Challenger Park by Stephen Harrigan, a review from Washington Post Book World by Ron Charles.
"Small groups of men and ? finally ? women regularly strap themselves to 2.5 million gallons of fuel, shoot into earth orbit for a few days and then skid home on a wave of fire without tickertape parades or White House ceremonies. The weirdly routine nature of this otherworldly work provides a fascinating setting for Stephen Harrigan's Challenger Park. It's a blast to the present after his well-received historical novel The Gates of the Alamo (2000). But as his characters break the sound barrier, he's breaking the gender barrier: This is a super-macho novel all about the trials of motherhood. As a publishing venture, that's as risky as looking for water on Mars, but Knopf is set to launch 100,000 copies. It'll take a rare alignment of space flight fanatics and domestic fiction readers to make that pay off, but Challenger Park deserves it." Read the entire Washington Post Book World review.