The Burning Blue

April 5, 2021
Journalist Cook (Ten Innings at Wrigley) delivers a crisp account of the January 1986 Challenger disaster focused on Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher selected to join a space mission. The “Teacher in Space” program, according to Cook, aimed to revive public interest in the space program and help President Reagan win teachers’ votes in the 1984 election. McAuliffe, a high school social studies instructor in New Hampshire, was picked from more than 11,000 applicants. She participated in a series of high-profile media interviews and spent four months training for the flight with six other crew members, who are also profiled in detail. Tasked with conducting science lessons from space that PBS “would beam to classrooms all over the country,” McAuliffe struggled to retain the necessary information (it wasn’t her field), but kept at it, determined to prove she was more than a publicity stunt. Cook ramps up tension with well-selected vignettes of final preparations for the launch, and lucidly describes the cause of the explosion (a faulty seal in a rocket booster), the subsequent investigations, and the lawsuits filed by surviving family members. But the brisk pace comes at the expense of a deeper portrayal of McAuliffe and her NASA experiences. Still, this is an informative overview of a preventable tragedy that looms large in the history of the space program. Illus.

May 1, 2021

In 1986, the United States watched as the Challenger space shuttle exploded seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members. Cook's book is a behind-the-scenes history of payload specialist and first teacher in space Christa McAuliffe, and the circumstances that led to the disaster. Unlike other books about the Challenger disaster that exclusively focus on the incident, this is a respectful biographical account of one of the non-astronauts on board. Using a plethora of primary and secondary sources, including personal interviews and shuttle operation manuals, Cook puts together the story of McAuliffe's life, why she wanted to go into space, and what happened after the incident. While Cook does offer details on the disaster and the commission to investigate it, the book's primary focus is the crew members and their families, which personalizes a pivotal moment in the history of NASA, space exploration, and the U.S. VERDICT A quick biographical account, placing the space shuttle in historical context, that will have YA crossover appeal. Readers will find something new even if they are familiar with the Challenger disaster.--Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2021
A 1986 space shuttle disaster killed seven crew members. Why? In 1984, when Ronald Reagan announced that he wanted to send a teacher into space, Christa McAuliffe, who taught high school social studies in Concord, New Hampshire, applied. From over 11,000 applicants, the upbeat, energetic 36-year-old mother of two was selected to join NASA's 25th space mission, scheduled to launch in January 1986. That mission ended in tragedy when the Challenger exploded, killing everyone aboard. Journalist Cook draws on NASA's archives, McAuliffe's correspondence and family papers, newspaper and TV reports, and interviews with scientists, astronauts, and crew members' families to create a fast-paced chronicle of the horrific event and its aftermath. McAuliffe's job, writes the author, was to conduct a few science lessons to be broadcast on PBS, keep a journal, prepare lesson plans for teachers, and, above all, serve as an inspiration for students. Unlike fellow crew member Judith Resnik, who had been American's second woman in space--after Sally Ride--when she flew in 1984, McAuliffe trained "to eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom in space" but not to interact with any of the 1,300 switches and dials on the flight deck. Cook conveys McAuliffe's optimistic spirit and occasional doubts as she embarked on her adventure, and he gives a brisk, tense recounting of the shuttle's final moments, during which the crew was likely to have remained alive for nearly three minutes until the exploded orbiter crashed into the sea. Beginning in February 1986, a presidential commission--including the skeptical physicist Richard Feynman--investigated the crash, albeit with a mandate from Reagan not to "embarrass NASA." Nevertheless, serious revelations emerged about what NASA knew about mechanical problems, how decisions were made, and why the launch proceeded despite unusually cold weather that compromised equipment. Considerable reforms followed, but not enough to prevent the crash of the Columbia, in 2003. A vivid, thoroughly researched space history.

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May 14, 2021
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger, carrying a crew of seven, including ""teacher in space"" Christa McAuliffe, exploded after takeoff. This was an event that shocked the nation and brought the space-shuttle program to a halt for more than two years. The how's and why's of the accident were painstakingly examined, with the ultimate cause assigned to the cold weather and its effect on the resiliency of two O-ring gaskets. Cook (Ten Innings at Wrigley, 2019) gives readers insight into the individuals involved, though he focuses on McAuliffe, a bright, personable representative of her profession, and of civilians in general, whose place on the crew was primarily for publicity purposes. While this is clearly and effectively written, there is no dramatic scoop revealed about the accident, though it will surely reignite interest in the topic.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.