Tag Archives: human space flight

Forever Young

Posted on July 20, 2023 by smellincoffee

If ever the title “Mr. Astronaut” was given out, it would not go to John Glenn, despite his being the posterboy of Mercury; it wouldn’t even go to Neil Armstrong, who fifty-four years ago today became the first human to … Continue reading →

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LAS prompt: fun facts

Posted on July 19, 2023 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is an interesting fact the blogger knows. In keeping with this week’s Space Camp theme, I’m going to throw some astronaut trivia atcha! And so, some astronaut fun facts from previous and current … Continue reading →

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Breaking the Chains of Gravity

Posted on July 18, 2023 by smellincoffee

Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA© 2016 Amy Shira Teitel304 pages You know the story. The scene: 1950s America. Everyone is drinking on the back patio in suburbia, dressed in cardigans or pearls and pastel … Continue reading →

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SPACE CAMP!!!!

Posted on July 17, 2023 by smellincoffee

Two years ago I decided to celebrate the anniversary of the lunar landing on July 20, 1969, with a week devoted to astronaut memoirs and space race histories. I enjoyed that so much I repeated it, and now here I … Continue reading →

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Fighting for Space

Posted on August 11, 2022 by smellincoffee

Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight© 2020 Amy Shira Teitel448 pages When the age of flight arrived,   women were as eager to take to the skies as men.  Fighting for Space is a … Continue reading →

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Handprints on Hubble

Posted on July 18, 2022 by smellincoffee

Handprints on Hubble(c) 2019 Kathryn D. Sullivan304 pages Handprints on Hubble is a unique astronaut memoir, in part because Dr. Sullivan is a scientist first and an astronaut second. Longing to explore, she began her academic life in oceanography before realizing … Continue reading →

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The Apollo Murders

Posted on July 15, 2022 by smellincoffee

The Apollo Murders(c) 2021 Chris Hadfield 480 pages It’s 1973, and the Apollo program is nearly at its end. One more mission is planned — but it won’t be the mission executed. Instead, the all-military crew of Apollo 18 will … Continue reading →

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The Burning Blue

Posted on July 14, 2022 by smellincoffee

The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster(c) 2021 Kevin Cook288 pages So fickle is the human mind that even Apollo could not keep the public terribly excited for very long after the first moon … Continue reading →

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Bringing Columbia Home

Posted on July 13, 2022 by smellincoffee

Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Shuttle and Her Crew(c) 2018 Michael Leinbach and Johnthan Ward400 pages On February 1st, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the skies above Texas and Louisiana, some sixteen minutes from … Continue reading →

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Soviets…..in Space

Posted on August 23, 2021 by smellincoffee

Soviets in Space: The People of the USSR and the Race to the Moon© 2021 Colin Turbett232 pages In 1959, Soviet Russia shocked the world, and especially its rival the United States, by launching an artificial satellite into orbit. Sputnik-I’s … Continue reading →

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