Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986

David Hitt · Heather R. Smith

Jun 2014 · U of Nebraska Press

About this ebook

After the Apollo program put twelve men on the moon and safely brought them home, anything seemed possible. In this spirit, the team at NASA set about developing the Space Shuttle, arguably the most complex piece of machinery ever created. The worldês first reusable spacecraft, it launched like a rocket, landed like a glider, and carried out complicated missions in between.¾¾Bold They Rise tells the story of the Space Shuttle through the personal experiences of the astronauts, engineers, and scientists who made it happenãin space and on the ground, from the days of research and design through the heroic accomplishments of the program to the tragic last minutes of the Challenger disaster. In the participantsê own voices, we learn what so few are privy to: what it was like to create a new form of spacecraft, to risk oneês life testing that craft, to float freely in the vacuum of space as a one-man satellite, to witness a friendês death. A –guided tour” of the shuttleãin historical, scientific, and personal termsãthis book provides a fascinating, richly informed, and deeply personal view of a feat without parallel in the human story.
Browse more spaceflight books at upinspace.org.

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About the author

David Hitt is the coauthor of Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story (Nebraska, 2008). Heather R. Smith has worked as an education writer for NASA. Bob Crippen is a NASA astronaut who piloted the first Space Shuttle flight.