desertcart.com: Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her (Audible Audio Edition): Rowland White, Richard Truly - introduction, Eric Meyers, Simon & Schuster Audio: Audible Books & Originals Review: One of the finest books on the US space program; highest recommendation - I started following the US space program in 1961, at the ripe old age of 8. That peaked with me working on the Space Shuttle flight simulators at NASA/JSC in 1979-80, followed by a stint next door at the Lunar & Planetary Institute. So when a colleague from that time recommended this book to me last week, I ordered it; once I started reading it, I finished it in short order. White has done an outstanding job not only of tracing the history that led to the Space Shuttle, but also of the intertwined history of "America's Other Space Program", the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Indeed, the NRO portions of the book are frankly as important and fascinating as the history of the Shuttle itself. White is a great story teller and has lots of technical and personal details from the individuals involved to make the book not just informative but entertaining to read. Some of the details in the book I have long known, but there were vast amounts here that were new to me, that filled in blanks or explained whole new areas of which I was unaware. My time working on the simulators was typically 1 to 3 am on a weekday night, but I still had a chance to meet some of the astronauts; in particular, I remember Kathy Sullivan, who was always kind and gracious to a somewhat awe-struck 26-year-old computer programmer. And, yes, those of us working on the simulator knew about the 'Return To Launch Site' (RTLS) abort procedure and knew that John Young thought it insanity of the highest order. While I saw John Young and Bob Crippen around Building 5, I didn't get to meet them until I had moved on to the Lunar & Planetary Institute next door. Some 48 hours after STS-1 had landed, Young & Crippen had their debriefing session with NASA and other personnel at LPI, in the renovated stone barn building that housed LPI's computer center and photo archives -- and also where I happened to have my cubicle. The reason given was that they were trying to avoid the press, which may have been true; a CBS camera crew, led by (IIRC) Roger Mudd, showed up at LPI, looking for the astronauts, and were asked to leave. In any case, some of us got to talk with Young & Crippen before their debriefing started; Young was still enthusing about the Shuttle. He also talked about all the great photos they had snapped of Soviet territory with a 35 mm camera while flying over it. :-) I have a stock STS-1 pre-mission photo of the two of them, autographed by both, from that visit. Outstanding book; highest recommendation. Review: An Extraordinary Tale Extraordinarily Told - A couple of days ago, I finished reading Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White. Having read and enjoyed two of his books on the Falklands War, I was looking forward to reading Into the Black and I wasn’t disappointed. Rowland goes beyond the subtitle of the book; he not only tells the story of Columbia’s first launch, he tells the story of her first crew, the development of the Space Shuttle Program, and places the program within the context of previous programs. He weaves the stories of Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, NASA’s programs, the aborted US Air Force manned space program, and top secret intelligence satellites into a compelling tale of the development of the Shuttle program through Columbia’s first launch and mission in space. What I really enjoyed was how White told the story through the eyes of the astronauts, engineers, and some of the administrators who worked on the program. At first, those separate threads don’t seem to be related, but as the Shuttle program progresses and STS-1 takes place, everything comes together and you learn why White followed these threads earlier. This book tells, as the subtitle says, an extraordinary story – and does it in an extraordinary way. The book is a window into the astronauts’ experiences, what it took to make the Space Shuttle a reality, how the US Government’s space policy changed over time, and what it took to put Columbia into space for the first time and bring her and her crew back home. I had a hard time putting it down and was disappointed when I was finished – I would have loved for it to keep on telling the tales of future missions. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Into the Black and heartily recommend it for anyone, not just those interested in space.
B**R
One of the finest books on the US space program; highest recommendation
I started following the US space program in 1961, at the ripe old age of 8. That peaked with me working on the Space Shuttle flight simulators at NASA/JSC in 1979-80, followed by a stint next door at the Lunar & Planetary Institute. So when a colleague from that time recommended this book to me last week, I ordered it; once I started reading it, I finished it in short order. White has done an outstanding job not only of tracing the history that led to the Space Shuttle, but also of the intertwined history of "America's Other Space Program", the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Indeed, the NRO portions of the book are frankly as important and fascinating as the history of the Shuttle itself. White is a great story teller and has lots of technical and personal details from the individuals involved to make the book not just informative but entertaining to read. Some of the details in the book I have long known, but there were vast amounts here that were new to me, that filled in blanks or explained whole new areas of which I was unaware. My time working on the simulators was typically 1 to 3 am on a weekday night, but I still had a chance to meet some of the astronauts; in particular, I remember Kathy Sullivan, who was always kind and gracious to a somewhat awe-struck 26-year-old computer programmer. And, yes, those of us working on the simulator knew about the 'Return To Launch Site' (RTLS) abort procedure and knew that John Young thought it insanity of the highest order. While I saw John Young and Bob Crippen around Building 5, I didn't get to meet them until I had moved on to the Lunar & Planetary Institute next door. Some 48 hours after STS-1 had landed, Young & Crippen had their debriefing session with NASA and other personnel at LPI, in the renovated stone barn building that housed LPI's computer center and photo archives -- and also where I happened to have my cubicle. The reason given was that they were trying to avoid the press, which may have been true; a CBS camera crew, led by (IIRC) Roger Mudd, showed up at LPI, looking for the astronauts, and were asked to leave. In any case, some of us got to talk with Young & Crippen before their debriefing started; Young was still enthusing about the Shuttle. He also talked about all the great photos they had snapped of Soviet territory with a 35 mm camera while flying over it. :-) I have a stock STS-1 pre-mission photo of the two of them, autographed by both, from that visit. Outstanding book; highest recommendation.
M**I
An Extraordinary Tale Extraordinarily Told
A couple of days ago, I finished reading Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White. Having read and enjoyed two of his books on the Falklands War, I was looking forward to reading Into the Black and I wasn’t disappointed. Rowland goes beyond the subtitle of the book; he not only tells the story of Columbia’s first launch, he tells the story of her first crew, the development of the Space Shuttle Program, and places the program within the context of previous programs. He weaves the stories of Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, NASA’s programs, the aborted US Air Force manned space program, and top secret intelligence satellites into a compelling tale of the development of the Shuttle program through Columbia’s first launch and mission in space. What I really enjoyed was how White told the story through the eyes of the astronauts, engineers, and some of the administrators who worked on the program. At first, those separate threads don’t seem to be related, but as the Shuttle program progresses and STS-1 takes place, everything comes together and you learn why White followed these threads earlier. This book tells, as the subtitle says, an extraordinary story – and does it in an extraordinary way. The book is a window into the astronauts’ experiences, what it took to make the Space Shuttle a reality, how the US Government’s space policy changed over time, and what it took to put Columbia into space for the first time and bring her and her crew back home. I had a hard time putting it down and was disappointed when I was finished – I would have loved for it to keep on telling the tales of future missions. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Into the Black and heartily recommend it for anyone, not just those interested in space.
R**D
It's Ok. Good source of Info
I'm about halfway through and altogether I'm glad I bought it, it has a lot of very interesting information. The reason for the four stars may seem a little ridiculous but I can't shake the under current of "the wonderful, amazing, talented, important, and etc. Mr Dick Truly"..... It's annoying. He was no better than any other astronaut and definitely no better than the average person, why does the book put such a halo on his head? Again, some may find it ridiculous and not feel the same way, but there is my take for what it's worth, lol.
G**G
The REAL STORY of the Space Shuttle and the men who built and flew her
Today the cliche belief is that the Space Shuttle was a turkey and people question how we could have gone down such a deadend path. If you really care to know the truth, this book will give you the true history of the politics, the engineering decisions and why they were made, and the men who gave their lives and heart to the program. I also read the NASA publication "The Space Shuttle Decision" and this is much more human and readable. Also Nixon's motivations were more clearly explained and in my view he goes from being the villain to being the president who saved the manned space component of our space program. I now understand the backstory behind the cancellation of Dyna Soar and Manned Orbiting Laboratory, as well as why the Russians tried to follow us even though they knew our public rationale for the Shuttle was ludicrous. Great read. Meticulously researched history. After this, you should check out the NASA book Shuttle Retrospective. It gives the outline of each flight. If you read enough of it, you will realise what a truly amazing technological achievement the Shuttle was. Designed and built within 7 years. If only we had built a successor. I think Elon Musk's Starship will be the fruition of the quest to build the ultimate shuttle. This book is definitely worth your time and money if you care about the space program.
T**I
Excellent Read
Great full story of the shuttle development and first flight. Enjoyed reading the back stories, challenges and accomplishments. I have read numerous space related books and this is one of the best. Highly recommend.
W**L
A good read Occasionally gets bogged down in the weeds but worth sticking with it
Y**Y
Well, of course at some level it is exactly the melodramatic and heroistic victory fanfare one would expect to get. But fortunately it is much much more. First of all this is way more than just the story of the first flight of the Space Shuttle. That would be as if I were to give you the story of my latest meal but then to start it with the life of my grand-parents. In our case we get bits and pieces of Gemini and more significant parts of Apollo and even more of MOL and SkyLab and some pointers to Apollo-Soyuz .. and then of course the whole story about the idea for the Shuttle, its development, its production and finally its flight. And for all of this we get the relevant people, way beyond just mentioning them, but rather having them brought to life, their waypoints mentioned, their personalities and interactions portrayed. On the technical side it is amazing how much was going on, details within details, the whole nine yards. Yes, you really need patience to finally finally get to the place where that Shuttle actually gets into space. I had to change my expectations as I had anticipated a book along the lines of that movie "Apollo XIII" where there still is a lot of background but the flight remains the main part. Here the "intro" is the main part and delivers so much information that the (still large) part about the flight itself is accessible to the fullest extend. After I re-set myself I was able to connect the content of the book with a huge amount of space knowledge I already have in my head and of course with "The Right Stuff" and other popular documentaries. I would say that the book is surely a must read when it comes to the transition of NASA from earlier programs to the era of the Space Shuttles. Anything beyond this book would have to be official NASA documentation. I am very happy to have had the ability to read it.
M**C
Aniria bé tenir un mapa de personatges i organismes, perquè en surten molts i molt variats. El llibre és una radiografia excel·lent del programa del transbordador espacial, amb totes les llums i ombres. Interessant veure quin va ser el paper de la NRO.
C**R
Love the details that the author has put into it. The print quality is super and the photos are very good. This is a well researched book on not just the Space shuttle program but also has a lot of background on the people who developed and flew it.
S**O
This is a fantastic book. It covers the entire shuttle program, from every angle, political, military and other involvement. If you read this book you will understand why the shuttle was built in the first place and why NASA deviated from the Apollo and Russian style conventional rockets. You'll also learn that if not for a failed o-ring in a Thiokol MTI solid rocket booster, Challenger wouldn't have exploded, and they even knew about the fault from previous examinations of recovered solid rocket boosters. Columbia also possibly could have been rescued if the NRO (National Reconnaissance Organization) hadn't refused to take in space pictures of the belly of the shuttle which would have shown the large hole in the wing caused on launch by a piece of the large orange fuel tanks protective foam covering. Once these two disasters are put aside, the shuttle flew 135 times in total. This is an astounding achievement by NASA seeing as no reusable space vehicle has been designed or used since. We will see if Spacex or others can change this. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in space and space flight. If you found this review helpful please click yes on "was this review helpful to you?", thanks and enjoy the book!
Trustpilot
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
