Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change

by Cady Coleman Narrated by Cady Coleman

Overview

Former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman shares the wisdom that helped her overcome the barriers of others' expectations-and how to work on a team both in close quarters and remotely.

In 2010, Cady Coleman boarded a rocket and blasted off into space for her third NASA mission, a six-month expedition to the International Space Station where she was the only woman on her six-person crew. After years spent overcoming obstacles in competitive and elite environments, including grappling with her own doubts and needing to overturn the expectations of others, Coleman became a success story in a role that wasn't built with her in mind-a mother who is also an astronaut, scientists, Air Force pilot, and leader. Her determination and her amazing experiences give her a unique perspective on how to set yourself up for success, and on life here on Earth.

In Sharing Space, Cady shares counterintuitive insights integral to her success, such as how to leverage insecurities to beat expectations, how to know when to adapt and when to instead press for change, and how to be the glue that holds a disparate team together so it can be shaped to thrive. Illustrated with stories from her life and training, Cady takes readers from meteorite hunting in Antarctica to launching a $1.6 billion telescope into space to the wonder of spending six months living and working in zero gravity. This book will inspire anyone eager to escape a box in which they have been (unfairly) placed or to develop the confidence to succeed, even when they're not an obvious “fit.”

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Sharing Space
 
Cady Coleman reveals not just the extraordinary thrill of living and working in space but shares practical and inspiring advice on how to overturn other’s expectations to succeed. By showing how she stayed positive despite the obstacles to earning her spot as an astronaut and sharing the tools she’s learned about team building and how and when to speak up for change, her story is a unique roadmap for leaders everywhere.
—Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
 
Cady does a marvelous job of sharing the joys, worries and realities of spaceflight—and the complex road to get there. For anyone who has felt life’s obstacles are insurmountable, Cady’s path and ideas will help show the way.
—Chris Hadfield, New York Times bestselling author of The Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth
 
Cady shares extraordinary wisdom from an extraordinary life.
—Mark Manson, New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
 
Sharing Space offers a rare glimpse into the heart of a pioneer, and is a rousing call to action, offering lessons from beyond our world to help us better navigate our own. With each page, she challenges us to look beyond the horizon of our own experiences, to question the impossible, and to redefine what it means to lead in an era of unprecedented change. This is not just a story about space exploration; it's a roadmap for navigating the frontiers of our lives and careers.
—Barbara Barrett, former United States Secretary of the Air Force
 
Sharing Space took me back to the essence of my own magical days in space. On the page, Coleman is inspirational, energetic, curious, compassionate, musical, intelligent, and honest—a strong role model for all people aspiring to make big choices to explore, invent or discover. A wonderful read to calm our everyday-world anxieties down here on Earth with optimism for our future.
—Eileen M. Collins, former Space Shuttle Pilot and Commander and Colonel, US Air Force, Retired
 
Astronaut Cady Coleman—a brave, thoughtful, funny person—has had more extraordinary experiences than most of us could in three lifetimes. In this delightfully entertaining book she tells her fascinating story, and shares the priceless wisdom she’s gained along the way.
—Dave Barry, New York Times bestselling author
 
Sharing Space is so much more than an astronaut’s story. It’s a gift to all of us, a study in determination as Cady defies low expectations at every turn to become 'the unexpected astronaut.' Even as she becomes a three-time space flier and the first mom to spend six months aboard the International Space Station, she navigates complex human terrain with perseverance and grace. Sharing Space glows with her hard-earned wisdom, presented with a wonderful blend of open-hearted generosity, candid self-reflection, and self-deprecating humor that left me feeling enlightened, enriched, and empowered.
—Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
 
Sharing Space is a wise, personal, and inspiring story about how to live a good and purposeful life. Coleman interweaves her narrative of becoming an astronaut and working in space with lessons learned about teamwork, family, confidence in the face of setbacks, courage, and pushing mental and physical limits in service of a mission larger than yourself. Her accomplishments are impressive, but what really shines through is her humanity—especially her commitment to breaking down barriers and using her own position and perspective to expand opportunities for others to achieve their own dreams. Before I read this book, I already wanted to be an astronaut. After reading it, I want to be a better person.
—Katie Mack, author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)
 
Sharing Space is a delightful and inspiring look into how we can all reimagine the space around us and the people who make it special. A must-read for anyone looking to make a positive impact in unexpected ways.
—Sian Proctor, SpaceX Inspiration 4 Astronaut and Artist
 
Cady Coleman’s descriptions of life in space brought me back to that magical place. But what I liked more about Sharing Space, and what makes it different from other astronaut memoirs, is that it’s a celebration of the people she met along the way.
—Scott Kelly, former NASA astronaut and author of Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery

Colonel Catherine Coleman is a born storyteller and raconteur, and this fascinating insight into her world of space exploits and beyond are both a delight and a revelation.
—Ian Anderson, vocalist and flautist for Jethro Tull

[Cady] takes us along on an incredible adventure as she overcomes enormous obstacles, both internal and external, to achieve liftoff on her career.
—Mickey Fisher, showrunner for Extant

Sharing Space brings the awe and wonder of life in space down to Earth. Cady masterfully weaves stories that not only lift the spirit but also provide key life lessons. The wisdom and perspective shared in this book can not only change the direction of readers' lives but it can shift the trajectory of our world toward a more positive and restorative future for all.
—Ron Garan, astronaut

Warm, witty, and full of beautiful sensory details about what it takes to get to space.
—Mary Robinette Kowal, author of the Lady Astronaut series.

Cady does a stellar job of capturing the human side of the astronaut experience.  Through a candid first-hand accounting, she brings us into her personal journey and shares experiences that allow all of us to relate to many similarities in our own lives.  Her easygoing delivery style takes the complexity of human space flight, and her tremendous accomplishments, and frames them in the voice of a good friend sharing her life, heart, and soul.
—John "Danny" Olivas, astronaut

This book is inspiring through and through. Cady Coleman has an indomitably bright spirit that shines on every page this book.
—Adam Savage, host of Mythbusters and Tested

Astronaut Cady Coleman delivers poignant stories that have universal relevance for engaging necessary skills in our lives here on earth – grit, brilliance, ingenuity, teamwork, empathy, imagination, friendship, and more. Sharing Space is warm and approachable, Cady’s grace, humor, and capability shine through, she engages as a friend sharing valuable learnings for all.
—Megan Smith, former US Chief Technology Officer

A journey to space – and a journey behind the scenes of what it’s like to dare mighty things while never losing sight of what really matters: family, friends, community and the greater good. 
—David Weaver, former NASA Associate Administrator for Communications

Maybe you'll never ride on the space shuttle, spend six months living on the International Space Station, or camp on the ice in Antarctica to hunt meteorites, but Cady Coleman's generous, wise and funny book will make you believe you can take on any challenge, no matter the pressure. It's a memoir, a how-to on integrating family and career, a behind-the-scenes on the fascinating science of space travel, and it reminds us how those who don't fit the mold—or the space suit!—are often the best ones to expand the world's sense of what's possible.
—Kate Zernike, author of The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science

AUGUST 2024 - AudioFile

Retired American astronaut Cady Coleman's congenial performance invites listeners to settle in and absorb practical self-improvement lessons derived from her impressive career at NASA, as well as her long-distance marriage and motherhood. Coleman gently extols the importance of self-care and big-picture thinking, strengthening listeners' abilities to consider how they can be present for others, whether as a teammate in space managing flight tasks or working on Earth. She addresses workplace dynamics, personal goals, and intimate relationships. Cady's passion for spaceflight, along with the work she's done as a chemist throughout her tenure with NASA and the U.S. Air Force, infuses her voice with joyful energy. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2024-04-30
An upbeat memoir from a former astronaut who served on the International Space Station.

Coleman, a former colonel in the Air Force, chronicles her 24-year career at NASA, during which she flew two missions on the space shuttle and spent six months on the ISS. Early on at the agency, women were largely ignored. “By the time I got to MIT in 1979, only six women had been selected as NASA astronauts,” writes the author. “But seeing Sally Ride on the stage that day turned a possibility into a reality—a reality that could include me.” Coleman recounts some of the prejudice she faced, but overall, she gives her fellow astronauts high marks. She joined the program in 1992, and she delivers vivid accounts of flying on the space shuttle. However, her greatest thrill was her time on the ISS. Chosen in 2007, she describes three years of intense practice, study, and simulation, during which she traveled the world before the mission itself. Coleman writes well, and readers will learn a lot about the technical details of spaceflight as well as the daily life, duties, and interactions of a career astronaut. Since she began her career, plenty has changed; the newer astronaut classes are 50% women. As always, however, the job requires top-level intelligence, fierce ambition, scientific and technical aptitude, a generous tolerance of human foibles, and physical and mental fortitude. “Throughout my career, navigating around my smaller size in the EVA suit required imagination, supreme negotiating skills, a sense of humor, and showing up cheerfully, even to meetings where I wasn’t invited,” she writes. Regardless, “blaming the equipment was not an option.”

An appealing account of a unique life that will encourage readers aspiring to a life in space.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159459190
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	07/02/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

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