Riding Rockets; The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut

ix, [3], 368, [4] pages. Illustrations. Glossary. Signed by author on title page. DJ has some sticker residue, rubbing and edge wear. Sticker on fep. On February 1, 1978 the first group of space shuttle astronauts, 29 men and 6 women, were introduced to the world. Among them would be history makers, including the first American woman and the first African American in space. This assembly of astronauts would carry NASA through the most tumultuous years of the space shuttle program. Four would die on Challenger. USAF Colonel Mike Mullane was a member of this astronaut class and Riding Rockets is his story–told with a candor never before seen in an astronaut’s memoir. Mullane strips the heroic veneer from the astronaut corps and paints them as they are–human. His tales of arrested development among military flyboys working with feminist pioneers and post-doc scientists are sometimes bawdy, often hilarious, and always entertaining. Mullane vividly portrays every aspect of the astronaut experience–from telling a female technician which urine collection condom size is a fit; to a wild, intoxicating, terrifying ride into space; to hearing "Taps" played over a friend’s grave. Mullane is brutally honest in his criticism of a NASA leadership whose bungling would precipitate the Challenger disaster. Derived from a Kirkus review: "Mullane’s disenchantment with NASA bureaucracy and his tragic recollections of crewmates who perished in the Columbia tragedy raise this book above the standard-issue space memoir. One astronaut’s messy, exhilarating story, with no edges sanded off." Decorated fly-boy, combat veteran, and International Space Hall-of-Famer Colonel Mike Mullane delivers a bright and revealing memoir of his life as an astronaut--the first book of its kind to take a close look at NASA's space shuttle program. February 1, 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts, twenty-nine men and six women, were introduced to the world. USAF Colonel Mike Mullane was a member of this astronaut class, and Riding Rockets is his story. Mullane, an Air Force Colonel, was graduated from West Point in 1967. He completed 134 combat missions as an RF-4C weapon system operator while stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, from January to November 1969. Selected by NASA in January 1978, Mullane became an astronaut in August 1979. He flew on three Space Shuttle missions, serving as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-41-D in August 1984, on STS-27 in December 1988, and on STS-36 in March 1990. On his first mission Mullane served as a Mission Specialist on the crew of STS-41-D which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 30, 1984. This was the maiden flight of the Orbiter Discovery. After the Shuttle returned to service, he flew aboard the Orbiter Atlantis, on STS-27, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1988. The mission carried a Department of Defense (DOD) payload, as well as a number of secondary payloads. The mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 6, 1988. Mission duration was 105 hours. On his third flight, Mullane served on the crew of STS-36 which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 28, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This mission carried DOD payloads and a number of secondary payloads. The STS-36 mission concluded with a lakebed landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on March 4, 1990. With the completion of his third flight, Mullane logged a total of 356 hours in space. He retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1990.…