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Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
 
 
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Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut (Paperback)

by Mike Mullane (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd; Reprint edition (21 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0743276833
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743276832
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17,465 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Science & Nature > Astronomy & Cosmology > Astrophysics
    #6 in  Books > Science & Nature > Physics > Applied Physics > Astrophysics
    #6 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Warfare & Defence > Defence Strategy & Research

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Product Description

Review
"Space-age America in all its glory and folly as seen through the eyes of a remarkable writer who has brilliantly captured the triumphant and tragic years of the space shuttle era. "Riding Rockets" soars."

-- Homer Hickam, author of "Rocket Boys"

Product Description
Selected as a Mission Specialist in 1978 in the first group of shuttle astronauts, Mike Mullane completed three missions and logged 356 hours aboard the Discovery and Atlantis shuttles. It was a dream come true. As a boy, Mullane could only read about space travel in science fiction, but the launch of Sputnik changed all that. Space flight became a possible dream and Mike Mullane set out to make it come true. In this absorbing memoir, Mullane gives the first-ever look into the often hilarious, sometime volatile dynamics of space shuttle astronauts - a class that included Vietnam War veterans, feminists, and propeller-headed scientists. With unprecedented candour, Mullane describes the chilling fear and unparalleled joy of space flight. As his career centred around the Challenger disaster, Mullane also recounts the heartache of burying his friends and colleagues. And he pulls no punches as he reveals the ins and outs of NASA, frank in his criticisms of the agency. A blast from start to finish, Riding Rockets is a straight-from-the-gut account of what it means to be an astronaut, just in time for this latest generation of stargazers.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
75% buy the item featured on this page:
Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut 4.8 out of 5 stars (6)
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In The Shadow Of The Moon [DVD] [2007]
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars the Bill Bryson of space travel, 3 May 2006
By P. G. Calisse "pgc" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut (Hardcover)
I've been waiting for this book since I was a kid watching the first landing on the Moon on TV. It is something completely different from what I read till now on the spacce project. To say that Mike Mullane is the Bill Bryson of space travel is to underestimate him. You will not only appreciate the story, the inside view on the US space program (including the permanent mismanagement). You will also learn about a real dream love: the one with his wife, Donna. What is really outstanding in Mike is the chase for the "ultimate honesty". He constantly refuse the "politically correct" approach and goes straigth to the core of our relations to space travels, dreams, technology, relation with... women, with our boss and with... the girl of our dream, in this case another Astronaut tragically dead in the Challenger accident. The last pages in particular are surprisingly good and poetic. I would never expect something like that.

Thanks, Mike, for your honesty.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Astronaut Autobiography Ever!, 23 Feb 2006
This review is from: Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut (Hardcover)
This is a wonderful book.
The next nearest 'Deke', is very good.
Mike Mullane pulls out all of the stops. If I have a criticism it could be that he almost seems to push himself as definitely *not* the NASA puppet. Well, I'm sure he's not.
I think this is an honest work, Mullane's references to (for example) Judith Resnik really weighed on my heart. I hadn't shed a tear for Challenger for a long time.
There's fascinating stuff about how Mullane learns how not to be a sexist pig (read it!), how he learned how wonderful his wife is. There's a lot about the terror of a shuttle launch, (Space Truck? Dangerous experimental spaceplane?), pointing out the problems of that vehicle and management difficulties.
Just read it. There are amazingly honest references to emotional issues. Physiological issues (how do you pee (etc)in space?), what happens when the space toilet breaks?

This is good. I've read loads of space-related bios and they often seem full of irrelevent 'pre-space' detail. The 'pre-space' detail here is fascinating and is very relevant to what comes
later. 10/10.

Nic

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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A no holds barred account of 80s NASA, 1 May 2007
By Ed Sexton (London, UK) - See all my reviews
I bought this as i wanted to know all about spaceflight and the workings of NASA from someone who had actually been there and i got just that despite the personality of the author.

Mullane recounts his life before NASA, his yearnings for space and then all his time at NASA. His intense enthusiasm for space drives the narrative. He gives a gritty and honest view of what it was like to work at NASA including internal politics and competition for flight places. Specifically his detail on waiting to fly, sitting on the launch pad and being in space was the part i was most excited to read.

However it does come across immediately that Mullane is (and freely admits) a chauvinist, extremely childish and living up to a gung-ho, yee-ha 'Top Gun' stereotype of American fighter pilots. The regular comments and jokes about his other colleagues, pranks and attitude to the world were really tiresome and quite shocking in places. This continues throughout and although doesn't stop this from being a great read is a continual annoyance.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read - both entertaining and thought provoking.
I've always been interested in NASA and the Space Shuttle. I bought this book and read it in less than a week. It's that good I found it hard to put it down! Read more
Published 9 months ago by Neal Parkinson

5.0 out of 5 stars Seat of the pants stuff
This is probably the best astronaut autobiography I have read with the possible exception of Michael Collin's book. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Dr. J. A. Hiscox

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are interested in the US Space Program, then read this book.
There are a good number of astronaut biographies available. Inevitably there is fair amount of repetition sometimes straying towards telling you what SHOULD have happened rather... Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2006 by John Boyes

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