Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reed is a compelling novel set both in space and on earth. It jumps back and forth in time, both when astronaut candidates are training, and when several are on the space shuttle.
The book begins in 1984 with main character Joan Goodwin of NASA in Houston as the CAPCOM, the one person communicating with astronauts on a 1984 mission. She's in contact with Vanessa Ford on the shuttle, who needs to try to get back home after two died and two were critically injured, with the shuttle saved by the actions of Lydia Danes before she went unconscious. Mention is made of the loop, where people outside of NASA can listen to the live audio from mission control, with that audio then reported around the world in an emergency situation.
Goodwin was an astronomer and it's solid writing on how she connects with Danes. Ford is the other main character, with her coming to NASA wanting to pilot the shuttle, but not a military pilot so there as an aeronautical engineer.
The women were part of NASA's first training group with females, and much of the book is set earlier in time, with them as astronaut candidates. The relationship between Goodwin and Ford in detailed, and there's a lot about Goodwin's sister Barbara and young niece Frances. The part where Goodwin professes to Frances how she will always be there for her is beautiful, and the ending similarly lovely. Also, blurbs are provided by the writers Kristin Hannah and Andy Weir, and Jenkins Reed makes mention of how helpful to the writing of the book was Paul Dye, former NASA flight director and author of Shuttle, Houston.
