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23 Nov 2020 08:14:12 UTC
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Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
Author: Mike Mullane
File Type: mobi
From Publishers WeeklyWith a testosterone-fueled swagger and a keen eye for particulars, Mullane takes readers into the high-intensity, high-stress world of the shuttle astronaut in this rough-hewn yet charming yarn of low-rent antics, bureaucratic insanity and transcendent beauty. Mullane opens this tale face down on a doctors table awaiting a colorectal exam that will determine his fitness for astronaut training. I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses, he writes, setting the tone for the crude and often hilarious story that follows. Chosen as a trainee in 1978, Mullane, a Vietnam vet, quickly finds himself at odds with the buttoned-up post-Apollo NASA world of scientists, technocrats and civilian astronauts he describes as tree-huggers, dolphin friendly fish eaters, vegetarians, and subscribers to the New York Times. He holds female astronauts in special disregard, though he later grudgingly acknowledges the achievement and heroism of both the civilians and women. The book hits its stride with Mullanes space adventures a difficult takeoff, the shift into zero gravity, his first view of the Earth from space To say the view was overwhelmingly beautiful would be an insult to God. (Feb. 14) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. From BooklistOne of the first astronaut memoirs from the space-shuttle era tells a thoroughly absorbing story. Mullane, an air force brat, flew 134 missions in Vietnam. In the late 1970s, he volunteered for the shuttle program, was accepted, and flew three orbital missions before retiring. His accounts of those missions are gripping. They leave one in no doubt that the shuttle was a somewhat imperfect instrument that somehow still performed marvels. Mullane also pays tribute to his fellow astronauts, a small community that suffered with every death or other loss to the family it constituted, and to his wife, who endured 40 years of the stresses of being a pilots partner. And while this isnt an expose, Mullane makes it clear that NASAs corporate culture wasnt optimal for getting the results it sought. Despite the shuttles apparent failures, the era when it was Americas mainstay in space laid groundwork for the future, and further shuttle chronicles are needed and deserved. A strong addition to science and space collections of any size. Roland Green American Library Association. lt
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English
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