Nicholas Schmidle’s remarkable account of the commercial space program, Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut, is a book that adeptly jumps between our celestial aspirations and our human, earthbound limitations.

Schmidle reconstructs the decade between Branson’s promise and Alsbury’s accident, in a cinematic style that moves seamlessly in and out of characters’ inner monologues.

The writing [...] is okayish, except when Schmidle aims for some higher effect.

Schmidle is a talented journalist, but his achievement getting behind the scenes at Virgin Galactic, one of Richard Branson’s most sensational and expensive endeavors, is especially impressive.

New Yorker staff writer Schmidle (To Live or to Perish Forever) tells the exuberant, guts-and-glory tale of Virgin Galactic’s efforts to travel to space. Vivid portraits bring to life the people behind the bold project.