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

Walli Beckwith, 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?

Beckwith is the heroine of award-winning science journalist Jeffrey Kluger’s new novel, Holdout, inspired by environmental activism on Earth and today’s exciting space programs. Kluger is also the author of the best-selling Apollo 13 that went on to become an Academy Award-winning film. In conversation with former NASA astronaut Marsha Ivins, Kluger discusses 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.

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