Author Samantha Harvey tells NPR's Ari Shapiro that she was fascinated by the quotes and insight of astronauts as a child. Her new novel, Orbital, turns that interest into a careful contemplation of Earth, space and humanity — it follows six people on a mission to orbit around our planet for 16 sunrises and sunsets. Harvey and Shapiro discuss the kind of poetry that emerged from imagining the daily routines of cosmonauts, so far up above, together and alone at once.

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