Description
Book SynopsisThe human story of the Space Shuttle program from the aftermath of the
Challenger accident and ending with the final flight in 2011.
Trade Review"[An] enthusiastic portrayal of the heroic age of American space travel."—
Publishers Weekly "Houston focuses on themes and makes extensive (and effective) use of oral histories provided by astronauts and others."—J. Z. Kiss,
Choice"Houston preserves the candid reflections of some who wrote the shuttle's story aloft, and their exultations and confessions are reason enough to fly with them until "wheels stop.""—
Air and Space“When we talk about the Space Shuttle, we talk about the people. Author Rick Houston’s work here takes it a step further. He reaches to the heart and soul of the people.”—Milt Heflin, former lead Space Shuttle flight director and chief of the flight director office
“With the Space Shuttle program now at an end, documenting the amazing thirty-year career of these iconic orbiters holds an untold amount of historical importance. Spaceflight isn’t easy, people pay in blood and sweat to make it happen. Author Rick Houston lends a voice to some of the key people involved in what is not only an American treasure but a global superstar.”—Chris Bergin, managing editor, NASASpaceflight.com
“Rick Houston skillfully recounts the shuttle program from a front row center seat, full of engaging, first person accounts—direct from the flight deck and the vacuum of space during some of the program’s wildest spacewalks. From triumph to tragedy and back again, this book is the next best thing to being there.”—Dr. Scott Parazynski, five-time shuttle astronaut and Everest mountaineer
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Back in the Game
2. Cloak and Dagger, Science on Orbit
3. Hubble Huggers
4. Sleeping with the Enemy
5. A Home on Orbit
6. "The Debris Was Talking to Me"
7. "We Came Home"
8. A Kick in the Pants
9. The End of an Era
10. A Magnificent Machine
Epilogue
Sources
Index
