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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Riding Rockets the Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronautby Mike Mullane
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:On February 1, 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts, twenty-nine men and six 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 walking along a Florida beach in a last, tearful goodbye with a spouse; 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. Riding Rockets is a story of life in all its fateful uncertainty, of the impact of a family tragedy on a nine-year-old boy, of the revelatory effect of a machine called Sputnik, and of the life-steering powers of lust, love, and marriage. It is a story of the human experience that will resonate long after the call of "Wheel stop." Review:"With 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 doctor's 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 Mullane's 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.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"The straight, hot, steaming truth about NASA and flying the wild black yonder from a guy who really did it. Five stars!" Stephen Coonts, author of Flight of the Intruder Review:"I thoroughly enjoyed Riding Rockets It gave me exactly what I was hoping for: not just the nuts and bolts of training and working as an astronaut, but the joys, frustrations, fears, struggles, and wonder of traveling in space. I highly recommend Mullane's story." Dale Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Act of War Review:"Convincing, scary, ribald, and sometimes screamingly funny, Mike Mullane gets to the heart of the real astronaut culture in Riding Rockets and puts to rest for all time the superficial image of 'Right Stuff' warriors. Mullane paints the astronaut's yearning and wild sense of accomplishment with the same abandon that he portrays the pitfalls of the bureaucratic web in which they work." Walter Boyne, author of The Wild Blue and former director of the National Air and Space Museum Review:"It's raw and laugh-out-loud funny, though....For all its humor, much of Riding Rockets is touching." Rocky Mountian News Review:"A strong addition to science and space collections of any size." Booklist Review:"It is a pleasure to read Mike Mullane's entertaining depiction of the NASA astronaut corps. He tells it like it is, and not the way NASA's painted it for so many years." General Chuck Yeager, fighter ace, test pilot, and chairman, General Chuck Yeager Foundation Review:"You may think you don't care about space or astronauts, but trust me, make an exception for this memoir. Quite simply, Riding Rockets soars." Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys Synopsis: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. of photos.
About the AuthorUpon his graduation from West Point in 1967, Mike Mullane was commissioned in the USAF. He flew 134 combat missions in Vietnam. Selected in the first group of space shuttle astronauts, he completed three space missions. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife, Donna, and enjoys the challenge of Colorado's fourteen-thousand-foot peaks — six climbed, forty-seven to go. He is also an acclaimed motivational speaker. Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments 1. Bowels and Brains 2. Adventure 3. Polio 4. Sputnik 5. Selection 6. The Space Shuttle 7. Arrested Development 8. Welcome 9. Babes and Booze 10. Temples of History 11. The F***ing New Guys 12. Speed 13. Training 14. Adventures in Public Speaking 15. Columbia 16. Pecking Order 17. Prime Crew 18. Donna 19. Abort 20. MECO 21. Orbit 22. Coming to America 23. Astronaut Wings 24. Part-time Astronauts 25. The Golden Age 26. Challenger 27. Castle Intrigue 28. Falling 29. Change 30. Mission Assignment 31. God Falls 32. Swine Flight 33. Classified Work 34. "No reason to die all tensed up" 35. Riding a Meteor 36. Christie and Annette 37. Widows 38. "I have no plans past MECO" 39. Holding at Nine and Hurting 40. Last Orbits 41. The White House 42. Journey's End Epilogue Glossary Index
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