Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster at the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

 

Title:  Challenger:  A True Story of Heroism and Disaster at the Edge of Space

Author:  Adam Higginbotham

Narrated by:  Jacques Roy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 17 hours and 9 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio. 

 

What real life disaster would you like to read more about?

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke up only 73 seconds into the flight and all seven astronauts on board lost their lives.  This tragedy was a defining moment in many people’s lives.  I remember it happening as a second grader.  We were all excited about the first teacher going to space and then it all went horribly wrong.

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       I listened to this audiobook on a family trip at Christmas and another recent road trip in February.  My husband and I both found it interesting, and it prompted good discussion.

·       The audiobook gives details on each of the seven astronauts as well as other important people and incidents leading up to the disaster.  The history of the space shuttle program was fascinating. 

·       I felt better thinking that the astronauts vaporized rather than learning that they were hurtling towards their deaths and aware for 3 entire minutes.  The search and finding of their remains was horrifying.

·       This audiobook gave me a lot to think about ethics wise. Engineers blew the whistle about how they knew the O-rings had problems with temperature, but the shuttle was sent up anyways.  Human lives seemed to be not valued.  The engineers received accolades from professional societies, but never worked in aerospace again.  Ethics did not pay in this situation.

·       The space shuttle Columbia investigation discovered that many of the findings and items that were supposed to go into place after the Challenger disaster were not put not place.

·       It worried me with current events and seemingly random cuts to the government that we are setting ourselves up for another national tragedy.

·       The epilogue detailed what happened to many of the major players involved in the disaster.

·       Author Adam Higginbotham writes great non-fiction.  I also enjoyed his work, Midnight at Chernobyl.

Overall, Challenger by Adam Higginbotham was a fascinating nonfiction audiobook on the Challenger Disaster that opened my eyes to aspects of the disaster and fall out.  This is a must read for any fans of space flight and/or NASA.

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush

 

Title: The Six:  The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts

Author:  Loren Grush

Narrated by:  Ines del Castillo

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 41 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster @BookClubFavorites #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

Can you name the first six women astronauts?  Before I read this book, I only knew about the first woman in space, Sally Ride.  I was very happy to learn the remarkable story of the first class of female astronauts selected in 1978:  Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher, Margaret “Rhea” Seddon, and Shannon Lucid through the new book The Six by Loren Grush.

My thoughts on this book: 

·       I read this both as a physical book and listened to the audiobook.  I liked that the book had a brief two pages of the “cast of characters” describing the six women astronauts.  It helped me to keep the ladies straight while I was listening to the audiobook.  I would reference this section often at the start of the book.

·       The physical book has great pictures and index.

·       Nichelle Nichols visited Nasa’s newly named Johnson Space Center to talk about the space shuttle and a new crop of astronauts.  These astronauts were going to be more than just test pilots.  They wanted scientists and engineers, women, and people of color to apply.  This sounds like it was a very inspirational pitch that got a lot of people to apply.

·       Just like their male counterparts, all six women were extraordinary, very smart, and successful people.

·       Unfortunately, the novelty of female astronauts caused a lot of press and strange questions to them.  I can’t imagine as an engineer being asked about make-up and dating rather than your skills that got you to your position.

·       I really identified with Judy Resnik and loved her story.  I was horrified to discover that she was killed on the Challenger.  I was eight when the Challenger exploded, and we watched it live on TV at school.  Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher going to space to show that space travel was for everyone, is the person that most stuck in my mind from this disaster.  I was glad to learn more about the rest of the crew.

·       Besides learning the early history of each woman and why they became astronauts, and how they made their way through training and going to space, I learned a great deal about the space program in the 1970s and 1980s.

·       I also learned a lot about the Challenger disaster and Sally Ride’s involvement in the investigation afterwards.  I want to learn more.

·       Each woman was treated in the book as an individual and we also learned about their lives outside of the space program.

·       Sally Ride was chosen as the first woman in space as it was believed she could best handle the overwhelming attention she received.  It is amazing how much attention she received compared to the other five women.

·       The writing was very engaging, and I learned a lot from this nonfiction book.  I read most of this book for Women’s History month in March and finished it up at the beginning of April.

 Overall, The Six is a captivating nonfiction book that chronicles that true stories of the first six women astronauts.  I recommend it to everyone.

Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger

 

Title: Apollo 13

Author:  Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger

Narrated by:  Fred Sanders

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 16 hours and 15 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

 

Do you have any favorite topics that you like to read about?

We have spent long weekends this year traveling around and touring colleges. Our oldest son is a senior and he wants to be an aerospace engineer.  We all enjoy history and decided on the college tour drives it would be perfect to listen to Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.

Apollo 13 is an excellent movie, but this book fills in all of the details that can’t possibly fit into a movie.  It gives the background of the Apollo program and of the astronauts that were aboard Apollo 13.  They were supposed to be the third mission of astronauts that walked on the moon, but instead an oxygen tank explosion ended their mission and left them scrambling for their lives.  Together with support from numerous NASA personnel below, they had to work together to come up with a solution that would ultimately bring them safely home.

Fred Sanders was a good narrator.  Apollo 13 was an intriguing non-fiction tale.  Whenever I turned it off to talk to my husband, my oldest son requested that it be turned back on again.  This was the story of Apollo 13 told in third person from Jim Lovell, Marilyn Lovell, and ground control’s point of view.  It was amazing how many things went wrong, yet they all kept calmly solving the problems and carrying on.  It is a very inspiring story. This is a great book for anyone interested in the space program.

Reaching for the Moon by Katherine Johnson

Title:  Reaching for the Moon:  The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson

Author:  Katherine Johnson

Read by:  Heather Alicia Simms

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 18 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

I read and loved Hidden Figures a few years ago and also loved the movie.  I was delighted to be able to listen to and review the audiobook version of Katherine Johnson’s autobiography.  I was sad to learn of her passing last week, but inspired to finish this audiobook.

Katherine Johnson was a mathematically gifted girl.  Through her parents’ hard work and sacrifices, they were able to put Katherine and her three siblings through both high school and college in West Virginia in the 1930s.  This was quite the feat for the time.  None of my Grandparents or Great-Grandparents attended college.  While at school, it was noticed that Katherine was gifted.  She graduated from high school at 14 and college at 18.  One of my favorite quotes in the book is when Katherine believes her brother was “slow” as he graduated at the normal ages.  She realized as an adult that her brother was actually quite smart.  Katherine tells the story of her marriage, children, working as a teacher, and eventually of her working at NACA, which eventually became NASA.  She had a love for analytical geometry and was able to use that passion to help ultimately to put a man on the moon. 

Katherine Johnson’s story was fascinating and uplifting.  I read every biography in my school library when I was in elementary and middle school.  Most women biographies were about wives of famous men, there were only wo about African American ladies (Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth), and there were none about mathematicians.  I am an engineer myself.  I sure wish I would have had this autobiography to read as a child.  Johnson talks about her love for math and about her persistence and hard work to be able to be in the profession that suited her.  I loved her father’s motto that became Katherine’s own, “you aren’t better than anyone, but no one is better than you.”  Johnson also talks about race relations in America and how it impacted her life.  It was an important story and one that I think everyone should read.

This book was written for middle school aged kids, but I enjoyed it as an adult.  My 11-year old son, Daniel, used the book as one of his resources for a poster he did for school about Katherine Johnson.  She is an inspiring role model.  It’s really made me think about how many women and minorities were part of major parts of history, but their roles were overlooked and not put into our history textbooks.   Heather Alicia Simms was the narrator and to me was the voice of Katherine Johnson.

Overall, Reaching for the Moon is an important part of our American history and is an important autobiography.  I loved this audiobook and only wish we had a second part for more of Katherine

Johnson’s life after the mission to the moon.  I did love her epilogue.