Orbital

Six astronauts aboard a space shuttle have thoughts about Life, the Universe, and Everything during the course of one 24 hour period. They observe a gigantic typhoon ravage the South Pacific islands, and gaze wistfully at the moon, knowing that four other astronauts are on the verge of making the first crewed lunar landing in 50 years. All of this is conveyed with beautiful descriptive paragraphs, mind-boggling lists (there are 540 hours of morning exercise in a single nine-month mission, etc.), and a bit of characterization. You either like this stuff or you don't. The folx over at the Booker Prize are obviously big fans.