Riding Rockets

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0743276833
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (432 download)

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Book Synopsis Riding Rockets by : Mike Mullane

Download or read book Riding Rockets written by Mike Mullane and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-02-06 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected as a Mission Specialist in 1978 in the first group of shuttle astronauts, Mike Mullane completed three missions and logged 356 hours aboard the Discovery and Atlantis shuttles. It was a dream come true. As a boy, Mullane could only read about space travel in science fiction, but the launch of Sputnik changed all that. Space flight became a possible dream and Mike Mullane set out to make it come true. In this absorbing memoir, Mullane gives the first-ever look into the often hilarious, sometime volatile dynamics of space shuttle astronauts - a class that included Vietnam War veterans, feminists, and propeller-headed scientists. With unprecedented candour, Mullane describes the chilling fear and unparalleled joy of space flight. As his career centred around the Challenger disaster, Mullane also recounts the heartache of burying his friends and colleagues. And he pulls no punches as he reveals the ins and outs of NASA, frank in his criticisms of the agency. A blast from start to finish, Riding Rockets is a straight-from-the-gut account of what it means to be an astronaut, just in time for this latest generation of stargazers.

The Ordinary Spaceman

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Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 0803277318
Total Pages : 460 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ordinary Spaceman by : Clayton C. Anderson

Download or read book The Ordinary Spaceman written by Clayton C. Anderson and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2015-06 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's it like to travel at more than 850 MPH, riding in a supersonic T-38 twin turbojet engine airplane? What happens when the space station toilet breaks? How do astronauts "take out the trash" on a spacewalk, tightly encapsulated in a space suit with just a few layers of fabric and Kevlar between them and the unforgiving vacuum of outer space? The Ordinary Spaceman puts you in the flight suit of U.S. astronaut Clayton C. Anderson and takes you on the journey of this small-town boy from Nebraska who spent 167 days living and working on the International Space Station, including nearly forty hours of space walks. Having applied to NASA fifteen times over fifteen years to become an astronaut before his ultimate selection, Anderson offers a unique perspective on his life as a veteran space flier, one characterized by humility and perseverance. From the application process to launch aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, from serving as a family escort for the ill-fated Columbia crew in 2003 to his own daily struggles--family separation, competitive battles to win coveted flight assignments, the stress of a highly visible job, and the ever-present risk of having to make the ultimate sacrifice--Anderson shares the full range of his experiences. With a mix of levity and gravitas, Anderson gives an authentic view of the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies of life as a NASA astronaut.

The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (387 download)

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Book Synopsis The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle by : Patrick Mullane

Download or read book The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle written by Patrick Mullane and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-18 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While many children grow up with the dream of becoming an astronaut, Patrick Mullane grew up the child of one. In The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle: Growing Up an Astronaut's Kid in the Glorious 80s, Mullane shares his unique and outrageous coming-of-age tale. It is a tale about his father's unusual astronaut profession, a secret long-held by his mother, and his often-hilarious efforts to be a person of consequence. In 1978, when Mullane was ten years old, his father, Mike Mullane, was chosen in the very first group of space shuttle astronauts - a group that included Sally Ride and four members of the Challenger crew who were lost when it tore apart in 1986. In The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle, he tells of how his father's profession defined him, first as a young boy hopping from military base to military base with his parents and two sisters, and then as a pimple-faced, unknown nerd in a large Houston high school where he often felt like one of the pathetic underdog characters in a John Hughes film of the day. The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle is about Mullane trying to be a hero in his own world as he believed his father and his pop culture idols - Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker - were in theirs. While unequivocally a memoir, Mullane weaves into his story a non-technical history of the early space shuttle program as seen through the eyes of somebody who witnessed that history in an intimate way. From the opening scene describing his dad's first launch attempt when a failure led Mullane to believe he had witnessed his father's death three miles distant, to the description of the day Challenger exploded and three of his high school classmates lost a parent, to stories of Sally Ride having a beer after work in his backyard, Mullane shares with readers a perspective that has yet to be explored in any book and does so with an infusion of 80s pop culture and colorful real-life characters that will leave readers nostalgic for a decade that shaped the millions. But more than anything, The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle is a story of the love between a father and son - a love shaped by a mutual wonder at the magnificence of the world, the majesty of the universe, and the beauty of flight.

Astronaut Maker

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Publisher : Chicago Review Press
ISBN 13 : 1613737033
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (137 download)

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Book Synopsis Astronaut Maker by : Michael Cassutt

Download or read book Astronaut Maker written by Michael Cassutt and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2018-08-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most elusive and controversial figures in NASA's history, George W. S. Abbey was called "the Dark Lord," "the Godfather," and "UNO" (unidentified NASA official) by those within NASA. From young pilot and wannabe astronaut to engineer, bureaucrat, and finally director of the Johnson Space Center ("mission control"), Abbey's story has never been fully told—until now. This fascinating account takes readers inside NASA to learn the real story of how Abbey rose to power and wielded it out of the spotlight. Informed by countless hours of interviews with Abbey and his family, friends, adversaries, and former colleagues, The Astronaut Maker is the ultimate insider's account of ambition and power politics at NASA.

Go for Orbit

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Publisher : Your Space Press
ISBN 13 : 9780996217811
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (178 download)

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Book Synopsis Go for Orbit by : Seddon

Download or read book Go for Orbit written by Seddon and published by Your Space Press. This book was released on 2015-05-25 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book features the memoirs of Dr. Rhea Seddon, beginning with her selection as an Astronaut and covering her 19 years with NASA.

Do Your Ears Pop in Space? and 500 Other Surprising Questions about Space Travel

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Author :
Publisher : Wiley
ISBN 13 : 9780471154044
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (54 download)

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Book Synopsis Do Your Ears Pop in Space? and 500 Other Surprising Questions about Space Travel by : R. Mike Mullane

Download or read book Do Your Ears Pop in Space? and 500 Other Surprising Questions about Space Travel written by R. Mike Mullane and published by Wiley. This book was released on 1997-02-05 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An excellent reference. This book has to be on the shelf of everyspace buff." --James Lovell, Commander, Apollo 13. Get the inside story on outer space from three-time shuttleastronaut R. Mike Mullane. "A fascinating collection of honest, factual, from-the-heartanswers to the most often asked questions about spaceflight andspacefliers. Required reading for all who aspire to travel inspace." --Kathy Thornton, 4-mission Shuttle Astronaut, World RecordHolder for Spacewalks by a Woman. "A brilliant addition to the understanding of space flight. Only aman who has been there--outer space--and done that--fly the SpaceShuttle--could render the complexities of flying in space solucidly." --Walter J. Boyne, Colonel, USAF (Ret.), Former Director,National Air and Space Museum. "A highly informative inside view of what astronauts reallyexperience in space." --Ed Buckbee, Former Director, U.S. Space& Rocket and U.S. Space Camp. "All astronauts have been peppered with great questions. MikeMullane has great answers." --Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, U.S.Navy (Ret.), Columbia 1981, Challenger 1983, NASA Administrator1989-1992.

Rocket Men

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Author :
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0812988728
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (129 download)

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Book Synopsis Rocket Men by : Robert Kurson

Download or read book Rocket Men written by Robert Kurson and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The riveting inside story of three heroic astronauts who took on the challenge of mankind’s historic first mission to the Moon, from the bestselling author of Shadow Divers. “Robert Kurson tells the tale of Apollo 8 with novelistic detail and immediacy.”—Andy Weir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian and Artemis By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the Moon by President Kennedy’s end-of-decade deadline, and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the Moon—in just four months. And it would all happen at Christmas. In a year of historic violence and discord—the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago—the Apollo 8 mission would be the boldest, riskiest test of America’s greatness under pressure. In this gripping insider account, Robert Kurson puts the focus on the three astronauts and their families: the commander, Frank Borman, a conflicted man on his final mission; idealistic Jim Lovell, who’d dreamed since boyhood of riding a rocket to the Moon; and Bill Anders, a young nuclear engineer and hotshot fighter pilot making his first space flight. Drawn from hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews with the astronauts, their loved ones, NASA personnel, and myriad experts, and filled with vivid and unforgettable detail, Rocket Men is the definitive account of one of America’s finest hours. In this real-life thriller, Kurson reveals the epic dangers involved, and the singular bravery it took, for mankind to leave Earth for the first time—and arrive at a new world. “Rocket Men is a riveting introduction to the [Apollo 8] flight. . . . Kurson details the mission in crisp, suspenseful scenes. . . . [A] gripping book.”—The New York Times Book Review

Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station MIR

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Author :
Publisher : McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN 13 : 9780071378628
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (786 download)

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Book Synopsis Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station MIR by : Jerry M. Linenger

Download or read book Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station MIR written by Jerry M. Linenger and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2000-01-13 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An engrossing report.”—Booklist “Vividly captures the challenges and privations [Dr. Linenger] endured both before and during his flight.”—Library Journal Nothing on earth compares to Off the Planet—Dr. Jerry Linenger’s dramatic account of space exploration turned survival mission during his 132 days aboard the decaying and unstable Russian space station Mir. Not since Apollo 13 has an American astronaut faced so many catastrophic malfunctions and life-threatening emergencies in one mission. In his remarkable narrative, Linenger chronicles power outages that left the crew in complete darkness, tumbling out of control; chemical leaks and near collisions that threatened to rupture Mir’s hull; and most terrifying of all—a raging fire that almost destroyed the space station and the lives of its entire crew.

We Have Capture

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Author :
Publisher : Smithsonian Institution
ISBN 13 : 1588344355
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (883 download)

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Book Synopsis We Have Capture by : Thomas P. Stafford

Download or read book We Have Capture written by Thomas P. Stafford and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What an amazing career. Tom Stafford attained the highest speed ever reached by a test pilot (28,547 mph), carried a cosmonaut’s coffin with Soviet Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, led the team that designed the sequence of missions leading to the original lunar landing, and drafted the original specifications for the B-2 stealth bomber on a piece of hotel stationery. But his crowning achievement was surely his role as America’s unofficial space ambassador to the Soviet Union during the darkest days of the Cold War. In this lively memoir written with Michael Cassutt, Stafford begins by recounting his early successes as a test pilot, Gemini and Apollo astronaut, and USAF general. As President Nixon's stand-in at the 1971 Soviet funeral for three cosmonauts, he opened the door to the possibility of cooperation in space between Russians and Americans. Stafford's Apollo-Soyuz team was the first group of Americans to work at the cosmonaut training center, and also the first to visit Baikonur, the top-secret Soviet launch center, in 1974. His 17 July 1975 “handshake in space” with Soviet commander Alexei Leonov (who became a lifelong friend) proved to the world that the two opposing countries could indeed work successfully together. Stafford has continued in this leadership role right up to the present, participating in designing and evaluating the Space Shuttle, Mir, and the International Space Station. He is truly an American hero who personifies the broadest spirit of exploration and cooperation.

Truth, Lies, and O-Rings

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Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813047013
Total Pages : 1075 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Truth, Lies, and O-Rings by : Allan J. McDonald

Download or read book Truth, Lies, and O-Rings written by Allan J. McDonald and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2012-03-11 with total page 1075 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals, including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation’s collective memory. In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center. As he fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster, he was the only one targeted for retribution by both NASA and his employer, Morton Thiokol, Inc., makers of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters. In this whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book, McDonald, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James R. Hansen, addresses all of the factors that led to the accident, some of which were never included in NASA's Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission. Truth, Lies, and O-Rings is the first look at the Challenger tragedy and its aftermath from someone who was on the inside, recognized the potential disaster, and tried to prevent it. It also addresses the early warnings of very severe debris issues from the first two post-Challenger flights, which ultimately resulted in the loss of Columbia some fifteen years later.

The Red Rockets' Glare

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521897602
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (218 download)

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Book Synopsis The Red Rockets' Glare by : Asif A. Siddiqi

Download or read book The Red Rockets' Glare written by Asif A. Siddiqi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-26 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An academic study on the birth of the Soviet space program, situating the birth of cosmic enthusiasm within Russian and Soviet history.

Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1956763007
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (567 download)

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Book Synopsis Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars by : Eileen M. Collins

Download or read book Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars written by Eileen M. Collins and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long-awaited memoir of a trailblazer and role model who is telling her story for the first time. Eileen Collins was an aviation pioneer her entire career, from her crowning achievements as the first woman to command an American space mission as well as the first to pilot the space shuttle to her early years as one of the Air Force’s first female pilots. She was in the first class of women to earn pilot’s wings at Vance Air Force Base and was their first female instructor pilot. She was only the second woman pilot admitted to the Air Force’s elite Test Pilot Program at Edwards Air Force Base. NASA had such confidence in her skills as a leader and pilot that she was entrusted to command the first shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster, returning the US to spaceflight after a two-year hiatus. Since retiring from the Air Force and NASA, she has served on numerous corporate boards and is an inspirational speaker about space exploration and leadership. Eileen Collins is among the most recognized and admired women in the world, yet this is the first time she has told her story in a book. It is a story not only of achievement and overcoming obstacles but of profound personal transformation. The shy, quiet child of an alcoholic father and struggling single mother, who grew up in modest circumstances and was an unremarkable student, she had few prospects when she graduated from high school, but she changed her life to pursue her secret dream of becoming an astronaut. She shares her leadership and life lessons throughout the book with the aim of inspiring and passing on her legacy to a new generation.

Rise of the Rocket Girls

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Author :
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 0316338915
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (163 download)

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Book Synopsis Rise of the Rocket Girls by : Nathalia Holt

Download or read book Rise of the Rocket Girls written by Nathalia Holt and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The riveting true story of the women who launched America into space. In the 1940s and 50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible. For the first time, Rise of the Rocket Girls tells the stories of these women -- known as "human computers" -- who broke the boundaries of both gender and science. Based on extensive research and interviews with all the living members of the team, Rise of the Rocket Girls offers a unique perspective on the role of women in science: both where we've been, and the far reaches of space to which we're heading. "If Hidden Figures has you itching to learn more about the women who worked in the space program, pick up Nathalia Holt's lively, immensely readable history, Rise of the Rocket Girls." -- Entertainment Weekly

Handprints on Hubble

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262355949
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis Handprints on Hubble by : Kathryn D. Sullivan

Download or read book Handprints on Hubble written by Kathryn D. Sullivan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first American woman to walk in space recounts her experience as part of the team that launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained the Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the universe. It has, among many other achievements, revealed thousands of galaxies in what seemed to be empty patches of sky; transformed our knowledge of black holes; found dwarf planets with moons orbiting other stars; and measured precisely how fast the universe is expanding. In Handprints on Hubble, retired astronaut Kathryn Sullivan describes her work on the NASA team that made all this possible. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, recounts how she and other astronauts, engineers, and scientists launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained Hubble, the most productive observatory ever built. Along the way, Sullivan chronicles her early life as a “Sputnik Baby,” her path to NASA through oceanography, and her initiation into the space program as one of “thirty-five new guys.” (She was also one of the first six women to join NASA’s storied astronaut corps.) She describes in vivid detail what liftoff feels like inside a spacecraft (it’s like “being in an earthquake and a fighter jet at the same time”), shows us the view from a spacewalk, and recounts the temporary grounding of the shuttle program after the Challenger disaster. Sullivan explains that “maintainability” was designed into Hubble, and she describes the work of inventing the tools and processes that made on-orbit maintenance possible. Because in-flight repair and upgrade was part of the plan, NASA was able to fix a serious defect in Hubble’s mirrors—leaving literal and metaphorical “handprints on Hubble.” Handprints on Hubble was published with the support of the MIT Press Fund for Diverse Voices.

Red Sky

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Professional
ISBN 13 : 9781569011119
Total Pages : 446 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (111 download)

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Book Synopsis Red Sky by : Mike Mullane

Download or read book Red Sky written by Mike Mullane and published by Bloomsbury Professional. This book was released on 1993 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intriguing thriller written with first-hand experience by Astronaut Mullane.

The Starship and the Canoe

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Author :
Publisher : Mountaineers Books
ISBN 13 : 168051279X
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (85 download)

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Book Synopsis The Starship and the Canoe by : Kenneth Brower

Download or read book The Starship and the Canoe written by Kenneth Brower and published by Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Starship and the Canoe is neither a wilderness survival manual nor a book of blueprints. It is another of those rare books impossible to define: the kind that seeks you in time. And you will know it, live it, and consult it thereafter simply by name.” --Chicago Sun-Times “Brower’s superbly written book clutches at one’s imagination.” --Publishers Weekly “In the tradition of Carl Sagan and John McPhee, a bracing cerebral voyage past intergalactic hoopla and backwoods retreats.” --Kirkus Reviews Originally published in 1978, The Starship and the Canoe is the remarkable story of a father and son: Freeman Dyson is a world-renowned astrophysicist who dreams of exploring the heavens and has designed a spaceship to take him there. His son George, a brilliant high school dropout, lives in a treehouse and is designing a giant kayak to explore the icy coastal wilderness of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Author Kenneth Brower describes with stunning impact their lives and their visions of the world. It is a timeless tale framed by modern science, adventure, family, and the natural world.

Esperanza Rising (Scholastic Gold)

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Author :
Publisher : Scholastic Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0545532345
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (455 download)

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Book Synopsis Esperanza Rising (Scholastic Gold) by : Pam Muñoz Ryan

Download or read book Esperanza Rising (Scholastic Gold) written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A modern classic for our time and for all time-this beloved, award-winning bestseller resonates with fresh meaning for each new generation. Perfect for fans of Kate DiCamillo, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Rita Williams-Garcia. Pura Belpre Award Winner * "Readers will be swept up." -Publishers Weekly, starred review Esperanza thought she'd always live a privileged life on her family's ranch in Mexico. She'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home filled with servants, and Mama, Papa, and Abuelita to care for her. But a sudden tragedy forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp. Esperanza isn't ready for the hard work, financial struggles brought on by the Great Depression, or lack of acceptance she now faces. When Mama gets sick and a strike for better working conditions threatens to uproot their new life, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances--because Mama's life, and her own, depend on it.