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Title: Sixteen Minutes from Home: The Columbia Space Shuttle Tragedy by Mark Cantrell, Donald Vaughan ISBN: 1-932270-10-8 Publisher: AMI Books Pub. Date: March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A Human & Patriotic Account of the Columbia Tragedy
Comment: Sixteen Minutes from Home is a tribute to the crew members who lost their lives in the Columbia disaster and a sympathetic look at how the tragedy affected the families of the crew and the American public. It includes a brief history of NASA and the tragedies of the past (i.e. Challenger). For those who already know the basic information regarding the main events in America's program, there is nothing new in this book.
It begins with a description of the disaster and the media & public reaction. One interesting note is that, after the tragedy, Saddam Hussein said it was "God's way of punishing the United States for its aggressive action" (pg. 35). Less than a year later, he got his comeuppance. The authors describe the good and bad of public reaction (putting flowers on memorials to putting fallen debris on online auctions) and includes petty inaccuracies of the press that really have no business in the book (some t.v. anchor once called Buzz Aldrin "Buzz Armstrong," so what?). Following this chapter, the authors look at the cause of the accident (chapter 2), include brief bios of each of the Columbia STS-107 crew members (chapter 3), and a day-by-day account of the experiments conducted on the shuttle (chapter 4).
The final chapters of the book are a history of American space exploration and a look at the accidents and near-misses of Apollo 1, Apollo 13, Challenger, John Glenn in Friendship 7, Neil Armstrong in Gemini 8, and Soyuz 1 in the Soviet Union. The most valuable part of the book was the authors' excellent description of the heat absorbent tiles, the best I have read on the subject (pp. 143-46). It ends with a patriotic plea for Americans to continue their historical need to explore by moving forward to greater ventures (i.e. Mars).
The book is very sympathetic and patriotic and often does not give rational consideration to the topic. It is a Frederick Jackson Turner look at space as the new frontier that we, as Americans, have an insatiable, yet honorable, need to explore. Yes, but there are other things to consider besides our "go west, young man" roots. The book includes such lines as "America's tradition of exploration goes all the way back to its first inhabitants, who roamed the prairies in search for food and discovering new hunting lands" (pg. 210). I guess such traits are unique to Americans. There is nothing wrong with including optimistic, patriotic remarks in a book such as this; however, such gushing Americanism cause this book to wobble the fine line between a touching tribute to exploitation. Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there but the book is reasonably priced so, if you are interested in it, give it a try and judge for yourself. The book is 235 pages with a list of NASA-related websites, a space program timeline, the names on the wall of remembrance, and a section of photos of all the crew members, the shuttle, and aftermath.
Rating: 1
Summary: CHEAP EXPLOITATION OF A TRAGEDY
Comment: Nothing new to be learned from this book. It reads like something the author rushed out shortly after the tragedy to capitalize on the grief of the nation.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Sad Day In Febuary is explained in this book
Comment: The Shuttle Columbia ( STS-107) was on its way back to florida when it exploded over texas. It killed its 7 astronauts. The are:
1.Michael Anderson
2.Kalpana Chawla
3.Laurel Clark
4.David Brown
5.Rick Husband
6.Ilan Ramon
7.Willaim Macool
This book expalins all about the disaster. It was caused by a foam that hit the left wing on launch. The foam came from the External Fuel Tannk.
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