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Sto caricando le informazioni... Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program (2007)di Pat Duggins
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Go behind the scenes of NASA's most visible program "NPR journalist Duggins reviews the 25-year saga of the shuttle missions, some of which have been shrouded in mystery, as astronauts took secret military payloads into space; others received worldwide attention and acclaim, as when the Hubble Space Telescope was restored to 20-20 vision. . . . A worthy addition to the recent torrent of books about the American space program."--Publishers Weekly "A story of lost dreams, new hopes, and the ongoing conquest of space."--Spaceflight "Provides a very personal look at America's manned space program from a veteran reporter who has covered the shuttle's ups and downs for more than 20 years."--Bill Harwood, CBS News "A refreshingly candid look at the U.S. space program at this crucial juncture. Duggins's enthusiasm for space flight enhances his ability to explore tough questions about NASA's ability to plan for its next giant leap."--David Brancaccio, Host of "NOW" on PBS "Artfully merges excellent reporting with great writing to chronicle the highs and lows of the Space Shuttle program, along with rare astronaut anecdotes about what it's really like to fly to space and back."--Craig Covault, senior editor, Aviation Week & Space Technology Magazine In Final Countdown,Pat Duggins chronicles the milestones, the setbacks, the breakthroughs, and the breakdowns of the Space Shuttle program. His unfiltered perspective is that of a journalist, but his passion, evident on every page, is that of a space enthusiast who grew up just south of Kennedy Space Center. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)629.454Technology Engineering and allied operations Other Branches Astronauts and Space Travel Manned space flightClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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Duggins' narrative has two great strengths: His ability to artfully summarize a complex story, and the fact that -- for much of the last two decades of shuttle operations -- he was there. The former becomes apparent when he's tracing the shuttle's origins: a story in which he shows how engineering, politics, and public relations created lofty expectations and vehicle that couldn't possibly fulfill them. For those readers who don't know the story it will be a revelation. The latter comes front and center when Duggins narrates the shuttle's role in constructing the International Space Station a project that, he persuasively argues, belatedly gave the shuttle a real purpose for the first time. It is even more apparent when Duggins describes the Columbia disaster. His low-key memories -- the wait beside a Florida runway, the growing worry as time passed, the text message that confirmed the worst -- are surprisingly gripping. The sentence "everyone's cell phones started going off" has never been so chilling.
The only significant flaw in this book is one largely beyond the author's control. Published in 2009, it is framed by chapters about Project Constellation, proposed during the George W. Bush administration as a follow-on to the shuttle and a stepping stone to the exploration of the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. The cancellation of Constellation in early 2010 leaves the book feeling instantly, profoundly dated. Like a book on American foreign policy published just before 9/11, the framing chapters of Final Countdown peer thoughtfully into a future that will never come to pass. The book as a whole, however, is valuable and likely to remain so. There is, simply, nothing else like it. For readers who unfamiliar with the shuttle, who want to know what it was all about, there is no better place to start.