From Iran To Everest To Space, 'The Sky Below' Recounts One Astronaut's Life Of Adventure
As a teenager, Scott Parazynski’s lifelong dream was to become an astronaut. Though he was slightly sidetracked by trying out for the U.S. Olympic team in luge and becoming an emergency room doctor, Parazynski was selected for the NASA space program in 1992. He went into space on five missions and has done seven spacewalks — and also climbed Mount Everest.
Parazynski (@AstroDocScott) writes about it all in “The Sky Below: A True Story of Summits, Space and Speed,” and joins Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson to talk about the book.
Book Excerpt: ‘The Sky Below’
By Scott Parazynski
Chapter One
On the Shoulders of Giants
“No true adventure is fun while it’s happening.” — Dom Del Rosso
EVEREST CAMP 2, 2008
It’s well before sunup on the south side of Mount Everest, and I’m in my tent at Camp 2, twenty-one thousand feet up in the sky, on my way to the summit. The jet stream tears at the thin ripstop nylon
