Tom Clancy Of Space. Except Hadfield Has *Been* There. One of the things that struck me most about this book were the several sequences that were so technically detailed and explaining the almost microsecond by microsecond events that were taking place that it honestly felt like Clancy’s infamous pages upon pages of the first nanoseconds of a thermonuclear detonation in The Sum Of All Fears… except Hadfield’s passages here were nowhere near as long, despite being very similarly exacting and detailed.
Outside of these passages, what we get here is a seeming conclusion to an alt-history trilogy based in and around the time of the Apollo missions, here specifically the Apollo-Soyuz mission.
Using his experiences as everything from a fighter test pilot to NASA pilot to NASA liaison at the Roscosmos HQ to being Commander of the International Space Station (all detailed in his excellent memoir An Astronaut’s Guide To Earth), Hadfield brings the reader into Low Earth Orbit as only an astronaut who has been there – and been there several times – can. The launch sequences rattle and jostle with real power as though you yourself are there in the capsule awaiting ignition of the then-most powerful rocket humanity had ever built – one controlled by a fraction of the computing power (and in particular a fraction of the lines of code) of whatever device you’re reading this review on. Pick your favorite movie showing such a sequence, and here Hadfield has its literary equal if not better. The precise details of NASA and Roscosmos procedures – even technically in the era before Hadfield actually joined NASA – are here, at least at the public or at minimum now outdated levels.
Indeed, the alternate history of this tale actually works as well as it does – and introduces another level of similarity to both Clancy and similar military technothriller author Dale Brown – specifically because the real history details are buttoned up so solidly. Hadfield is able to create a world so similar to our own that it feels just as real… even as certain elements play out seemingly as they only ever do in action books of various forms.
Truly breathtaking in many ways, this is one of those books that will have you checking your own heart’s health as it races with the action at times, but also giving some space to slow down and take a breather as other elements are setting up.
Indeed, if there is one criticism of this book, it is perhaps that one particular inclusion of one particular side tale may arguably be a touch too much and could have likely been left on the editing room floor with no hindrance at all to the tale told here, but even there it is interesting enough and wouldn’t have spared enough pages to make the book feel any shorter.
At slightly over 400 pages, this is one of those books that both feels it and at the same time almost doesn’t, as there is just so much action here. Indeed, we get well into the 90% range of this text before the final moments of the action… and yet the conclusion doesn’t feel rushed at all. Truly well done, beginning to end.
Very much recommended.
This review of Final Orbit by Chris Hadfield was originally written on October 9, 2025.