| Comm Check...: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia | 
 enlarge | List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $16.60
You Save: $0.35 (2%)
Buy New from $16.60
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 17 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1113008
Category: Book
Authors: Michael Cabbage, William Harwood
Publisher: Free Press
Studio: Free Press
Manufacturer: Free Press
Label: Free Press
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.9 x 1
ISBN: 1439101760
Dewey Decimal Number: 509
EAN: 9781439101766
ASIN: 1439101760
Publication Date: May 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
On February 1, 2003, the unthinkable happened. The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated 37 miles above Texas, seven brave astronauts were killed and America's space program, always an eyeblink from disaster, suffered its second catastrophic in-flight failure. Unlike the Challenger disaster 17 years earlier, Columbia's destruction left the nation one failure away from the potential abandonment of human space exploration. Media coverage in the immediate aftermath focused on the possible cause of the disaster, and on the nation's grief. But the full human story, and the shocking details of NASA's crucial mistakes, have never been told -- until now. Based on dozens of exclusive interviews, never-before-published documents and recordings of key meetings obtained by the authors, Comm Check takes the reader inside the conference rooms and offices where NASA's best and brightest managed the nation's multi-billion-dollar shuttle program -- and where they failed to recognize the signs of an impending disaster. It is the story of a space program pushed to the brink of failure by relentless political pressure, shrinking budgets and flawed decision making. The independent investigation into the disaster uncovered why Columbia broke apart in the sky above Texas. Comm Check brings that story to life with the human drama behind the tragedy. Michael Cabbage and William Harwood, two of America's most respected space journalists, are veterans of all but a handful of NASA's 113 shuttle missions. Tapping a network of sources and bringing a combined three decades of experience to bear, the authors provide a rare glimpse into NASA's inner circles, chronicling the agency's most devastating failure and the challenges that face NASA as it struggles to return America to space.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 A heart breaking account of a preventable disaster July 2, 2008
Having recently completed this book, I am saddened and outraged at NASA management for coming full circle. I have read several accounts and the offical Presidential report on the Challenger accident. You literally could swap dates and names and the events leading up to the disasters are identical.
Early on in this account, you quickly learn that no one in NASA was surprised by the events that took place that awful morning. It describes how managers at the landing facility at Kennedy immediately knew that the foam impact had destroyed the orbiter and killed its crew as they watched the families still oblivious to the situation, smiling and waiting on their now deceased loved ones.
As you read, you at first feel for the lower level engineers trying to have their concerns heard. Shortly, however, you find yourself screaming at them for not having the "fortitude" to break the protocol for fear of damaging their careers.
A couple very minor errors. A "this" instead of "his" or a "on" instead of "in" overall, a very educating account of the communication problems that exist(s) / (ed)? in NASA.
Wayne Hale summed it up best by comparing Columbia to Apollo 13 and Mission Controller Gene Kranz. "Everybody considers Kranz a hero because he and mission control saved the day, we never gave ourselves a chance."
 Excellent Read April 12, 2008
I can't say I enjoyed the book since it discusses the events leading to the deaths of seven astronauts but I did find it worth-while reading. The authors discuss the biographies of the seven astronauts and how their deaths impacted their families and friends as well as the technical and "cultural" failures that cause the Columbia's breakup during re-entry. I found it interesting that the same engineering thought processes of "perceived risk" that allowed the continued flying of Challenger despite known failures of the O-rings went into allowing the shuttle program to continue when the engineers (and management) knew dislodged foam struck the heat shields on the shuttles at liftoff without attempts to "fix" the problem (or, at least, determine if the falling foam formulated a safety hazard!). The authors conclude with the notice that the shuttle program terminates in 2010 without a manned space program to follow it because NASA has not created an acceptable (or even an unacceptable) replacement for the shuttle, which is based on 30 year old engineering. Congress has not allocated monies for continued development of a manned space program to continue beyond 2010 - so who supplies the International Space Station after 2010?
 An unfortunate Perspective October 13, 2006
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
A good, thorough analysis. It's unfortunate that the author(s) felt it unavoidable that they should fill the book with Christian propaganda. It really took away from the objectivity.
Solid but not Spectacular September 6, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Comm Check..." tells the story of the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. If you are expecting a top-level, academic analysis, like the one found in Diane Vaughan's "The Challenger Launch Decision", then this book is not for you. It is a well written book with lots of human interest anecdotes about the people and the organizations involved in the tragedy. It is factual and reasonably well organized but is written with a sense of drama that I found both distracting and unnecessary. At times, the continual stream of mini-biographies made it hard to follow the book's main theme. While interesting, I gained little from the litany of who went to which school and who had flown so-many thousands of hours in jet fighters. Even the the climactic chapter "Re-Entry Revisited" was light duty in terms of the technical information and overly dramatized events from the astronauts perspective.
If you are just starting to research events surrounding Columbia's loss or are simply interested in learning the whole story, this book is a good starting place. It provides the "big picture" in an easily understood fashion. However, it lacks the depth and comprehensive coverage that one would expect from a well done historical summary. Also, there is minimal analysis, of the events leading up to and following the loss of Columbia, beyond a superficial compilation of basic facts and the conclusions of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The few conclusions expressed by the authors are neither insightful nor motivating.
Excellent Read April 10, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Being a space nut, and being very impacted by the Columbia disaster, this book was exactly what I was looking for.
The writing style is smooth and segues between topics and people almost seamlessly. It covers the human side and also the technical nature of the issues that came together to create the accident that caused the loss of the shuttle and her crew.
By far the most emotional item for me was reading the detailed breakdown of what happened in the last 15 minutes of the mission. Hearing how the shuttle struggled as hard as it could to bring its crew home, and was just simply overcome by the stresses caused by the weakened left wing. I have read the entire CAIB report before and this book breaks down the final minutes of Columbia in a much more clear and to the point kind of way.
The book doesn't point blame but often infers blame on a few key managers in Nasa's space program and rightly so.
The shuttle program and history is very interesting to read about and this is a perfect addition to anyone's collection.
|
|
|
