15 Contemplative Space Novels to Float Away With
Samantha Harvey's Orbital won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2024—the first book set in space to do so. Taking place over the course of one day on an International Space Station, the novel is very much about Earth as the astronauts' vantage point inspires reflection on the wonders and fragility of the planet and the people who inhabit it. If you're in the mood for a contemplative space read, here are 15 thought-provoking titles from a mix of genres— literary fiction, speculative fiction, science fiction, mystery, thriller, and romance—that use the unknowns of the expansive cosmos to explore deep questions about humanity.
Orbital
by Samantha Harvey
In an elegy to our humanity, environment and planet, six astronauts, selected for one of the last space station missions, leave their lives behind to travel at a speed of over 17,000 miles an hour to orbit Earth, witnessing the marks of civilization below.
We Have Always Been Here
by Lena Nguyen
The behavioral psychologist onboard a survey ship headed to a planet ripe for colonization, Dr. Grace Park must determine the origin of a strange phenomenon that is causing the crew to suffer mental breaks without losing her own mind in the process.
In the Quick
by Kate Hope Day
A young and ambitious woman astronaut’s life is upended by a fiery love affair that threatens the rescue of a 12-years-lost spacecraft and its crew of survivors.
The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century
by Olga Ravn
The Employees chronicles the fate of the Six-Thousand Ship on which the human and humanoid crew members complain about their daily tasks in a series of staff reports and memos. When the ship takes on a number of strange objects from the planet New Discovery, the crew becomes strangely and deeply attached to them, even as tensions boil toward mutiny, especially among the humanoids.
The Deep Sky
by Yume Kitasei
When a lethal bomb knocks the The Phoenix—a ship carrying humanity’s last hope—off course, Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect and with the crew turning on each other, she is determined to find the culprit before the bomber strikes again.
Hold Back the Stars
by Katie Khan
After a freak accident, Carys and Max are left adrift in space with nothing to hold onto but each other. As they fall, they can’t help but look back at the world they left behind: a world whose rules they couldn’t submit to, a place where they never really belonged; a home they’re determined to get back to because they’ve come too far to lose each other now. While their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation—but who will take it?
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
by Becky Chambers
Joining the crew of the aging Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that has seen better days, loner Rosemary Harper must unexpectedly risk her life when they are offered the job of a lifetime, which teaches her valuable lessons about love and trust, and that having a family isn't the worst thing in the universe.
Six Wakes
by Lafferty Mur
Awakening in a cloning vat, streaked with blood and possessing no memory of how she died, new clone Maria Arena discovers the clones of six former starship crew members and must identify their murderers before the killer strikes again.
The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
The sole survivor of a crew sent to explore a new planet, Jesuit priest Emilio Sandoz discovers an alien civilization that raises questions about the very essence of humanity, an encounter that leads Sandoz to a public inquisition and the destruction of his faith.
In Ascension
by Martin MacInnes
Leah is a young microbiologist investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first life forms. What she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings and she is faced with an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.
Good Morning, Midnight
by Lily Brooks-Dalton
After a catastrophic event silences Mission Control communications, an astronaut returning from a mission to Jupiter and an aging scientist trapped at a remote Arctic outpost are haunted by love, memory, and regret as the world confronts an uncertain future.
Last Day
by Domenica Ruta
The fates of a cast of seemingly unconnected people, including a diverse crew of astronauts in space, converge during the celebration of an ancient holiday, an annual gathering of humanity to anticipate the planet’s demise—and to celebrate as if the day is truly its last.
Light From Other Stars
by Erika Swyler
Decades after her grieving father, a laid-off NASA scientist, triggers chaotic changes in his pursuit of life-extending technology, an astronaut confronts dangerous family secrets to stop a world-threatening crisis.
The Wanderers
by Meg Howrey
Training for the first-ever mission to Mars, three astronauts share experiences that push the boundary between the real and surreal while irrevocably changing their relationships and familial bonds.
Solaris
by Stanislaw Lem
When psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds himself confronting a painful memory embodied in the physical likeness of a past lover. Kelvin learns that he is not alone in this and that other crews examining the planet are plagued with their own repressed and newly real memories. Could it be, as Solaris scientists speculate, that the ocean may be a massive neural center creating these memories, for a reason no one can identify?
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.