[L] Astronaut Scott Parazynski stands atop Everest, the highest point on Earth’s surface, watching a sunrise. [R] Astronaut Jared Isaacman stands atop Resilience, the highest vantage point in Earth orbit, watching a sunset.

Keith’s note: On 16/17 April 2009 astronaut Scott Parazynski and 3 Sherpa climbers at Everest Base Camp sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to astronaut Michael Barrett who was on board the ISS via satellite phone. I was trekking up to Everest Base Camp with several bags of chocolate-covered expresso beans that Scott had begged me not to forget. Flash forward to 2024 and Barratt has a family-sized bag of these candies on ISS. I don’t care what people say, astronauts are easy to train. Larger image

Keith’s note: On 19 May 2009 at 6:15 pm EDT (20 May 4:00 am Nepal time) Astronaut Scott Parazynski stood on top of the world with piece of the Moon. My old, officially voided, damaged NASA badge (and a picture of astronaut Sunni Williams’ dog Gorby) went along while Miles O’Brien served as our news anchor back in New York. Each of us has gone through a lot in the […]

Keith’s note: 20 July 2019, the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the Moon, is also the 100th Birthday of Sir Edmund Hillary. Along with Tenzing Norgay, they became the first humans to stand atop the highest point on our planet, Mt. Everest. in 1953. Years later Hillary became friends with Neil Armstrong and the two of them travelled to the North Pole together in 1985. In 2009 Astronaut […]

Keith’s note: On 19 May 2009 at 6:15 pm EDT (20 May 4:00 am Nepal time) Astronaut Scott Parazynski stood on top of the world with piece of the Moon. My old, voided, damaged NASA badge (and a picture of astronaut Sunni Williams’ dog Gorby) went along while Miles O’Brien served as our news anchor back in New York. Each of us has gone through a lot in the subsequent […]

#OTD 2009 @AstroDocScott makes his final ascent upward heading slowly but methodically toward the summit of Mt. Everest. Along the way he discovers an oddly-numbered oxygen tank. #Everest #Himalayas #Nepal pic.twitter.com/8MyfiP5dtC — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 17, 2019 #OTD 2009 while @AstroDocScott makes a final push toward the summit of Everest @KeithCowing recovers from food poisoning & does website updates including NASAWatch at 17,600 feet (7.5 psi) with only 50% […]

In 2009 @AstroDocScott (Scott Parazynski) became the first astronaut to summit Mt. Everest. Today a second astronaut, Maurizio Cheli, reached the summit as well. We now have two real Skywalkers. pic.twitter.com/3Z2Lg95kaT — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 17, 2018

My Star Trek Episode at Everest “In late April 2009 I found myself at Everest Base Camp for a month. I was living at 17,600 feet in Nepal 2 miles from China and 2 miles from the highest point on our planet. I was surrounded by the epic majesty of the Himalayas, a thousand people supporting several hundred Type A individuals with a shared intent to summit the mountain and […]

The best explorer autobiographies deal equally with inner and external challenges. In “The Sky Below: A True Story of Summits, Space, and Speed” Scott Parazynski strikes a perfect balance between the two facets of what goes into the making of an explorer – on and off this planet.

Review: “The Sky Below: A True Story of Summits, Space, and Speed” by Scott Parazynski with Susy Flory