Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986 (Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight) by David Hitt (PDF)

Description

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 world’s first reusable spacecraft, it launched like a rocket, landed like a glider, and carried out complicated missions in between. Bold They Rise tells the story of the Space Shuttle through the personal experiences of the astronauts, engineers, and scientists who made it happen—in 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 participants’ own voices, we learn what so few are privy to: what it was like to create a new form of spacecraft, to risk one’s life testing that craft, to float freely in the vacuum of space as a one-man satellite, to witness a friend’s death. A “guided tour” of the shuttle—in historical, scientific, and personal terms—this 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. Purchase the audio edition.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “This book is essential reading and perhaps the perfect companion to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s recently opened Atlantis exhibit.”—Emily Carney, americaspace.com”This book is a welcome addition to the spectacular Outward Odyssey series and any space enthusiast’s collection that does not carry it—is missing something vital. . . . [Bold They Rise] is at times gripping with the thrill found only in the “firsts” involved with anything to do with space exploration . . . a solid read which provides important information regarding NASA’s program of record for more than thirty years.”—Jason Rhian, spaceflightinsider.com Published On: 2014-07-27″Space enthusiasts will enjoy this work.”—CHOICE Published On: 2015-02-01″Bold They Rise is one of those works that will allow the memory of the Space Shuttle to remain alive, conveying the beauty and difficult of flying and working in space.”—Davide Sivolella, Florida Historical Quarterly“Read this book to experience the Space Shuttle as it matured. Smith and Hitt tap sources that made this aerospace wonder’s early history. You’ll feel the needs and wants of those involved; the joys and sadness that came with conceiving, building, and flying this vehicle. It’s a trip—I know.”—Charles D. Walker, engineer, corporate executive, first commercial industry astronaut, STS-41D, STS-51D, STS-61B Published On: 2013-09-20“Although the shuttle program has now run its course, this wonderful book brings back the awe, the inspiration, the promise, and the sadness associated with the early history of those magnificent vehicles and the teams of ground and flight crews that flew them.”—Jerry L. Ross (Col., USAF, Ret.), NASA astronaut, STS-61B, -27, -37, -55, -74, -88, and -110, and author of Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer Published On: 2013-09-20 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.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Bold They Rise does a unique job of painting the background and emotions of the times during various eras of the Space Shuttle. It focuses on the shuttle’s operations by cherry-picking missions concerned with different aspects of the shuttle’s capabilities.It opens with chapters on the design and construction. These are very well done and I was surprised to learn that the thermal tiles used on the orbiter were related to tiles used on NASA’s Saturn 1 booster. I’ve read a lot about these tiles and was surprised to find something new in this book, which is not based on engineering or the TPS itself.These chapters are followed by the early test flights and then the early operational flights. The book again does a good job of painting the background stories to developing the shuttle, it’s remote arm and other parts as an integrated working machine, and you feel immersed in the nuances of the program as it matures.The program goes from strength to strength, but towards the end of the book you feel something new and different – risk. At first I did not understand why the writers covered missions that never launched, but after reading about plans for polar orbits or a liquid fueled booster in the payload bay, you get a good sense of the cannot-fail attitude that wrongly filled NASA at that time. They were not paying attention to the risks piling on top of other risks, and we all know that tragedy was just around the corner. The flight of 51-L is covered as well as can be, given that many entire books have been written on all aspects of this accident.My overall thought – a very enjoyable history of the early shuttle program and great companion piece to Rick Houston’s Wheels Stop, which together form a complete history of NASA’s wonderful Space Shuttle.

⭐I read pretty much every spaceflight book published. My spaceflight library contains hundreds and hundreds of volumes, and yet I still nearly always buy any and all new books on the subject. Sure, I know spaceflight history and technology like the back of my hand by now (especially as a retired aerospace engineer/manager), but I find that most new books still offer me some learning opportunities.“Bold They Rise” is a case in point.First, it’s a volume in the University of Nebraska’s superb “Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight” series. Every volume in this series is a real gem. I consider some of them to be the best written to date on their particular topic. Second, to potential readers who might think everything that CAN be written about the early Space Shuttle flights has already been written—well, I say give “Bold They Rise” a try.Authors David Hitt and Heather R. Smith provide a rare and valuable perspective on the Space Transportation System’s design, development, testing and operations between 1972 and 1986 by liberally mining the vast treasure trove of NASA oral history interviews archived at the Johnson Space Center. As such, they focus much more than most other Shuttle histories on the human elements of the program rather than the types of technical minutia that make space geeks salivate. As one of those aforementioned geeks, I initially thought I might find “Bold They Rise” less engaging than the usual engineering-oriented tomes that I eagerly devour. But I was wrong.I didn’t do a word count, but I estimate about half of the text in “Bold They Rise” is italicized quotes from oral history transcripts, complete with occasional misstatements, errors and folksy language. Between the quotes, the authors insert their own comments and background data to put the quotes into their proper technical and historical contexts. The technique works like a charm. It gives the book a conversational, fast-paced narrative that should make it accessible to anyone interested in the subject.I enjoyed “Bold They Rise” immensely,” and it is now part of my permanent spaceflight library. You should add it to yours as well.

⭐This book mainly consists of material from interviews as the focus of the work. Having John Young being conspicuously missing to keep his stories for his own book makes the STS-1 chapter an awkward read, with only Bob Crippen’s perspective, but still worth reading. I would have preferred hearing both perspectives of Crippen and Young together. If you’re looking for a technical read on systems or Shuttle itself, this isn’t it. This is essentially a collection of interview snippets. The authors are also strangely hung up on telling you exactly which building things are happening in, but tell you nothing of what the building is like, the culture inside each, what you’d expect to see, hear, etc… So those odd paragraphs read like a tour guide telling you that “on your left is Chinatown” as you gawk from the windows of a bus that’s driving by. Other books seem to cover the topics presented herein, far better. An example: there’s a significant section on Challenger’s investigation but not once is it mentioned that Challenger’s remains were unceremoniously dumped down an old missile silo at Canaveral Air Station and a concert cap poured over the top. It seems if you’re discussing the culture and the times and getting interviews, something like that would be mentioned. Especially right after a long section about the eventual autopsies. The people were respected, the machine was not. For a shuttle enthusiast, the book is worth a read. For someone just getting into reading about Shuttle, I’d go with something else.

⭐A very good overview of the first 5 years of Shuttle operations.

⭐Item as described, many thanks.

⭐Reasonably good

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