16 Loops Around the Planet

Orbital is a novel by British writer Samantha Harvey. Published in 2023, it won the Booker Prize in 2024.

Set aboard the International Space Station, Orbital accompanies six astronauts as they circle the Earth, detailing routines, memories, losses, and quiet revelations.

The book’s narrative interweaves the mundane, the human, and the philosophical, engaging with questions of position, perspective, and responsibility.