#563 Jeffrey Kluger’s Holdout: An Astronaut’s Desperate Move for Justice

Jeffrey Kluger’s Holdout: An Astronaut’s Desperate Move for Justice

Inside Science, Smithsonian Associates, The Not Old Better Show

Welcome to The Not Old Better Show.  I’m Paul Vogelzang and as part of our Smithsonian Associates Streaming Series, Inside Science author interview program, our guest today is author Jeffrey Kluger.  Jeffrey Kluger will be presenting at the Smithsonian Associates program on Aug. 4, 2021, more details are available on our website, but the title of Jeffrey Kluger’s program is Holdout: An Astronaut’s Desperate Move for Justice.  Jeffrey Kluger will be in Conversation with Former NASA Astronaut Marsha Ivins.  This will be an excellent program and our interview today will set the stage for Jeffrey Kluger’s upcoming Smithsonian Associates presentation.

Jeffrey Kluger is a senior writer at Time Magazine. Coauthor of Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, which was the basis for the movie Apollo 13, he is also the author of Moon Hunters: NASA's Remarkable Expeditions to the Ends of the Solar System.

Walli Beckwith, a model astronaut, is 300 days away from completing her time on the International Space Station. But when a freak accident on board results in an order to return to Earth, she shocks the world—and jeopardizes her career—by refusing to leave her post. Beckwith takes command of the space station, defying orders from NASA, the White House, and space agencies around the globe. Her reason? Something terrible is happening in the Amazon rainforest and she feels she must do something. But how far will she go to accomplish what she knows is right?

That was Jeffrey Kluger reading a passage from his new book, Holdout.  

As mentioned, astronaut Walli Beckwith is the heroine of our guest today award-winning science journalist Jeffrey Kluger.  Jeffrey Kluger and I will talk about Holdout, and its inspiration the environmental activism on Earth, today’s exciting space programs, and how his science writing background and access to classified research facilities and locales informed his storytelling. He also shares moments in his career reporting on space, which has taken him around the globe, from the Kennedy Space Center and Moscow Mission Control to the Oval Office and the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

Please join me in welcoming to The Not Old Better Show Smithsonian Associates Streaming series, Smithsonian Associate Jeffrey Kluger.

My thanks to Jeffrey Kluger for his generous time today and for his reading from his new book, ‘Holdout.” Jeffrey Kluger will be presenting at the Smithsonian Associates program Aug. 4, 2021, more details are available on our website, but the title of Jeffrey Kluger’s program is Holdout: An Astronaut’s Desperate Move for Justice.   My thanks to the Smithsonian team for all they do to support the show.  And, my thanks to you my wonderful Not Old Better Show audience.  Of course, you’ll learn more at our website, NotOld-Better.com, but you can find the show every Saturday morning on FM 103.1 KSCW, 8:15AM. PST.  The radio show is exciting, different from my online show, but filled with lots of great Not Old Better stories, interviews, and joy!  Check it out, and remember, let’s talk about better…The Not Old Better Show.  Thanks, everybody.  

For more details, please go HERE to the Smithsonian Associates website:
https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/jeffrey-klugers-holdout-astronauts-desperate-move-for-justice