Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Hour by hour, eight billion people wake across twenty-four time zones. High above the atmosphere, six astronauts on the International Space Station are having a very different kind of day. Over the span of sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets—one day—their spacecraft chases the sun as its orbit crisscrosses Earth.
Orbital spends time with the inner lives of each astronaut—their hopes, fears, boredom, and loneliness—while loosely weaving together two stories. The crew monitors the development of a hurricane as beautiful as it is devastating. One astronaut processes her grief as her family mourns back on Earth. These threads ground Orbital’s meandering plotline without distracting from the real star of the book: Earth itself.
When they’re not completing research and maintenance tasks, the crew gazes out at the planet below. Despite being features of their daily commute, wonders like the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China never cease to be awe-inspiring. Most of us will never see our planet from above, but reading Orbital is the next best thing.
Reviewed by Emma Radosevich, collection development librarian, Whatcom County Library System
(Originally published in Bellingham Alive June/July 2025 issue.)