Seat of the pants stuff
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This is probably the best astronaut autobiography I have read with the possible exception of Michael Collin's book. Colonel Mike Mullane was the first generation of the space shuttle astronauts specifically selected to fly on the machine. His book is a no holds bared account of his time before and at NASA and the courage, terror and perhaps foolhardy nature it takes to ride into space on rocket which basically has no effective escape system. Personally I liked all the anecdotes that are scattered throughout the book, I particularly liked the way he described the meeting of two cultures, scientist astronaut and military astronaut. Having served in the infantry and being a scientist I can well appreciate the two would not initially get along. As Colonel Mullane describes he was a product of his environment, Vietnam veteran and survivor of a catholic school. However, the moral of his story and life education is the respect he developed for women who want a career and also people who are prepared to put their life on the line in pursuit of a common goal which is unobtainable to most. This is one of my selected `toilet' books and it is well thumbed companion. Friends who come to stay always get addicted when reading it and basically only emerge when nagged by their wives, who then get addicted to. Well worth the read.
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A no holds barred account of 80s NASA
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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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If you are interested in the US Space Program, then read this book.
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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 than what DID happen. But Mike's book is different. This is the story of what it's all about being an astronaut: nuts and bolts, human weaknesses, bureaucracy, chauvanism, fear, elation, reality. But above all the need to fly into space. If you were to read only one astronaut biography, then this should be it.
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the Bill Bryson of space travel
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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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The Best Astronaut Autobiography Ever!
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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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