turn to the skies, as the race is on to recruit and train a group of astronauts, as well as a design and build a spaceship (remember this is the 1950s- the space program had not even really started, so they didn’t have the resources that we do now). The goal is to send up the astronauts to find a new home for people from Earth.

This book is the first in a series- and it tells the story of a group of women with prior flight experience fighting to be part of the space program, and for a chance to become astronauts. But they face challenges, in convincing superiors that not only women, but people of color have not only the right, but the capability to train to be astronauts. On the book cover above, someone mentions “Hidden Figures”, which is not only a movie, but is also based on a nonfiction book by the same name, about a group of black women working for NASA that faced a lot of the same challenges that the women in this book faced- he fight against racism, and the right to be treated as equals. And just like this person who made that comment, this book gave me “Hidden Figures” vibes throughout the book. I enjoyed and admired the story behind Hidden Figures (I only saw the movie, but have not read the book as of yet, but it is on one of my lists). And I admire the women in this book, and I was rooting for them throughout the book.

I try to change up the genres of books I read so I get exposure to different types of stories, both fiction and nonfiction- so I have not yet gotten around to reading the rest of the books in this series. But I intend to, as I want to find out more about what happened next!