Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years 1972-1986 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight)

After the Apollo program put twelve men on the moon and safely brought them home anything seemed possible. In this spirit the team at NASA set about developing the Space Shuttle arguably the most complex piece of machinery ever created. The world’s first reusable spacecraft it launched like a rocket landed like a glider and carried out complicated missions in between. Bold They Rise tells the story of the Space Shuttle through the personal experiences of the astronauts engineers and scientists who made it happen―in space and on the ground from the days of research and design through the heroic accomplishments of the program to the tragic last minutes of the Challenger disaster. In the participants’ own voices we learn what so few are privy to: what it was like to create a new form of spacecraft to risk one’s life testing that craft to float freely in the vacuum of space as a one-man satellite to witness a friend’s death. A “guided tour” of the shuttle―in historical scientific and personal terms―this book provides a fascinating richly informed and deeply personal view of a feat without parallel in the human story.   Browse more spaceflight books at upinspace.org.   Purchase the audio edition.