Category: Nonfiction
Reviewed by: Susan Raizer
Title: Into the Void: Adventures of the Spacewalkers
Author: John Youskauskas and Melvin Croft
Format: Hardcover/Kindle/Audiobook
Pages: 392
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Date: May 2025
Retail Price: $39.95/$33.78/$15.30
ISBN: 978-1496224125
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One of the most well-liked aspects of space flight for space enthusiasts is watching an extra vehicular activity (“EVA”), also known as a spacewalk. These perilous activities were performed to repair, to retrieve equipment, or to build the various space vehicles that have graced space exploration since the 1960s. The term “spacewalk” was initially coined by the media to define what cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and astronaut Ed White experienced when they left their respective spacecraft to perform rudimentary work outside their space vehicle sixty years ago, in March and June 1965. Since then, almost 500 spacewalks have been performed, the most recent in the book for building and repairing the International Space Station.
In the book Into the Void, authors John Youskauskas and Melvin Croft have presented a history of EVAs from the very basic ones of the 1960s to the well-rehearsed ones that are performed by astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station and by taikonauts on the Chinese space station. The book emphasized the dangers to the humans who risk the harsh realities of space to perform their tasks within their own wearable spaceship. The book contains a foreword by former astronaut Jerry Ross, 35 black and white photographs of the men and women who performed the tasks, a bibliography, and quotes and anecdotes from the spacewalkers who completed the EVAs through the medium of their own published books and lectures.
Author John Youskauskas has been a commercial pilot with more than thirty years’ experience in flight operations, maintenance, and aviation safety. Co-author Melvin Croft has been a professional geologist for more than 40 years, and is a long-time supporter of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. They are also the authors of Come Fly with Us: NASA’s Payload Specialist Program and they also contributed to Footprints in the Dust: The Epic Voyages of Apollo, 1969-1975. Former astronaut Jerry Ross flew on seven space shuttle missions and wrote Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Breaking Frequent Flyer.
This reviewer found this book to be not only a fascinating study of the evolution of EVAs, but also revealing how the men and women were chosen to perform spacewalks (not all astronauts were deemed capable of doing the work) and how they trained for their tasks. The earliest spacewalks were primitive by today’s standards, with equipment jury-rigged to complete tasks which were not their original purposes. The early spacewalkers did not have dedicated trainers to teach them how to perform their tasks. Often, tasks were performed successfully, but at times anomalies cropped up that resulted in trial and error solutions or actual cancellation of the work. Sometimes the spacewalkers were able to find a work-around while not consulting Mission Control until after the task was completed. With their bulky space suits, it was hard for the early spacewalkers to egress and ingress their space craft hatches. For the shuttle program, the astronauts and cosmonauts were able to egress into the payload bay prior to beginning their tasks. Today, there are several airlocks on the ISS that allow for exit into space.
The authors stressed the dangers of spacewalking as well as the joys of looking at space and the Earth. Their history of the progression of spacewalk training left the reviewer with amazement at the perils the spacewalkers faced in performing their tasks. With no precedents to follow, trainers (themselves experienced educators) created scenarios that were practiced on Earth but did not accurately compare with the tasks performed in space. The earlier training involved gravity assist tables and practice in the 747 airplane affectionately known as the “vomit comet,” which provided short bursts of zero gravity. Initially, there was no neutral buoyancy pool; the early astronauts used a pool at a nearby boys’ school to train on! This pool was not large enough to practice on the equipment or craft. Today’s large neutral buoyancy pools in Houston and Huntsville provides ample room to include life size models of flying craft to train on.
Early space suits did not fit all spacewalkers, as they were generic in size. The rigid gloves made performing tasks difficult and left their hands raw and sometimes bleeding. Suits were developed by both Russia and the United States. The Russians at first used a suit that the person entered from the back while the American version was put on. There was also development in external propulsion equipment to which the person would be attached and which could propel them away from their spacecraft to complete servicing work. But the concept was not used for long.
This reviewer recommends Into the Void to National Space Society members for several reasons. First, the book is well-written and chronologically discusses the growth of spacewalk operations. Second, the reviewer learned that those chosen to train the spacewalkers had to learn how to do tasks in all the environments before they could teach the spacewalkers. Third, by including the comments of former spacewalkers, the reader is able to understand how the spacewalks affected the men and women physically, emotionally and psychologically. Fourth, the authors talk about the future of spacewalking. They believe that, especially as more and more commercial companies have their own vehicles or stations in orbit, spacewalking will be performed robotically, possibly by controllers on the ground.
© 2025 Susan Raizer
