Learn More About the Novel and Author
- Watch Samantha Harvey discuss her novel with Rachel Giese of the Toronto Public Library in March 2025.
- Samantha Harvey in conversation with Katy Waldman of the New Yorker at the Free Library of Philadelphia in March 2025. (Please note, the video has some audio issues for the first two minutes.)
- The Late Show Book Club featured Orbital as their June 2025 book club pick.
- Read Samantha Harvey’s memoir, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping (Boston Public Library/Minuteman Library Network).
- Read A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr (BU Libraries/Boston Public Library/Minuteman Library Network), the novel that Samantha Harvey says partially inspired Orbital. Or read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (BU Libraries/Boston Public Library/Minuteman Library Network), the novel Harvey says she would bring to space if she spent time on the International Space Station.
- View Las Meninas, or The Family of King Philip IV, the oil painting by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (ca. 1656) highlighted in the novel.
- Study the Orbital reading guide from the Booker Prize website.
Explore Space, the Stars, and Earth
- Stargaze from the roof of the College of Arts & Sciences on Wednesday nights at BU’s Coit Observatory during Public Open Night at the Observatory (weather permitting).
- Learn more about the International Space Station (ISS).
- Stream live video of Earth from the ISS.
- Watch videos about the ISS.
- View the space station’s gallery of images.
- Read about the research scientists are conducting on the ISS.
- Listen to Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets through BU Libraries’ streaming library (BU login required).
Read About BU Space Research and Initiatives on The Brink
- LEXI Moon Mission
- Countdown Begins: NASA to Blast BU Telescope to the Moon in Historic First
- We Have Liftoff: BU Telescope Heads for the Moon
- Spacecraft Carrying BU Telescope to the Moon Captures Breathtaking Images of Earth
- Success! BU Telescope Lands on the Moon Aboard NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission 1
- What Is BU Doing on the Moon?
- Explain This! How Do Planets Form?
- Stunning New Image Shows Black Hole’s Immensely Powerful Magnetic Field
- The Solar System May Have Passed through Dense Interstellar Cloud 2 Million Years Ago, Altering Earth’s Climate
- Written in the Stars: How a BU Undergrad Rediscovered Her Passion for Space Science
Get Involved
- Join one of BU’s sustainability-related student organizations.
- Open to all undergraduates at the University, the BU Astronomical Society takes part in telescope building, trips to Boston’s Museum of Science Planetarium, and more.
Photo: Earth Observation, by Reid Wiseman for NASA. Taken during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Photo courtesy of NASA