Taylor Jenkins Reid gets candid about astronomy, social media and new novel

Taylor Jenkins Reid recalls a moment writing her new novel, “Atmosphere: A Love Story,” set against NASA's robust 1980s shuttle programme, where she felt stuck. She went, where she often goes, to her husband to talk it through. “I said, ‘I can’t write this book. I don’t know enough about the space shuttle. I don’t know what happens when the payload bay doors won't shut and you have to get back within a certain amount of revs, but they can’t land at White Sands. They have to land at Cape Kennedy.’ And he's like, 'Just listen to yourself. You know so much more than you knew a couple months ago. Keep doing what you're doing.”

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“Atmosphere,” out recently, follows the journey of astronomer Joan Goodwin, an astronomer selected to join NASA's astronaut program. She and fellow trainees become like family and achieve their dream of going to space —until tragedy strikes. The story unfolds in two timelines: One when Joan first joins the NASA program and the other in December 1984 when a mission goes terribly wrong. The duo behind “Captain Marvel,” Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, are adapting the book into a film with a theatrical release in mind.

Reid knew that she had to do more than just her average six to eight weeks of research. Research and rabbit holes, by the way, are Reid’s jam. She's written blockbuster novels set in the golden age of Hollywood in “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” the 1970s rock scene in “Daisy Jones & the Six,” 1980s surf culture in “Malibu Rising” and professional tennis in “Carrie Soto is Back.” With “Atmosphere,” though, it took extra time, reading and understanding.

“It feels like a fever dream now when I think about it,” Reid told The Associated Press. “It was a very intense period of time.” For this endeavour, she needed assistance.

“I had to reach out to people, complete strangers that I did not know and say, ‘Will you please help me?”

Reid was surprised at how many people said yes. One of the most important voices was Paul Dye, NASA's longest-serving flight director.