Atmosphere: A Love Story

Atmosphere (2025) is a historical romantic drama novel from American author Taylor Jenkins Reid. Reid’s novels are known for their rich historical detail and the depth of their romantic plot lines. She has published many titles, including The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (2017), Daisy Jones and the Six (2019), Malibu Rising (2021), and Carrie Soto is Back (2023). Daisy Jones and the Six was adapted into a television miniseries by Amazon Studios, and Netflix recently acquired the rights for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Additionally, Reid has won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction three times.

Atmosphere is set in the 1980s and follows astronomy professor Joan Goodwin as she joins the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shuttle program when astronaut candidacy opens to women for the first time. Written in a nonlinear fashion, the novel details Joan’s experiences training in the space program while juggling her obligations to her family and combating sexist attitudes. Along the way, she falls in love with another woman in the astronaut training program. Atmosphere explores gender and sexuality discrimination in both the workplace and greater society, the balance between ambition and sacrifice, and the human need to love and belong.

This guide is based on the 2025 e-book edition published by Ballantine Books.

Content Warning: This guide and source material contains depictions of anti-gay bias, gender discrimination, death, child abuse, and brief mentions of substance use and pregnancy loss.

Plot Summary

On December 29, 1984, NASA astronaut Joan Goodwin works in Mission Control monitoring a situation aboard the shuttle Navigator. The crew of the Navigator, including John “Griff” Griffin, Lydia Danes, Hank Redman, and Vanessa Ford, are her friends. Vanessa and Griff perform a spacewalk to fix a problem with a satellite launch. Moments later, the satellite malfunctions, causing an explosion that critically injures Griff and damages the shuttle. As pressure drops in the main cabin, the astronauts fall unconscious. Lydia seals the leak before passing out. Vanessa realizes that she’s the only one still conscious.

Seven years earlier, Joan learns that NASA has opened astronaut applications to women scientists for the first time. She’s an astronomer who teaches at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She has long wished to go into space and applies. On her second attempt, in 1980, she successfully passes the interviews and joins the astronaut candidate training program. Joan’s sister, Barbara, a single mother with a six-year-old daughter named Frances, relies on Joan’s financial and emotional support and complains that her new position will hinder this. Joan promises she’ll still help her care for Frances.

Joan befriends the other astronaut candidates in her group, including Griff, Hank, Vanessa, and Donna Fitzgerald. Lydia, though in the same group, is competitive and standoffish. Joan grows particularly close to Vanessa, a pilot who is frustrated that NASA has barred women from flying. The accepted pilots are all white men with military backgrounds who consider women unsuited for space. Among them, Jimmy Hayman is the worst.

Abord the Navigator on December 29, 1984, Vanessa finds Hank and her mentor, Steve, dead. Lydia and Griff are both alive but unconscious and in need of immediate medical care. Mission Control devises a plan for Vanessa to pilot the shuttle and reenter Earth’s atmosphere in a matter of hours.

In June 1981, the astronaut candidates travel to New Orleans and visit a strip club. Joan has an epiphany that she’s attracted to women. Joan and Griff kiss, but Joan instantly regrets it. Griff suggests that she has feelings for someone else, and Joan pretends not to understand. However, a month later, she realizes that she has feelings for Vanessa.

Aboard the Navigator, Vanessa attempts to seal the hatch for reentry, but the explosion damaged the latches. She fears that if she spends too much time fixing them, she’ll lose her deorbit window, placing Griff and Lydia’s lives at further risk. When she pushes back against Mission Control’s orders, they inform her that Griff died while she was working. She then insists on risking the loose latches rather than allowing Lydia to die as well.

In August 1981, Vanessa and Joan begin a romantic relationship. They must hide from everyone due to societal judgment and discrimination within NASA that would put both their careers at risk. Meanwhile, they complete training and officially become astronauts. Over the next year, they work in support roles for the first shuttle missions, including Sally Ride’s mission as the first American woman in space. Joan also trains in Mission Control.

Meanwhile, Joan’s relationship with Barbara begins to fray. Barbara, never an attentive parent, becomes increasingly neglectful of Frances while dating and then marrying a wealthy man named Daniel. Frances feels unwanted and abandoned. Joan objects to Barbara’s behavior, but Barbara ignores her.

In summer 1983, Joan becomes the first woman in her training group chosen for a space mission, which will take place in November 1984. During this time, Joan’s training intensifies, and her relationship with Vanessa settles into something comfortable. Feeling unwanted, Frances becomes increasingly moody and rebellious. Finally, Barbara sends Frances away to boarding school.

Joan’s mission arrives. She’s ill during her time in space. Upon her return, she learns that Barbara is going to Europe with Daniel and refuses to bring Frances home for Thanksgiving. Joan confronts Barbara about her neglect. In the ensuing fight, Barbara relinquishes Frances to Joan’s care. Joan takes Frances home with her, promising to take care of her forever.

As Vanessa prepares for her own mission in December 1984, Joan learns that someone discovered their relationship and outed them to their superiors. Fearing for Vanessa’s career, Joan tries to end their relationship. However, Vanessa insists that she would rather never fly again than give up Joan. They reconcile and promise to discuss their future after Vanessa returns from her mission.

Returning to the shuttle crisis, Mission Control orders Vanessa to fix the damaged latches. If Vanessa fixes them, Lydia will die before they land. If she doesn’t fix them, they may both die on reentry. Vaness defies orders and begins reentry. After a moment of radio silence, during which Mission Control believes that the shuttle has broken apart, Vanessa’s voice announces that they’ve landed safely.