The Extraordinary, Untold Story of the First Flight of Space Shuttle Columbia: Into the Black

Christopher Graham: I got this book because I have read his other titles, and find his writing very knowledgeable, and very exciting. Definitely looking out for his future titles as they appear!

United Kingdom on Nov 11, 2023

Jockstar: This well written historical account covers the period from mid Apollo project to the first mission of the Space Shuttle. The first half of the book details the background to the shuttle program, and gives the reader a good understanding as to why this reusable approach to spaceflight was chosen over expendable rockets. The second half covers the incredibly complex job of designing, building and then flying the shuttle. This is a compelling read, the level of engineering excellence involved in using 1960's and 1970's technology to solve fantastically complicated problems is astonishing. The author has done their research, spoken to a wide range of people who were involved and produced a superb book that was a joy to read.

United Kingdom on Nov 10, 2023

Kerryah: This book told me more about the space shuttle program than I'd read or seen anywhere else, as well as about the inaugural flight of Columbia, the first shuttle mission. But along the way we have military and security agency squabbles, disagreements among designers and tests, tests and more tests - except for those some manufacturers refused to do! (Test to the point of destruction? Not us!) It is also a story of the astronauts who flew the prototype shuttle "Enterprise" (named after a certain starship) from the back of a modified 747 to a dry lakebed in California. What becomes clear early in proceedings is the necessity for some deft handling by the astronaut pilots - when the shuttle comes in to land, it is the equivalent of a flying brick, guiding unpowered to, hopefully, a controlled landing. The narrative is at times thrilling, with insight provided by astronauts and supporting personnel to give a variety of perspectives. In one sense the focus on the space shuttle which went no further than Earth orbit meant exploration beyond the moon was delayed by decades, as was a return to the moon itself. However, the shuttle enabled the incredible window on the universe that is the...

Australia on Aug 14, 2021

Bruce F. Webster: 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...

United States on Jun 14, 2020

John Walker: On April 12, 1981, coincidentally exactly twenty years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth in Vostok 1, the United States launched one of the most ambitious and risky manned space flights ever attempted. The flight of Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia on its first mission, STS-1, would be the first time a manned spacecraft was launched with a crew on its first flight. (All earlier spacecraft were tested in unmanned flights before putting a crew at risk.) It would also be the first manned spacecraft to be powered by solid rocket boosters which, once lit, could not be shut down but had to be allowed to burn out. In addition, it would be the first flight test of the new Space Shuttle Main Engines, the most advanced and high performance rocket engines ever built, which had a record of exploding when tested on the ground. The shuttle would be the first space vehicle to fly back from space using wings and control surfaces to steer to a pinpoint landing. Instead of a one-shot ablative heat shield, the shuttle was covered by fragile silica tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon composite to protect its aluminium structure from reentry heating which, without thermal...

United States on Sep 03, 2019

Pete: Really enjoyed this. Nicely written, well researched, and I rattled through it quickly.

He covers the development of the Shuttle right from the start during Apollo up to its first flight, with a brief appendix about its subsequent problems as well as a few brief mentions of the Soviet shuttle Buran. This is mainly told through the eyes of its first two astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen, as well as Crippen's other Air Force colleagues, especially Dick Truly. He takes the time to describe the main characters and you end up feeling like you know them, especially Crippen. The Air Force and related secret reconnaissance angle is especially interesting because it explains a lot about the politics and the main design decisions behind the Shuttle's development, without which a lot of it doesn't make sense. I was quite surprised at actually how quickly it was developed once the main design configuration had been sorted out.

I found that towards the end there was a little too much breathless detail about the reconnaissance satellites which helped to allay fears about the heat shield. It's interesting that he's managed to get so much detail on it, but I lost track of the...

United Kingdom on Jan 04, 2018

Amazon Customer: This is an extremely informative account leading up to and through the first mission of the space shuttle. I love the way Rowland White writes and being able to produce a fact based but almost conversational narrative to the technical depths he achieves is outstanding. It is clear that he dedicated much time and thought to this book.
I noticed how some reviewers have criticised White for darting around between different subjects and characters with little introduction or warning. I can understand these opinions but feel one must remember that this is not a work of fiction. I read the first 5 (all be it very short) chapters twice to try to get a better grounding of who these Astronauts are. Unsurprisingly, almost all had very similar backgrounds (and it turns out similar names!) - therefore if you aren't instantly familiar with who John G, John Y, Bob, Joe, Dick, Rick, Fred or Ted are the second time their name appears then a few seconds spent checking might make the book flow smoothly, as it soon did for me.

White has written a factual account of a highly technical subject in a manner that is as accessible for as many people as possible. It is a very difficult line to...

United Kingdom on Sep 17, 2016