NASA astronaut Mike Mullane delivers a hilariously candid and often raw astronaut memoir of life in the Space Shuttle era. Selected in 1978 as part of the groundbreaking astronaut class—the first to include women—Mullane exposes the unfiltered reality behind the heroic veneer of NASA.His stories bounce between bawdy military-flyboy antics, interactions with feminist pioneers and post-doc scientists, and the unforgiving bureaucracy of NASA leadership. Mullane pulls ...

As command module pilot for the Apollo 15 mission to the moon in 1971, Al Worden flew on what is widely regarded as the greatest exploration mission that humans have ever attempted. He spent six days orbiting the moon, including three days completely alone, the most isolated human in existence. During the return from the moon to earth he also conducted the first spacewalk in deep space, becoming the first human ever to see both the entire earth and moon simply by turning his head. The Apol...

The former launch commentator "offers a personal—and sometimes painful—look back at one of the darkest chapters in US human spaceflight" (Space.com).On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Seventy-three seconds after launch, the fiery breach of a solid motor joint caused a rupture of the propellant tanks, and a stunned nation watched as flames engulfed the craft, killing all seven crew members on ...

An "exciting" minute-by-minute account of the Apollo 13 flight based on mission control transcripts from Houston ( The New York Times).On the evening of April 13, 1970, the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were just hours from the third lunar landing in history. But as they soared through space, two hundred thousand miles from Earth, an explosion badly damaged their spacecraft. With compromised engines and failing life-support systems, the crew was in inco...

Chief engineer Thomas J. Kelly gives a firsthand account of designing, building, testing, and flying the Apollo lunar module. It was, he writes, “an aerospace engineer’s dream job of the century.” Kelly’s account begins with the imaginative process of sketching solutions to a host of technical challenges with an emphasis on safety, reliability, and maintainability. He catalogs numerous test failures, including propulsion-system leaks, ascent-engine instability, stress corrosion of the alum...

**What happens when you vomit during a space walk?The bestselling author of Stiff explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity**Space is devoid of the stuff humans need to live: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh veg, privacy, beer. How much can a person give up? What happens when you can't walk for a year? Is sex any fun in zero gravity? What's it like being cooped up in a metal box with a few people for months at a time? As Mary Roach ...

_________________________THE ESSENTIAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE SECOND MAN ON THE MOON_________________________'Thrilling ... years on, the raw facts of the adventure remain beguiling and the bravery of the astronauts compelling' - SUNDAY TIMES'Exciting and moving' - DAILY EXPRESS_________________________Buzz Aldrin, one of the th...

This book is an opportunity to look into the fascinating world of longhaul aviation. In 1965, Qantas Airways commenced the Qantas Cadet Pilot Training Scheme. Thirteen courses were completed over a period of seven years, with the last course graduating in 1972. Bill Anderson was a member of 5 Course. He and twelve colleagues from that course recall their challenges both on the ground and in the air after 'A Lifetime in Longhaul'. These men have some amazing tales to tell, from their early ...

Tom Wolfe at his very best" (The New York Times Book Review), The Right Stuff is t****he basis for the 1983 Oscar Award-winning film of the same name and the 8-part Disney+ TV mini-series.From "America's nerviest journalist" (Newsweek)--a breath-taking epic, a magnificent adventure story, and an investigation into the true heroism and courage of the first Americans to conquer space. "Millions of words have poured ...

This New York Times bestselling memoir of a veteran NASA flight director tells riveting stories from the early days of the Mercury program through Apollo 11 (the moon landing) and Apollo 13, for both of which Kranz was flight director.Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America’s manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA’s Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He partic...

This instant Sunday Times bestseller tells the story of two fighter pilots whose remarkable encounter during World War II became the stuff of legend.Five days before Christmas 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a twenty-one-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. Suddenly a German Messerschmitt fighter pulled up on the bomber's tail - the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy...

In this memoir, the author of Nimrod: Rise and Fall details his experience testing the UK's strategic bomber while flying for Avro during the Cold War.In 2007, a restored Avro Vulcan Mark 2—XH558—took to the skies to help commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. To coincide with this, the memoirs of one of its test pilots, Tony Blackman, was published to great acclaim.Tony flew no less than 105 of the 136 built, logging 850 flights...