Riding Rockets

Author: Mike Mullane
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743276833
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Book Description
Selected as a Mission Specialist in 1978 in the first group of shuttle astronauts, Mike Mullane completed three missions and logged 356 hours aboard the Discovery and Atlantis shuttles. It was a dream come true. As a boy, Mullane could only read about space travel in science fiction, but the launch of Sputnik changed all that. Space flight became a possible dream and Mike Mullane set out to make it come true. In this absorbing memoir, Mullane gives the first-ever look into the often hilarious, sometime volatile dynamics of space shuttle astronauts - a class that included Vietnam War veterans, feminists, and propeller-headed scientists. With unprecedented candour, Mullane describes the chilling fear and unparalleled joy of space flight. As his career centred around the Challenger disaster, Mullane also recounts the heartache of burying his friends and colleagues. And he pulls no punches as he reveals the ins and outs of NASA, frank in his criticisms of the agency. A blast from start to finish, Riding Rockets is a straight-from-the-gut account of what it means to be an astronaut, just in time for this latest generation of stargazers.

The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle

Author: Patrick Mullane
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
While many children grow up with the dream of becoming an astronaut, Patrick Mullane grew up the child of one. In The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle: Growing Up an Astronaut's Kid in the Glorious 80s, Mullane shares his unique and outrageous coming-of-age tale. It is a tale about his father's unusual astronaut profession, a secret long-held by his mother, and his often-hilarious efforts to be a person of consequence. In 1978, when Mullane was ten years old, his father, Mike Mullane, was chosen in the very first group of space shuttle astronauts - a group that included Sally Ride and four members of the Challenger crew who were lost when it tore apart in 1986. In The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle, he tells of how his father's profession defined him, first as a young boy hopping from military base to military base with his parents and two sisters, and then as a pimple-faced, unknown nerd in a large Houston high school where he often felt like one of the pathetic underdog characters in a John Hughes film of the day. The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle is about Mullane trying to be a hero in his own world as he believed his father and his pop culture idols - Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker - were in theirs. While unequivocally a memoir, Mullane weaves into his story a non-technical history of the early space shuttle program as seen through the eyes of somebody who witnessed that history in an intimate way. From the opening scene describing his dad's first launch attempt when a failure led Mullane to believe he had witnessed his father's death three miles distant, to the description of the day Challenger exploded and three of his high school classmates lost a parent, to stories of Sally Ride having a beer after work in his backyard, Mullane shares with readers a perspective that has yet to be explored in any book and does so with an infusion of 80s pop culture and colorful real-life characters that will leave readers nostalgic for a decade that shaped the millions. But more than anything, The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle is a story of the love between a father and son - a love shaped by a mutual wonder at the magnificence of the world, the majesty of the universe, and the beauty of flight.

Go for Orbit

Author: Seddon
Publisher: Your Space Press
ISBN: 9780996217811
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
This book features the memoirs of Dr. Rhea Seddon, beginning with her selection as an Astronaut and covering her 19 years with NASA.

Do Your Ears Pop in Space? and 500 Other Surprising Questions about Space Travel

Author: R. Mike Mullane
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 9780471154044
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
"An excellent reference. This book has to be on the shelf of everyspace buff." --James Lovell, Commander, Apollo 13. Get the inside story on outer space from three-time shuttleastronaut R. Mike Mullane. "A fascinating collection of honest, factual, from-the-heartanswers to the most often asked questions about spaceflight andspacefliers. Required reading for all who aspire to travel inspace." --Kathy Thornton, 4-mission Shuttle Astronaut, World RecordHolder for Spacewalks by a Woman. "A brilliant addition to the understanding of space flight. Only aman who has been there--outer space--and done that--fly the SpaceShuttle--could render the complexities of flying in space solucidly." --Walter J. Boyne, Colonel, USAF (Ret.), Former Director,National Air and Space Museum. "A highly informative inside view of what astronauts reallyexperience in space." --Ed Buckbee, Former Director, U.S. Space& Rocket and U.S. Space Camp. "All astronauts have been peppered with great questions. MikeMullane has great answers." --Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, U.S.Navy (Ret.), Columbia 1981, Challenger 1983, NASA Administrator1989-1992.

Astronaut Maker

Author: Michael Cassutt
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613737033
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Book Description
One of the most elusive and controversial figures in NASA's history, George W. S. Abbey was called "the Dark Lord," "the Godfather," and "UNO" (unidentified NASA official) by those within NASA. From young pilot and wannabe astronaut to engineer, bureaucrat, and finally director of the Johnson Space Center ("mission control"), Abbey's story has never been fully told—until now. This fascinating account takes readers inside NASA to learn the real story of how Abbey rose to power and wielded it out of the spotlight. Informed by countless hours of interviews with Abbey and his family, friends, adversaries, and former colleagues, The Astronaut Maker is the ultimate insider's account of ambition and power politics at NASA.

Rocket Men

Author: Robert Kurson
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0812988728
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The riveting inside story of three heroic astronauts who took on the challenge of mankind’s historic first mission to the Moon, from the bestselling author of Shadow Divers. “Robert Kurson tells the tale of Apollo 8 with novelistic detail and immediacy.”—Andy Weir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian and Artemis By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the Moon by President Kennedy’s end-of-decade deadline, and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the Moon—in just four months. And it would all happen at Christmas. In a year of historic violence and discord—the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago—the Apollo 8 mission would be the boldest, riskiest test of America’s greatness under pressure. In this gripping insider account, Robert Kurson puts the focus on the three astronauts and their families: the commander, Frank Borman, a conflicted man on his final mission; idealistic Jim Lovell, who’d dreamed since boyhood of riding a rocket to the Moon; and Bill Anders, a young nuclear engineer and hotshot fighter pilot making his first space flight. Drawn from hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews with the astronauts, their loved ones, NASA personnel, and myriad experts, and filled with vivid and unforgettable detail, Rocket Men is the definitive account of one of America’s finest hours. In this real-life thriller, Kurson reveals the epic dangers involved, and the singular bravery it took, for mankind to leave Earth for the first time—and arrive at a new world. “Rocket Men is a riveting introduction to the [Apollo 8] flight. . . . Kurson details the mission in crisp, suspenseful scenes. . . . [A] gripping book.”—The New York Times Book Review

A Ride to Remember

Author: Sharon Langley
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1683356233
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 48

Book Description
The true story of how a 1963 ride on a carousel in Maryland made a powerful Civil Rights statement. A Ride to Remember tells how a community came together—both black and white—to make a change. When Sharon Langley was born in the early 1960s, many amusement parks were segregated, and African-American families were not allowed entry. This book reveals how in the summer of 1963, due to demonstrations and public protests, the Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Maryland became desegregated and opened to all for the first time. Co-author Sharon Langley was the first African-American child to ride the carousel. This was on the same day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Langley’s ride to remember demonstrated the possibilities of King’s dream. This book includes photos of Sharon on the carousel, authors’ notes, a timeline, and a bibliography. “Delivers a beautiful and tender message about equality from the very first page.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “Cooper’s richly textured illustrations evoke sepia photographs’ dreamlike combination of distance and immediacy, complementing the aura of reminiscence that permeates Langley and Nathan’s narrative.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review “A solid addition to U.S. history collections for its subject matter and its first-person historical narrative.” —School Library Journal

Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station MIR

Author: Jerry M. Linenger
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 9780071378628
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
“An engrossing report.”—Booklist “Vividly captures the challenges and privations [Dr. Linenger] endured both before and during his flight.”—Library Journal Nothing on earth compares to Off the Planet—Dr. Jerry Linenger’s dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission during his 132 days aboard the decaying and unstable Russian space station Mir. Not since Apollo 13 has an American astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission. In his remarkable narrative, Linenger chronicles power outages that left the crew in complete darkness, tumbling out of control; chemical leaks and near collisions that threatened to rupture Mir’s hull; and most terrifying of all—a raging fire that almost destroyed the space station and the lives of its entire crew.

Space Song Rocket Ride

Author: Sunny Scribens
Publisher: Barefoot Books
ISBN: 9781646865116
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

Book Description
Blast through the galaxy to our own solar system and explore the mysteries of space to a rocking beat. Packed with educational endnotes about space exploration and more. A QR code on the book provides access to video animation and audio.

Rise of the Rocket Girls

Author: Nathalia Holt
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316338915
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Book Description
The riveting true story of the women who launched America into space. In the 1940s and 50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible. For the first time, Rise of the Rocket Girls tells the stories of these women -- known as "human computers" -- who broke the boundaries of both gender and science. Based on extensive research and interviews with all the living members of the team, Rise of the Rocket Girls offers a unique perspective on the role of women in science: both where we've been, and the far reaches of space to which we're heading. "If Hidden Figures has you itching to learn more about the women who worked in the space program, pick up Nathalia Holt's lively, immensely readable history, Rise of the Rocket Girls." -- Entertainment Weekly