- Mullane, Mike.
Riding Rockets.
New York: Scribner, 2006.
ISBN 0-7432-7682-5.
-
Mike Mullane
joined NASA in 1978, one of the first group of astronauts recruited
specifically for the space shuttle program. An Air Force veteran of
134 combat missions in Vietnam as back-seater in the
RF-4C
reconnaissance version of the Phantom fighter (imperfect eyesight
disqualified him from pilot training), he joined NASA as a mission
specialist and eventually flew on three shuttle missions:
STS-41D in
1984,
STS-27
in 1988, and
STS-36
in 1990, the latter two classified
Department of Defense missions for which he was twice awarded the
National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. (Receipt of this medal
was, at the time, itself a secret, but was declassified after the
collapse of the Soviet Union. The work for which the medals were
awarded remains secret to this day.)
As a mission specialist, Mullane never maneuvered the shuttle in space
nor landed it on Earth, nor did he perform a spacewalk, mark any
significant “first” in space exploration or establish any
records apart from being part of the crew of STS-36 which flew the
highest inclination (62°) orbit of any human spaceflight so far.
What he has done here is write one of the most enlightening,
enthralling, and brutally honest astronaut memoirs ever published, far
and away the best describing the shuttle era. All of the realities of
NASA in the 1980s which were airbrushed out by Public Affairs Officers
with the complicity of an astronaut corps who knew that to speak to an
outsider about what was really going on would mean they'd never get
another flight assignment are dealt with head-on: the dysfunctional,
intimidation- and uncertainty-based management culture, the gap
between what astronauts knew about the danger and unreliability of the
shuttle and what NASA was telling Congress and public, the conflict
between battle-hardened military astronauts and perpetual student
post-docs recruited as scientist-astronauts, the shameless toadying to
politicians, and the perennial over-promising of shuttle capabilities
and consequent corner-cutting and workforce exhaustion. (Those of
a libertarian bent might wish they could warp back in time,
shake the author by the shoulders, and remind him, “Hey dude,
you're working for a government agency!”)
The realities of flying a space shuttle mission are described without
any of the sugar-coating or veiled references common in other
astronaut accounts, and always with a sense of humour. The
deep-seated dread of strapping into an experimental vehicle with four
million pounds of explosive fuel and no crew escape system is
discussed candidly, along with the fact that, while universally shared
by astronauts, it was, of course, never hinted to outsiders, even
passengers on the shuttle who were told it was a kind of very fast,
high-flying airliner. Even if the shuttle doesn't kill you, there's
still the toilet to deal with, and any curiosity you've had about that
particular apparatus will not outlast your finishing this book (the on-orbit
gross-out prank on p. 179 may be too much even for
“South Park”).
Barfing in space and
the curious and little-discussed effects of microgravity on the male
and female anatomy which may someday contribute mightily to the
popularity of orbital tourism are discussed in graphic detail. A
glossary of NASA jargon and acronyms is included but there is no
index, which would be a valuable addition.
February 2006 