![]() ![]() I don’t know whether this comforts me or disturbs me. I think of that time I almost flew an F-14 into the water and would have disappeared without a trace. The energy involved in a collision between two large objects at 35,000 miles per hour would be similar to that of a nuclear bomb. Our neurological systems would not even have had time to process the incoming data into conscious thought. Misha, Gennady, and I would have gone from grumbling to one another in our cold Soyuz to being blasted in a million directions as diffused atoms, all in the space of a millisecond. When I used to work on investigations of aircraft mishaps as a Navy test pilot, I would sometimes reflect that a crew might never have known that anything had gone wrong. When an aircraft flies into a mountain in bad weather, at five hundred miles per hour, there is little left to tell the story of what went wrong: this crash would have taken place at a speed seventy times that. “Later, as I reflect on the situation, I realize that if the satellite had in fact hit us, we probably wouldn’t even have known it. NATIONAL BESTSELLER The veteran of four space flights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have. The presidential commission that investigated the disaster recommended fixes to the solid rocket boosters, but more important, they recommended broad changes to the decision-making process at NASA, recommendations that changed the culture at NASA-at least for a while.”Įndurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery They knew nothing about the O-ring problems or the engineers’ warnings, and neither did the astronauts who were risking their lives. Those engineers’ recommendations were not only ignored, they were left out of reports sent to the higher-level managers who made the final decision about whether or not to launch. In a teleconference the night before Challenger’s launch, they had desperately tried to talk NASA managers into delaying the mission until the weather got warmer. Engineers working on the solid rocket boosters had raised concerns multiple times about the performance of the O-rings in cold weather. Scott Kelly believes, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” This checklist put Scott on a rocket that launched him into space, allowed him to break a record during his inspiring year aboard the International Space Station, and showed human beings the qualities needed to go from Earth to Mars–and beyond.“It wasn’t until years later that I understood that a management failure doomed Challenger as much as the O-ring failure. The grit and can-do spirit that enables you to get up every time you’re knocked down and fuels the power to meet each challenge head-on and then ask, “What’s next?” ![]() Finding the right book can unexpectedly change the course of your life by providing a dream and a road map for achieving it.Ĭourage? Check. Mastering skills that could mean the difference between life and death as a fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut takes bravery.Įndurance? Check. ![]() An identical twin brother who both cheers you on and eggs you on is the perfect motivator. How does a boy struggling in school become an American hero and a space pioneer?ĭaredevil behavior? Check. Whether it is sailing leaky boats in the Atlantic Ocean or joining an ambulance corps to race to the rescue, living on the edge is required behavior for an astronaut. ![]()
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