Space Chasers Review

NASA astronauts are a rare breed. I think most people are at least nominally familiar with the rigorous physical training they go through during their training, but only slightly less well known is that they're frequently pretty impressive scientists in their own right too. Leland Melvin easily falls into both those categories, getting originally recruited by the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys, and having a Masters degree in Materials Science Engineering. In his spare time, he reportedly enjoys photography, piano, reading, music, cycling, tennis, and snowboarding.

Melvin is probably most well-known online, though, for sneaking his two dogs into the Johnson Space Center during his official NASA portrait and sharing the picture with his dogs online back in 2015.

Melvin has actually been fairly active since his retirement from NASA, promoting STEAM subjects in lectures to a wide variety of audiences, including writing and publishing his memoirs. His latest book, Space Chasers, is actually a fictional graphic novel for young adults to encourage them to take interst in the sciences.

The basic premise is that Melvin is heading a NASA-run program for a select group of students that will be sent into space on a short mission. We see a bit of the backstory of how/why these particular kids are able to push through the competition and go, followed by a training montage of them conducting many of the same physical tests that 'regular' astronauts go through. Of course, there wind up being a few problems and three of the kids are sent into space but accidentally without Melvin or any other astronauts to supervise them.

The kids face some very life-or-death challenges in space, not to mention overcoming their own fears and senses of inadequacy. All while they argue on the ground whether or not a rescue is worth introducing all of the additional dangers to a much wider group (notably, the innocent people who could very well be in the path of a crashing nuclear satellite). Ultimately, Melvin is able to save them and the book ends on a note of optimism about what kids can accomplish if they're just given the tools and the opportunity.

Once you accept the basic premise of willingly sending kids into space, it's a really good read. As often happens in YA books, the kids are put in the role of the protagonists and what that frequently does is force all the nearby adults to be idiots so the kids can 'save the day.' By isolating the kids here, though, they are forced to solve their own problems without requiring the adults to look dumb. What I also appreciated with this was the almost-sounds-a-little-too-real discussion point among the grounded adults about weighing the costs versus benefits of trying to save them. Where is the cut-off point in which those in control give up, particularly when the information they have is very partial and incomplete to say the least! It's still a YA book, so everyone does get saved, but that that conversion is still included in a realstic and ongoing manner is note-worthy, I think.

The art and stortelling throughout the book are solid. The characters are all really consistently rendered, and I never had any question about who was doing what. Which can be particularly challenging when many of the characters are wearing virtually identical outfits for much of the book. There were also some nice touches with the page and panel layouts that emphasized different elements of the story in a way I don't often see in YA books.

All in all, I found it a really entertaining read, and the 'higher' messaging about striving to go beyond your apparent limitations was more integrated than I would've anticipated. It felt like just a fun story and not a preachy one that had some action scenes tacked on or anything. The book is by Leland Melvin, Joe Caramagna, and Alison Acton and came out from First Second earlier this month. It's available now from any bookstore in paperback for $14.99 US and in hardcover for $22.99 US.

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