Thomas Jones was born in Maryland in 1955. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Basic Sciences from the United States Air Force Academy in 1977. After that, he received a Doctorate in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona in 1988. He joined the United States Air Force, where he served as an officer for six years. After his career in the Air Force, he held some pretty interesting jobs before being selected by NASA in 1990, officially becoming an astronaut in 1991. He flew missions on Space Shuttles Endeavor, Columbia, and Atlantis. He left NASA in 2001, and has since had a great career as an author, speaker, and consultant in space operations.

I have read a few astronaut biographies at this point, and this one was certainly one of the more interesting ones. I enjoyed learning about his life and how he decided to apply for the astronaut program. A lot of kids say that want to be an astronaut when they grow up, but very few actually keep that interest and determination to work toward that goal. I loved the personal account of spaceflight and missions that the author was able to work on. Overall, this was a really neat book.