2 comments about DIARY OF A COSMONAUT: 211 DAYS IN SPACE (Air and Space, No 4).

1. This book provides an honest and in depth look into the montony and uselessness of space flight. Written by Russian cosmonaut Valentin Lebedev, the book is comprised of labored and slow moving text which often confuses and loses the reader. Laiden with many pages of technical jargon and unrelated facts, Lebedev's work is most uninteresting and proves to be a tiresome and tedious novel. Written in the format of a diary, the book does contain many personal and candid passages about Lebedev's experience in space; however, Lebedev's openess only serves to show the frivolessness of his long stint aboard the Solyut space station. In the end, the book's most exciting text proves to be Lebedev's diparture from space. The book portrays the wastefulness and uselessness of maintaining a space program of any sort and I would not reccomend reading its pages to my worst enemy.



2. This is a fascinating and "from the hip" book about what its like to be in a flying tin can for more than half a year. The author gives candid, personal "real-life" views directly from his diary in this very profound book. Within 30 years, humans will be soaring to Mars...from this cosmonaut's frankness we will learn much about the psychology of detachment and coping, leading the way to a better and brighter future for all humankind in space. Highly recommended reading to anyone and everyone!

5 comments about Almost Heaven: Women On The Frontiers Of Space.

1. Let me start by adding that I just received my copy of this amazing story a couple of weeks ago, and was awed by it. Quite a wonderful read about a most amazingly hidden aspect of the space program.

   Okay, several have previously stated that there are no major technical errors in the book. On page 46, when describing Skylab, she notes that the pace station was 17 cubic feet, divided into two separate levels. Since the trunk of my Jetta is 13 cubic feet, I decided to check this out with NASA. Skylab had a habitable volume of 12,700 cubic feet. That is a major error that can not go unnoticed.

   If this book is republished, I hope this type of minor error gets corrected. If not, poor editing will continue to diminish an otherwise important topic and marvelously crafted tome.




2. I am surprised just how much is wrong in this book. I am even more puzzled by the unquestioning support given to it by luminaries such as John Klineberg and Mary Ellen Strote. While a writer on health and fitness topics should not be expected to have a thorough knowledge of space history and know how many errors this book contains, I would have thought that Klineberg, former director of Loral and the Goddard Space Flight Center, would have read it a little closer and spotted the many errors. It's puzzling to see how many glowing reviews this book is receiving despite its deep flaws.



3. Kevles is a remarkably good writer. Both this book and "Naked To The Bone" are amongst the best in making science writing accessible, readable, and relevant to social mores. She's damn good.
   
   But I ended up throwing this book across the room a few times in frustration. The fact checking was, frankly, lousy. There were so many elementary mistakes (the date of the Apollo 11 moonlanding wrong in a SPACE book, fer crissakes?) that it ruined an otherwise compelling read.



4. 
   I've just read the paperback version of this book, with all the comments people posted here about errors in the hardback printed out and by my side (thank you for posting them). It looks like they were all fixed for the paperback edition - great to see when a publishing house takes notice like that.
   
   The revised paperback version of this book is an excellent, absorbing read which I highly recommend!



5. I am one of those who suffered through reading an error-filled hardback copy of this book, and was immensely pleased to see a paperback edition come out with major revisions and corrections. So, firstly - avoid the hardback, read only the paperback edition.
   
   This is an intriguing book with a lot of interesting things to say about women in the space program, both in the past and in the present. A good amount of accurate social context is given, making it stand out from some other books on the subject. There are still some subjective judgements made that I disagree with, but that of course is the author's opinion and perogative, and Kevles' arguments are always interesting.
   
   It still doesn't beat my all-time-favorite when it comes to the subject of American and Russian women hoping to fly in space in the 1960s. That book is the excellent Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of S), which in two great chapters blows away all the competition.
   
   Nevertheless, read this book too for some interesting - and sometimes surprising - insights.

3 comments about Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America's First Women in Space Program (Gender Relations in the American Experience).

1. Margaret Weitekamp's book addresses a long-forgotten but recently rediscovered chapter in American history. At the height of the Space Race's Cold War fervor, a mix of private and public figures made several initial moves in the direction of introducing women to America's space program. None of these women ever really got close to becoming an astronaut due to an array of institutional and cultural constraints to their progress. They have been both lionized and marginalized by different camps over the last 40 years, with distortions and half-truths from every side. Weitekamp's book finally cuts through the clamor. It gathers an enormous array of rare and forgotten documents and details, along with oral history from the women themselves, to weave an authoritative narrative of the events. It should earn its place as a definitive work in this area.
   
   Weitekamp's writing is precise and well-documented, with all the attention to sources and structure that academics need to be kept happy. Her focus is on gender (as befits the subject), but her work gradually yields a subtle examination of the perspectives, motives and positions of the women who confront its cultural manifestations. Like all good history, this reads like a movie waiting to happen. Jackie Cochran is the most intriguing character of the lot, with her political savvy and daredevil streak taking her from setting records on the tarmac to meetings in the Oval Office. Jerrie Cobb, the more public face of the original group of women at the climax of these events, suffered from a political naivety, but came to see the structural impediments to women perhaps more clearly than anyone. Easily the best piece of social and cultural history I've read this year.



2. The First Women in Space Program of the 1960's is an endeavor that has become all but forgotten in American history. That is until Margaret A. Weitekamp's recent book about the subject came along.
   
   During the 1950's, there was massive resistance in U.S. government circles against any kind of a space program. There were, however, visionaries such as William Randolph "Randy" Lovelace II who promoted the benefits of a strong space program. It was not until after both the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957 coupled with the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 that a strong American space program came into existence.
   
   Since the Kennedy Administration refused to countenance the idea of a women in space program, it was up to the likes of Lovelace & famed aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran to start a private program towards that goal. Another prominent woman in the U.S. aviation industry to support Lovelace's program was Jerrie Cobb who had passed all of the tests that had been administered to the NASA astronauts, but who had been passed over simply because she was a woman.
   
   In the end, Lovelace's program came to naught due to a lack of funding, but the memory of it lives on in this splendid work.



3. I am an admirer of Weitekamp's excellent work at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum as Curator of the Social and Cultural History of Spaceflight. Which is why I found this book a little puzzling, as it failed to give an adequate degree of social and cultural context to the area she is discussing. The book collects together all of the facts, and isn't inaccurate. However I found a much superior assessment of the "Mercury 13" program in Burgess and French's book Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of S). In one extraordinary chapter, they capture the true cultural, historical and social context of this program far better than this entire book-length treatment. They also contrast the Soviet women in space program very well.
   
   Nevertheless, I would still recommend this book as a very interesting read into a fascinating time in American history, and congratulate the author on her great research.

2 comments about The Last Man On the Moon.

1. My chief complaint with this book on tape is that it is read poorly, probably by the author. Although Moon Shot by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton was panned in Amazon reviews, I very much enjoyed the book on tape version because a professional actor did the reading. Cernan's book on tape could have benefited immensely from an actor, too.

   I found myself wondering how much co-author Don Davis helped Cernan with the descriptive language and thought it was a waste that Cernan (if he was the reader) couldn't do justice to the words.

   As for content, Cernan relies too much on cliches, and I tend to agree with the reviewer who said Cernan writes too much about the internal politics of mission assignment.

   However, his account of his first marriage made me wonder how much he wasn't telling. At first he seems to go out of his way to explain that other astronauts cheated on their wives, but he did not. His marriage was sound. Later in the book we hear how he spends too little time with his family. And at the end he tells us they got divorced four years after he left NASA. He, of course, got remarried and had two more children. Sounds like just another guy who traded in his faithful wife of the same age on a younger model. I ended up feeling sorry for Barbara.




2. I enjoyed Gene Cernan reading this book himself. Hearing his own descriptions of the wonder and beauty of space was wonderful.
   
   Perhaps I'm biased. He's a Chicago native, as I am, and hearing a regular Chicago guy expressing such wonder of his experiences is a real treat for me. A lot of personal identification with what he accomplished.
   
   As to the "politics" of NASA, I took it to mean that the astronauts were a really competitive bunch, which is the reality of the situation. At no point does Cernan accuse any of his fellow astronauts of dirty pool; the competition was intense but clean. Should this be a surprise?
   
   I was a little less impressed about his characterization of Wally Schirra as an insubordinate whiner. You could just as easily see Wally's actions as advocating for astronaut safety and well-being.
   
   Cernan's antipathy to Schirra is much like the way a manager feels about a union representative. And this should not be surprising; among all the celebrities Cernan counts as friends, at the forefront is Spiro and Judy Agnew. Well, we're known by the company we keep; Cernan must be a pretty conservative dude, politically.
   
   I do like, though, his forthright and blunt descriptive style. If you don't want to hear the straight stuff (and a little cussing, too), don't buy this book. On the other hand, if those traits enhance your enjoyment, you'll love this book. Either way, it adds something important to the history and literature of space exploration.

3 comments about Footprints: The 12 Men Who Walked on the Moon Reflect on Their Flights, Their Lives, and the Future.

1. This book tells the reader a little about all 12 men that walked on the Moon, and their reflections of their experience, their lives a little, and how Project Apollo and being an astronaut changed their lives forever! Could read 1000 books like this one, and never get tired of it



2. this was, to my knowledge, the first book done on all 12 moonwalkers,/together, and which tells about the men, their respective missions,and rest of lives,upto late 1980's!what they achieved as astronauts,men, and how they ended upin later life! interesting!



3. The book was written to go with the 20th anniversary of the first landing, and has interviews with 11 of the 12 moonwalkers. Neil Armstrong did not participate, so the authors included excerpts from the public record on Armstrong. Obviously, no book like this can be written today, as some have died. The authors are fortunate to have done this project then, as Jim Irwin was gone before the 25th.
   
   I strongly recommend serious Apollo fans include this in their reading list. Most likely, though, you'll never be able to, as my guess is the book did not sell well and has mostly disappeared. Grab it if you see a copy. The casual space reader would be better served by others in the excellent collection of narratives and autobiographies.
   
   The timing of the book makes for good copy years later. The American glow from the moon landings was long gone, with no follow-up toward permanent work toward the moon. The shuttle had its history of delays, and the Challenger disaster a couple years earlier had prompted re-examination of the role of space and NASA's priorities. The space station was still in the future, and the Soviets were actively working toward a permanent presence in space. Mars looked like a feasible goal that might prompt a serious commitment by now.
   
   The astronauts talk about all of those topics and more, with excellent perspective and their own biases. Their predictions vary widely. There is no mindless optimism - these are serious guys concerned about the future. Many of them offer suggestions for revitalizing the space program and/or what its priorities should be.
   
   The section for each astronaut has some basic bio information and a summary of his role in the space program and what happened in the years since. The bio material about who got what flights reminds the reader of the twists and turns that deviated from the projected crews (e.g., Bean owes his flight to the death of CC Williams). Then it's straight Q&A. Thus, the typical narrative content and weaving of a story is not here, which is what makes this different. What comes through for each astronaut is often what you might have expected. However, there is often a telling detail that I hadn't heard elsewhere.
   
   One point several agreed on is that landing the LM was a lot simpler than night landings on a carrier.
   
   Buzz Aldrin talks about his struggles after returning to earth, his relationship with his father, and re-hashes the decision of who went first. Jim Irwin talks mainly about religious aspects, as does Edgar Mitchell, along with his psychic work that became his focus post-Apollo.
   
   Shepard declines again to say whether he would have overridden the abort on Apollo 14. Mitchell says they would have. Shepard said "The Right Stuff" movie was OK, but "did a disservice to a lot of people" in how they were portrayed. Conrad agrees ("it was terrible"), while liking the book a lot. The thought of Conrad and Tom Wolfe together makes me smile.
   
   Aldrin says he wouldn't trade being on the first (short) mission for one of the last missions with the additional time on the moon, and debunks the story that he gave his second wife a piece of the moon.
   
   Conrad sadly recalls the winding down of his career in NASA ("I would have had a very tough time staying there, living under the damn ground rules by which those guys had to build the Shuttle").
   
   Mitchell's section is the longest and most philosophical, getting into man as a non-linear computer and what happens when a person dies.
   
   Bean recounts the funny story that's in "From the Earth to the Moon" where Conrad says, "Look, I don't want anybody having to take a crap on the moon....". I liked Bean's comments about the crew as a team, and the whole space program as a team. He always comes across as a good guy. Bean also did the illustrations for the book.
   
   Irwin talked a bit about the medical issues on the moon and his problems since then, all the sadder given his early death. Regarding the white "Genesis Rock": "the green rock that we brought back has an approximate age of about a half a billion years older than the white rock. So, really, the green rock should have been called the Genrics Rock, rather than the white one."
   
   Schmitt on the Challenger: "Christa McAuliffe knew exactly what she was doing. She knew what the risks were. The first teacher that went west in covered wagons probably didn't make it either. NASA just didn't know how to handle it."
   
   Scott gets asked a question I had never thought of before this book. What should happen to the landing sites when we go back some day? His interview has an excellent mix of about 90 questions.
   
   In 1989, John Young thought he might get another shuttle flight or two. Never happened. Young also said the best book by an astronaut up to that time was "The Quiet Sun" by Ed Gibson.
   
   Charlie Duke covers his religious conversion and work with Jim Irwin, et al. He and Young claim to have the land speed record on the moon in their excursions with the Rover.
   
   Always-interesting Gene Cernan shines here, too. "100, 200, 300 years from now if you look back at the time it takes between when we first went and when we go back to the moon, even if it's fifty years, it's going to be just a blip in history. So, I'm not bitter because I know it's going to happen."
   
   On a minor note, the book has too many typos for my taste.
   
   P.S. My copy of the book is signed by Shepard, Bean, Cernan and author MacKinnon.

5 comments about Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race.

1. I bought this book just a month ago while in a business trip and I must admit that my first impression was that the book was a sort of commercial best-seller, rather hollywood-like. So I was not expecting serious really serious content. But the more I read, the more I came to the conclussion it was a really good book.
   
   I had not the kind of tech-focused expectations of Thomas Moody (see useful review above), but I think it is serious enough for the non-tech or specialized public, whithout been arcane. It's rigorous and at the same time, very readable. A real page-turner.
   
   I think that the book is worth the money. Provides a smart picture not only of space race but also of cold war in a wider sense, from a special and interesting point of view.
   
   Overall, the point with the book is that it is based on two different careers and lives, wich brings a richer depiction of the evolution, both professional and personal of this two outstanding men, astronaut and cosmonaut, at the same time that their respective space programs in Soviet Union and USA.
   
   My congratulations to the authors, the journalist, editors and all people involved in the project. A very well balanced approach on how to present the story and how to narrate it. They've got a great result.
   
   I really enjoyed this book.



2. From all reports, the Cold War was competition between America and Russia to see who could get to the moon and win the "Space Race." Actually, it was who could design and manufacture nuclear arms to blast the other country off into space. So, this book has an odd coupling: an old Soviet astronaut, the first man to "walk in space," and a younger NASA Apollo commander who piloted Gemini 8. I watched all of those missions faithfully until the fatal explosion; after that, it was too traumatic to hear those words, "Go with throttle up."
   
   Alexei Leonov starts with "Temperatures drop to below -50 deg. C in the small village of Listvyanka, Central Sibreia, USSR, where I was born on 30 May 1934." When he was four years old, his father was declared a subversive during the Stalin purge, so they lost everything and had to live in one room with eleven occupants.
   
   David Scott came from a military family, born at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, USA. Before his father became a "fighter pilot," he had an administrative job in a Hollywood film studio in California. David followed in the footsteps of his dad, acted as a technical advisre on the film, 'Apollo 13.'
   
   These two military "commanders" from warring countries have nothing in common, except the moondance in space, as it is more an illusion. Their experiences were not even close. Granted, Leonov was the first man to "walk in space," securing a place in history. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon in actuality; he was the commander of Apollo 11. After spending three days on the moon, David Scott became the seventh to hop around up there collecting souvenirs.
   
   The photo sections speak a lot louder than the words. I'm not sure the average American citizen is ready to be reminded of all the personal terror and pain we endured for so long by their bullying and threats. The title should be called 'Opposite Sides on Earth," opponents to the end. You would think that, by now, USA would realize that trusting one's former enemy can backfire even in defeat.



3. "Two Sides of the Moon" is a fascinating addition to the library of any space historian, whether casual or professional. The book, written by American Astronaut Dave Scott and Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, focuses on personal and professional struggles set within the political framework of the 1960s (and early 1970s) cold war.
   
   Although I would have preferred more technical detail in the book, I still enjoyed it very much though more from the human interest angle. I liked the technique of alternating narratives from the American and Soviet points of view: the book was skillfully written to reveal the emotions and perceptions of both sides of the space race during key points in the race to the moon (Sputnik, the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 11, etc.) I found both authors to be likable and appreciated their willingness to share credit with people unknown to the general public, from important organizational keys like Bill Tindall's famous (within NASA, anyway) Data Priority Meetings (and their resultant "Tindallgrams," page 194,) to the awe with which Leonov held Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Chief Designer, whose death all but dashed Soviet attempts to land on the moon prior to the Americans.
   
   The book has an upbeat and optimistic tone, and is good-natured throughout. I enjoyed the behind the scenes trivia the pair provided. Did you know that the first animals to achieve circumlunar flight were a pair of Steppe Tortoises on the Soviet Zond-5 mission? The were recovered safe (but probably confused) in the Indian Ocean on September 17, 1968. Little known facts like this made this book a treasure for readers who traditionally focus on the more technical aspects of the missions.
   
   The book boasts an excellent Foreword by Neil Armstrong, Scott's commander from Gemini 8. Scott gives Armstrong ceaseless praise for his judgment during the emergency they shared, and it seems clear that Armstrong holds Scott in equally high esteem.
   
   The book is a great telling of a compelling tale. I particularly found the travails of Leonov's youth to be astounding, and admire him more after reading this book for overcoming them to become one of the great names in spaceflight. Likewise, Scott is a high achiever and role model for generations of spacefarers for generations to come. I recommend this book highly.



4. "Two Sides of the Moon" is a fascinating addition to the library of any space historian, whether casual or professional. The book, written by American Astronaut Dave Scott and Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, focuses on personal and professional struggles set within the political framework of the 1960s (and early 1970s) cold war.
   
   Although I would have preferred more technical detail in the book, I still enjoyed it very much though more from the human interest angle. I liked the technique of alternating narratives from the American and Soviet points of view: the book was skillfully written to reveal the emotions and perceptions of both sides of the space race during key points in the race to the moon (Sputnik, the Apollo 1 fire, Apollo 11, etc.) I found both authors to be likable and appreciated their willingness to share credit with people unknown to the general public, from important organizational keys like Bill Tindall's famous (within NASA, anyway) Data Priority Meetings (and their resultant "Tindallgrams,") to the awe with which Leonov held Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Chief Designer, whose death all but dashed Soviet attempts to land on the moon prior to the Americans.
   
   The book has an upbeat and optimistic tone, and is good-natured throughout. I enjoyed the behind the scenes trivia the pair provided. Did you know that the first animals to achieve circumlunar flight were a pair of Steppe Tortoises on the Soviet Zond-5 mission? The were recovered safe (but probably confused) in the Indian Ocean on September 17, 1968. Little known facts like this made this book a treasure for readers who traditionally focus on the more technical aspects of the missions.
   
   The book boasts an excellent Foreword by Neil Armstrong, Scott's commander from Gemini 8. Scott gives Armstrong ceaseless praise for his judgment during the emergency they shared, and it seems clear that Armstrong holds Scott in equally high esteem.
   
   The book is a great telling of a compelling tale. I particularly found the travails of Leonov's youth to be astounding, and admire him more after reading this book for overcoming them to become one of the great names in spaceflight. Likewise, Scott is a high achiever and role model for generations of spacefarers for generations to come. I recommend this book highly.



5. Very interesting concept of getting both perspectives on the space race but there are some errors in this book. One is so great I am amazed that no one else has mentioned it. On page 39, Leonov states that he met Ernest Hemingway in Cuba... in 1965... Hemingway died in 1961. Is this a simple typo? Or imperfect memory? In either case, there is only a very small window of opportunity for the two of them to meet as described in the book. Hemingway left Cuba in 1960, shortly after the revolution. Presumably, a Soviet cosmonaut would not be visiting Cuba before the revolution. If the meeting took place it could have only been sometime in 1960. This should have been caught in the editing stage.

5 comments about Sojourner: An Insider's View of the Mars Pathfinder Mission.

1. I just finished Andrew Mishkin's booked titled "Sojourner" and I couldn't put it down. Mishkin, a Senior Systems Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), helped to design, build and operate humanity's first operational MARS rover. The book starts back in the 1960's with a General Motors built rover which was meant for, but not flown on, the Lunar Surveyor missions of that decade. He explains how this machine became the basis for several JPL skunk-works created machines including the one that finally did the job in 1997. The book contains just enough technical information (both hardware and software) to be interesting but not so much as to lose the non-technical reader. There are two added chapters which cover the missions in 2001 and 2004.



2. I just finished Andrew Mishkin's booked titled "Sojourner" and I couldn't put it down. Mishkin, a Senior Systems Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), helped to design, build and operate humanity's first operational MARS rover. The book starts back in the 1960's with a General Motors built rover which was meant for, but not flown on, the Lunar Surveyor missions of that decade. He explains how this machine became the basis for several JPL skunk-works created machines including the one that finally did the job in 1997. The book contains just enough technical information (both hardware and software) to be interesting but not so much as to lose the non-technical reader. There are two added chapters which cover the missions in 2001 and 2004.



3. In Sojourner, Andrew Mishkin does an excellent job of presenting the success of the Pathfinder mission to Mars, as well as the challenges of getting there. The book gives a brief, but thorough, history of robotics at JPL starting with the lunar rovers and working its way up to the creation of Sojourner and its clone Marie Curie. Mishkin has a talent of presenting technical material in a way that is easy to read and understand, yet provides enough of the technical information to excite and inspire engineers-myself included. Anyone with even the slightest interest in engineering robotics will gain much knowledge from this book!
   
   The book also provides insight into NASA's day-to-day operations during the mission. Explaining difficulties of scheduling shifts on Mars time, dealing with communications issues, and even correcting bugs in the system. Praise to Andrew Mishkin for this piece of history.



4. The details of the development of the first Mars rover was interesting and reasonably well done. I was somewhat distracted by the elaboration of JPL politics and personality conflicts. From this author's point of view, JPL sure sounds like an unpleasant place to work. I felt that the personality conflict part of the book was overemphasized and distracted from what a typical reader wants from a book about the Sojourner rover.



5. On the good side, it is fairly well written. As a previous reviewer noted, however, the author makes much ado of the politics and conflict at JPL. In some chapters, it gets hard to read through the self-inflating undertone, but it seems fairly obvious that it is the author himself who is the cause of much of the conflict. And now that the era of "faster, better, cheaper" space disasters is behind us; it is clear that simple luck played a leading role in Pathfinder's success - a point the author somehow seems grieved to admit.

3 comments about Who's Who in Space: The First 25 Years.

1. Having always been interested in the space program and particularly the astronauts that flew the missions, this book is definitely one of my favourites. What makes it so interesting is that it gives you a CV on all the astronauts, and therefore anyone who has any desire to become an astronaut can begin to see what is required. In the nutshell a superb book !



2. Who are the people from around the world who have traveled into space? This book will tell you.
   
   In concise, accurate snapshots, we learn not just about the most famous spacefarers like John Glenn, Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, but also the lesser-known - people became the only person to date to fly from their country, those who were selected but never flew - a wide variety of interesting characters. As a reference to the Space Age, it is indispensible and fascinating.



3. This mighty book is a veritable kaleidoscope of intriguing personalities; all of them with a common legacy - they were all selected at some time as a candidate to fly into space. Many made it, while others didn't for varying reasons, but they are all in here, with individual photographs accompanying each biographical entry. It is a brilliant concept, and extraordinarily handy for spaceflight researchers and biographers such as myself. It is as close to indispensible as any book can be.
   
   The only difficulty for the author in producing such a book lies in the fact that every year, ineluctably, sees a whole new batch of spaceflight candidates selected; the reason why this book has already been revised twice (and let's hope for a fourth revision).
   
   Moreso than any other book, "Who's Who in Space" offers a history of human spaceflight by showcasing the men and women who were and are an integral part of that history, and the author is to be commended for his diligent and ongoing research. Highly recommended in all editions.

5 comments about I Touch the Future: The Story of Christa McAuliffe.

1. This book is one of many that have touched the hearts of millions with the life of a historical role model. From the day of her birth to the day of the fatal teacher-in-space flight, this book shows the climaxes and downfalls of Christa McAuliffe's wonderful life. We find that through tough childhoods, even the most ordinary person can turn into the most respected role model in the nation. I suggest reading this book if you were at all inspired or touched by the 1986 space shuttle tragedy. You will always remember her touching moments as a child, her fantasitic teaching career for the future of many kids, and her sad ending of her young life. Please read this book as a motion of kindness and rememberance for this wonderful role model for thousands.



2. This book by Robert Hohler is a well-written, very personal look at the life of a very special woman whom most of us only had a chance to know from a distance. From her childhood to the last few days of her life, Christa McAuliffe was constantly giving gifts of love, insight, advice, friendship and understanding to her family, friends, and students, and the last few months of her life to the rest of the world as well. I Touch The Future gives us all a chance to realize what a huge loss we were dealt on January 28, 1996. If only someone would write equally good biographies of the rest of the Challenger astronauts, we could all realize the full extent of this tragedy.



3. In the book" I Touch the Future..The Story of Christa McAuliffe"we the readers get to have a closer look at the Challenger tragedy and see just what a tragedy it truly was. Anyone who saw the disaster as it happened probably already had developed an interest in Christa McAuliffe because she was an ordinairy person doing something most of us will never do,and mourned her death.But for those of us who are to young to remember the explosion and the loss of the Challenger crew,( I was only about three years old when it happened) we have to rely on books and old news segments to tell us about this tragedy, and I would have to recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Challenger and Christa McAuliffe. Robert T. Hohler shows the reader all about Christa's training ,homelife and also a clearer view about what her crewmates were like, something we know almost nothing about. I only wish the author could've wrote the biographies of all of Challenger's passengers as well.Read this book so you won't be like me: Not knowing anything about such an important part of history until it's victims had been dead for a decade.



4. Having experienced the disaster as a middle school student, I have only just begun to research Christa and her glorious rise as an educational icon. As someone who aspires both to be an astronaut and a teacher, I wept at the epilogue. Simply put, Christa was far from normal and average--she worked herself very hard and never seemed to complain.

   Hohler did her justice in this chronicle of Christa's final field trip. It should be required reading of all students who wish to make something of their lives.




5. this book was excellent. informing readers of the tragedy of that cold day in January in 1986 when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded killing all 7 on board. for me, it taught me a lot about the disaster and the months leading up to it. i was born in 1986, 9 months after the explosion and until recently, i had no knowledge of it. then i heard that the first teacher to go into orbit was on that flight and she had 2 kids and a husband, it prompted me to read this book. at first glance, i thought, ok, they're going to tell me that she won a contest, she did some training, and she went up in the shuttle. but the author went in depth so much more and explained the hardships the children faced, after learning their mother would be gone for months at a time. and he explained the exhausting life Christa McAuliffe lived prior to lift-off. I reccommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good and fact-filled book now and then. and for those of you who witnessed the explosion 14 years ago, that should make this book all the more important to you. email me comments or suggestions: rogcha_22@hotmail.com

3 comments about Journey of Hope: The Story of Ilan Ramon, Israel's First Astronaut.

1. I want everyone to know that this book was a labor of love. I want to help make people aware of the life and the legacy of Ilan Ramon, a hero and inspiring figure for all of us.



2. I just wanted to thank you that you wrote this book



3. Saturday February 1, 2003 was a sad day for the U.S.: The shuttle Columbia disintegrated in space, killing flight commander Rick D. Husband; pilot William C. McCool; payload commander Michael P. Anderson; mission specialists David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark; and Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon.
   
   It was especially difficult for Israel and the Jewish people, who had placed so much pride and hope into the voyage of Ramon, the son of a refugee from Germany and a veteran of Israel's War of Independence and a mother who had survived Auschwitz. In 1981, he had flown with seven other Israeli F-16 pilots who destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. "If I can prevent another Holocaust, I'm ready to sacrifice my life for this," Ramon had selflessly told his comrades.
   
   All Israel and the Jewish people considered Ramon's mission a source of honor, a testament to positive spirit, despite a troubled time that had claimed 768 Israelis in terrorist attacks since September 2000.
   
   Ramon was cool-headed, modest, "a humble hero," who although he was not an observant Jew, took with him Jewish symbols into space--a small Torah smuggled out of Bergen-Belsen by a Holocaust survivor, a mezuzah wrapped in barbed wire, and the drawing of a moonscape by a victim of Theresienstadt. For Israel and the Jewish people, he had said, it was "a very symbolic mission."
   
   And so it was. For Ramon reminded the Jewish people, said a Jerusalem Post editorial after his death, "we can make the desert bloom and build modern cities on sand dunes. And we can reach for the stars."
   
   This book is a fitting tribute to a Jewish hero.
   
   --Alyssa A. Lappen