-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Discuss | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Love Story
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Book Reviewed by:From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA's Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston's Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.
December 29, 1984
Joan Goodwin gets to the Johnson Space Center well before nine, and Houston is already airless and muggy. Joan can feel the sweat collecting along her hairline as she walks across the campus to the Mission Control building. She knows it's the heat. But she also knows that's not all it is.
Her job today is one of her favorite parts of being an astronaut. She is CAPCOM on the Orion Flight Team for STS-LR9, the third flight of the shuttle Navigator.
The role of CAPCOM—the only person in Mission Control who speaks directly to the crew on the shuttle—is one of many that astronauts fill when they aren't on a mission.
This is something Joan often has to explain to people at the rare party she agrees to go to. That astronauts train to go up into space, yes. But they also help design the tools and experiments, test out food, prep the shuttle, educate students on what NASA can do, advocate for space travel in Washington, talk to the press, and more. It's an exhausting ...
It’s June, and it’s therefore Pride month. Name a book you’ve enjoyed that features an LGBTQ+ main character
Kim's answer brought out my curiosity. I have also read 5 of the books she listed: Atmosphere, Buckeye,The True True Story of Raja the Gullible,John of John,and Whistler. Then I surveyed my HAVE READ list and discovered other books I have read that are considered LGBTQ reads: Call me by Your Name...
-Lynne_G
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/14/2026)
...Widow by John Grisham and enjoyed it. Just started the Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett and it's 28 hours so could take awhile. For an ebook reading Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and finding it just okay, reads fast.
-Melinda_J
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (3/19/2026)
I am reading Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I am really enjoying it. I really want to ignore all my responsibilities so I can continue reading.
-Supertalya
Jane struggles with giving up control as her children grow up. If you have children, what has been the most difficult parenting stage you've encountered?
Taylor Jenkins Reid had a really great section in Atmosphere about this. She missed the little girl her niece used to be, but treasured the child's current age and looked forward to the woman she'd become.
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/29/2026)
I reread https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/5036/atmosphere Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for a book club. This is the first year I've had to reread books for one reason or another. My position has always been that there are too many books...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/22/2026)
...he really is trying to make the world a better place. And now I'm rereading https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/5036/atmosphere Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for an upcoming book group discussion. In audiobook format, I finished https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/213...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/15/2026)
...uring the Harlem Renaissance. Once I finish that, it'll be on to a reread of https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/5036/atmosphere Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for a book club. In audiobook format, I finished my trashy fantasy, Convergence, by Craig Alanson (not terribly well written, but fun) and now I'm on...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/8/2026)
...nd-and-the-fury The Sound and the Fury , and then it'll be on to a reread of https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/5036/atmosphere Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for a book club discussion. In audiobook format, I finished https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4036/this-is-happiness This Is H...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (12/25/2025)
I just finished Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and very much enjoyed it. This is the first book by her that I have read, and I am told by a Reid fan that her earlier novel- The Seven Husbands of E...
-Laurie_L
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10/16/2025)
Hello! I'm new but excited to join. I'm currently reading Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I'm loving it so far. I had heard mixed reviews so I was skeptical, but it's really enjoyable.
-Kelsie_F
What are you reading this week? (7/24/2025)
I just finished 'Slanting Towards the Sea' by Lidija Hilje (4 stars) and started 'Atmosphere' by Taylor Jenkins Reid this morning.
-Evonne_Benedict
What are you reading this week? (7/10/2025)
I am reading two very good books. In fact ,I highly recommend them. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It is Soo good. It brings back memories for me. I read an astronomy book in sixth grade. I was awes by it. Then in high school,watching the Space sh...
-Brenda_Wychock
What are you reading this week? (7/2/2025)
I am currently reading atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I am actually enjoying it very much surprisingly. It's not something I would normally pick for myself, but it was the book picked at my local indie bookstore book club that I belong to.
-Kathleen_Quirk
What are you reading this week? (6/12/2025)
Finishing Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for review, then I'm not sure. I've got a few days before I need to start the next discussion book - Broken Country - so I may try to squeeze in some...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? (6/5/2025)
Like @Carla_D , I'm reading Before Dorothy for the discussion next week. Then it'll be on to Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid for review. In audiobook format, I'm still working my way through Stephanie Dray's Daughter of Cleopatra series. Next in the queue is Sam by Allegra...
-kim.kovacs
This week's time magazine cover is author Taylor Jenkins Reid!
Have only read one of her books, Carrie Soto is Back . I am looking forward to Atmosphere - have already pre-ordered it which I almost never do.
-Gabi_J
Atmosphere's plot follows Joan's professional and personal journey over the ensuing years, until the main storyline meets up with the currently unfolding emergency. We read about Joan's training as an astronaut and her first voyage into space, and we watch her transform from an awkward introvert into a confident woman and respected leader. Perhaps the core of the book, though, is how Joan learns that her desires—both her career ambitions and her romantic feelings, including realizing that she's gay and in love with a fellow astronaut—are legitimate and deserve to be embraced...continued
Full Review
(817 words)
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
Andy Weir, author of The Martian
NASA? Space missions? The ʼ80s? This is a collection of all the things I love... . Great story, excellent research and accuracy, and a thrilling conclusion. Kristin Hannah, author of The Women
Thrilling...heartbreaking...uplifting...Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel, Atmosphere, is the fast-paced, emotionally charged story of one ambitious young woman finding both her voice and her passion as she fights to become one of the first female NASA astronauts in the 1980s. You'll barrel through this electric novel, rooting for the women to not only succeed in the space program but to soar. A pitch-perfect ending... . I loved it.
Joan Goodwin, the protagonist of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel Atmosphere, applies to NASA to be one of America's first female astronauts and is accepted to the program as part of Group 9. Group 8 (both in the book and in reality) included Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel into space.
Sally Kristen Ride was born in 1951 in Encino, California. She graduated from Stanford University in 1973 with bachelor's degrees in both physics and English literature, and later earned a master's degree and Ph.D. in physics.
Ride's life changed in 1977, when she learned through an ad that NASA was recruiting women for their astronaut program. She applied and become one of only six women selected to join the class of trainees—the ...
If you liked Atmosphere, try these:
by Kate Fagan
Published 2026
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.
by Samantha Harvey
Published 2024
A slender novel of epic power, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men hurtling through space - not towards the moon or the vast unknown, but around our planet.
by T.C. Boyle
Published 2017
A deep-dive into human behavior in an epic story of science, society, sex, and survival, from one of the greatest American novelists today, T. C. Boyle.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!