Space Shuttle Challenger - Ten Journeys into the Unknown
This book details the stories of Challenger’s missions from the points of view of the astronauts, engineers, and scientists who flew and knew her and the managers, technicians, and ground personnel who designed her and nursed her from humble beginnings as a structural test article into one of the most capable Shuttles in NASA’s service. Challenger veterans, including Gordon Fullerton and Vance Brand, describe their experiences and the differences between Challenger and her sister ships. The development of Challenger herself is explored in detail, including her design, development, construction, and preparation for missions.
Realizing Tomorrow - The Path to Private Spaceflight
Nearly forty years passed between the Apollo moon landings, the grandest accomplishment of a government-run space program, and the Ansari X PRIZE-winning flights of SpaceShipOne, the greatest achievement of a private space program. Now, as we hover on the threshold of commercial spaceflight, authors Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom look back at how we got to this point.
Rocketman - Astronaut Pete Conrad's Incredible Ride to the Moon and Beyond
Screenwriter Klausner (_Space Cowboys_), writing with astronaut Conrad's second wife, Nancy, brings a snappy, movie-dialogue feel to this biography of Charles "Pete" Conrad (1930–1999). Perhaps not as well remembered as some of his colleagues because his missions fell between the more famous ones, Conrad flew on Gemini 5, which set a record for the most days in space up to that point, on Gemini11, notable for rendezvousing and docking with a rocket on the first orbit, and commanded Apollo 12 on a glitch-free ride to the moon. A decade later, Conrad was called on to save the ill-fated Skylab, which had suffered crippling injuries on its journey into space.
This New Ocean is based on 175 interviews with Russian and American scientists and engineers; on archival documents, including formerly top-secret National Intelligence Estimates and spy satellite pictures; and on nearly three decades of reporting. The impressive result is this fascinating story--the first comprehensive account--of the space age. Here are the strategists and war planners; engineers and scientists; politicians and industrialists; astronauts and cosmonauts; science fiction writers and journalists; and plain, ordinary, unabashed dreamers who wanted to transcend gravity's shackles for the ultimate ride.
Live from Cape Canaveral - Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today
Barbree got his first taste of covering the space race in 1957 when he did a cursory radio report on the launch of Russia's Sputnik 1 launch, the satellite that finally lit a match under the lagging efforts of U.S. space exploration. In this engrossing memoir, he retraces the politics—domestic and international—as well as the science and technology behind the U.S. space program. Barbree has covered every mission flown by astronauts from Sputnik to the failed U.S. Vanguard, later triumphs and the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia, and the drama of Apollo 13.
