My Countdown: The Story Behind My Husband's Spaceflight

The author has the distinction of being the only wife of a European astronaut who has also worked in the area of human spaceflight. Her story is told from a unique perspective. Lena De Winne provides a first-hand account of the ins and outs of the complex astronaut spaceflight system.

My Countdown captures the individual stories of crewmembers Roman Romanenko, Bob Thirsk, Frank De Winne and their spouses Julia, Brenda and Lena, as they prepare and embark on a unique spaceflight mission. Delivered with raw emotional intensity, it reads like a novel, sharing the aspirations, anguish, surprises and disappointments of its subjects. Yet it is resolutely biographical, offering a vivid recollection of events as they happened. An easy but precise overview of space science and technology is also provided. Readers will not only become familiarized with the human space flight program, they will also be left with an exhilarating sense of having been a part of the adventure.

My Countdown is suffused with an intamacy and honesty that renders the lives of the crew and their spouses in an unprecendented light.