Once upon Europa

Alen McCormick, astronaut, is the epitome of the American hero. Now, this revered, larger-than-life poster child of NASA’s Space Exploration Program is on his way to becoming the first human to place his feet and America’s flag on the surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. This is to be the fulfillment of his life’s journey, his every dream come true — until his space exploration vehicle malfunctions on final approach and crashes headlong into the moon’s surface at over six kilometers per second, prematurely ending his mission in a giant fireball. While back at Mission Control his apparent tragic death is grieved, this disaster turns out to be not the end for Alen, but rather the beginning of an even greater quest and adventure: his journey into the meaning of life itself. In Once Upon Europa, science embraces religion, the physical blends with the metaphysical, and the truth of the game we all play is ultimately revealed, as we partake in this journey through time and space to the eternal here and now of existence. And it is impossible to read this book without being changed by it.