Managing Martians
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Product Description
The leader of the team that created the revolutionary Mars Sojourner rover chronicles her trailblazing career in space exploration and tells the fascinating, behind-the-scenes story of the celebrated Mars Pathfinder mission.
Donna Shirley's 35-year career as an aerospace engineer reached a jubilant pinnacle in July 1997 when Sojourner--the solar-powered, self-guided, microwave-oven-sized rover--was seen exploring the Martian landscape in Pathfinder's spectacular images from the surface of the red planet.
The event marked a milestone in space exploration--no vehicle had ever before roamed the surface of another planet. But for Donna Shirley, the manager of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Exploration Program who headed the mostly male team that designed and built Sojourner, it marked a triumph of another kind. Since her childhood in Oklahoma, Shirley had dreamed of traveling to Mars, and, through Pathfinder, she did just that.
Managing Martians is Shirley's captivating memoir of a life and career spent reaching for the stars. From her seemingly outlandish aspiration at age ten to build aircraft, to abandoning high school Home Ec in favor of mechanical drawing, and, at sixteen, becoming a licensed pilot, Shirley defied expectations from the beginning.
The only female engineering student in her college class, Shirley earned a degree in aerospace/mechanical engineering (while picking up a beauty contest title along the way) and, in 1966, began a career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that has spanned twenty-four different projects, including Mariner 10's trip to Venus and Mercury and a 1991 assignment as chief engineer of a $1.6 billion project to explore asteroids, a comet, and Saturn.
Shirley's innovations in automation and robotics paved the way to her being named the first woman ever to manage a NASA program. For Pathfinder she assembled a brilliant band of upstarts (her fellow "Martians") and embarked on an improbable mission: to put an untethered, fully automated rover on Mars--at a fraction of the cost of any previous Mars project.
In a vivid narrative, rich with anecdotes and thrilling turning points, Shirley recounts the intense battles she waged to defend her vision and the ingenuity and resourcefulness of her committed team. Her moment-by-cliffhanging-moment account of Pathfinder's landing and Sojourner's first tentative foray across the sands of Mars brilliantly captures the fulfillment of a lifelong dream as it heralds a brave new era of space exploration.
Donna Shirley's 35-year career as an aerospace engineer reached a jubilant pinnacle in July 1997 when Sojourner--the solar-powered, self-guided, microwave-oven-sized rover--was seen exploring the Martian landscape in Pathfinder's spectacular images from the surface of the red planet.
The event marked a milestone in space exploration--no vehicle had ever before roamed the surface of another planet. But for Donna Shirley, the manager of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Exploration Program who headed the mostly male team that designed and built Sojourner, it marked a triumph of another kind. Since her childhood in Oklahoma, Shirley had dreamed of traveling to Mars, and, through Pathfinder, she did just that.
Managing Martians is Shirley's captivating memoir of a life and career spent reaching for the stars. From her seemingly outlandish aspiration at age ten to build aircraft, to abandoning high school Home Ec in favor of mechanical drawing, and, at sixteen, becoming a licensed pilot, Shirley defied expectations from the beginning.
The only female engineering student in her college class, Shirley earned a degree in aerospace/mechanical engineering (while picking up a beauty contest title along the way) and, in 1966, began a career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that has spanned twenty-four different projects, including Mariner 10's trip to Venus and Mercury and a 1991 assignment as chief engineer of a $1.6 billion project to explore asteroids, a comet, and Saturn.
Shirley's innovations in automation and robotics paved the way to her being named the first woman ever to manage a NASA program. For Pathfinder she assembled a brilliant band of upstarts (her fellow "Martians") and embarked on an improbable mission: to put an untethered, fully automated rover on Mars--at a fraction of the cost of any previous Mars project.
In a vivid narrative, rich with anecdotes and thrilling turning points, Shirley recounts the intense battles she waged to defend her vision and the ingenuity and resourcefulness of her committed team. Her moment-by-cliffhanging-moment account of Pathfinder's landing and Sojourner's first tentative foray across the sands of Mars brilliantly captures the fulfillment of a lifelong dream as it heralds a brave new era of space exploration.
From the Author
Small town girl goes to Mars (virtually).
Managing Martians combines my autobiography with the story of the Pathfinder mission to Mars, the building of the Sojourner microrover that was the first successful mobile vehicle on another planet (not counting the moon), and the ongoing saga of the Mars Exploration Program which is flying robotic missions to Mars every 26 months. Of interest to women, engineers and scientists (and people who wannabe), and those who like stories of hard work, suspense and success.
Managing Martians combines my autobiography with the story of the Pathfinder mission to Mars, the building of the Sojourner microrover that was the first successful mobile vehicle on another planet (not counting the moon), and the ongoing saga of the Mars Exploration Program which is flying robotic missions to Mars every 26 months. Of interest to women, engineers and scientists (and people who wannabe), and those who like stories of hard work, suspense and success.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
This book vividly tells the story of the intense and exhiliarating adventure scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) experience at the cutting edge of the technological exploration of our solar system. In addition, it is a gripping and optomistic tale of the journey of one woman's success in a usually all male fraternity. It frankly portrays the difficulties and triumphs along the way. Ms. Shirley has broken ground for many young women in the future for careers in the area of science and engineering. In addition, it is a fun read for anyone interested in technology, management and the progress of women in our society. It also is a very accurate portrayal of life at JPL.
Format:Hardcover
For a person reviewing books before live audiences, Managing Martians by Donna Shirely is a winner! Shirley's story is multifold - from her childhood perched in a sycamore tree in rural Oklahoma to the realization of "getting to Mars" via the little robotic rover, Sojourner Truth. It is a 35 year journey with all its valleys and peaks associated with space exploration that keeps readers and listeners expectant. Donna Shirely's intellect, determination, courage and love of life shines through and could make an important movie in a time when young persons are hungry for a hero.
Format:Hardcover
In Managing Martians, Donna Shirley shows the interaction that takes place in the solution of complex engineering problems with mostly male colleagues. We learn that it is the interaction among team members to find solutions that makes for success. We also find that real women can do engineering and managment of complex projects, even if they were Miss Wynnewood. This has been an eye opener for my college students that one of their fellow Oklahomans from right down the road is working on the frontiers of space exploration.I love this book because I have used it for a model of working together for my students. It should be on every woman's or manager's reading list. Dr. Nedra C. Sears East Central University Ada, Oklahoma
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A unique insider's view of NASA's interplanetary missions
A century from now, when this year's Oscar-winning films, hit sitcoms, and top ten CDs are gathering dust in some media archive, and the feats of contemporary sports figures are... Read more
Published on 3 April 1999
A self-aggrandizing attempt that lacks passion
Mars has always interested me and so I was looking forward to a book that would promote not only this singular endeavor of hers but also future visions for Mars. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 1999
Unique, brief inside view of the Mars Pathfinder mission.
The book is an interesting read, although as someone who closely follows interplanetary missions I found it slightly sparse in details, but sprinkled with anecdotes. Read more
Published on 18 Nov 1998
Fascinating, although too broad, survey of JPL & Sojourner
Since she was a kid in flat Wynnewood, Okla., reading Arthur C. Clarke novels and staring at the sky, Donna Shirley dreamed of going to Mars. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 1998
A great book for background on the Pathfinder mission.
This book gives the reader great background on the mission and the inner workings at JPL. It does not go into great detail about the actual time spent on Mars. Read more
Published on 16 July 1998
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