5 grim haunting stars

“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."

another remarkable piece of narrative nonfiction by Adam Higginbotham. i think there are chapters in the first two parts of this book "the last man on the moon" and "the high frontier" that could have been parsed down -slightly- (slightlyyyy) and i think this book is lacking a chapter or two on the success of apollo 11 and the disaster of apollo 13, as i think both are relevant to the culture of the industry that this book unpacks. but I understand that doing so would have been a massive undertaking, as both events deserve 500 page books of their own. anyway.

i read this book primarily via audiobook, similar to how I read Midnight in Chernobyl. once again Jacques Roy provides incredible narration, and I would highly recommend the listening experience. I do wish I had read the book visually for only one reason- there are so many choice quotes i wish i could have flagged and underlined. that's a task for a future re-read.

just like Midnight in Chernobyl, Higginbotham perfectly captures the black humour that pervades these risk laden industries. not that there are massive portions of this book that are ~funny~ but Higginbotham excels at portraying the horrific absurdity of what is going on. there are so many instances where I am gob smacked by the events unfolding on the page, and even more times where i felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest.

people use the phrase 'doomed by the narrative' all the time. it's a fascinating trope, but i don't know how many of us have experienced it in nonfiction. this book could be shelved with horror.

The crew of Challenger is alive and vibrant on the page. At the end of the second part of the book, when the next chapter read out a date in January 1986, my stomach dropped. It was time. the third part of this novel "the face of god" expertly takes the reader through the challenger disaster and it's aftermath, one brutal, unforgiving chapter at a time.

Higginbotham beautifully brought the seven crew members: Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe, to life on the page. We follow them and their families through their lives and careers up until the morning of January 28, 1986, and through the aftermaths of their deaths. I had not been aware of the likelihood that some or all of the crew was alive upon the cabin's impact with the Atlantic Ocean, a piece of information that makes the situation all the more sickening.

And sickening, is probably the most appropriate word for how much of this book feels. There is no silver lining. There is no hopeful footnote. NASA did not learn from this disaster, and seven more astronauts were killed when Columbia came apart upon re-entry, just days after the 17th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, and the 36th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire. The crew of Columbia held a moment of silence for the ten deceased astronauts that came before them, unknowingly seated in their own tomb.

and what is NASA up to now? I could look it up, I suppose. but off the top of my head, I can't think of anything too interesting. I am a lover of space. If it weren't for my tragic inability to comprehend math, I likely would have pursued an education in a field that would allow me to study the stars. this book is a grounding reminder of the cost of the fantasy of humans in space, and i think everyone who dreamt of being an astronaut as a kid should read it. the romantic dream of touching the stars is just as marred by institutional horrors as anything else, and finishing this book leaves me feeling cynical. especially now that spaceflight has predominantly fallen into the hands of outrageous, billionaire, tech personalities. fuck it! let's not go. mars can't possibly be that interesting.

despite the humanity displayed on the page for the crew of challenger and their families, this book is fairly cruel. you spend hundreds of pages racing towards disaster, watching countless dominoes fall taking you exactly where you knew you'd go, but you're still shocked to find yourself there. the aftermath provides no respite, the epilogue nothing but simple facts about the lives of those touched by challenger. Higginbotham will not hold your hand through the grim ending of this story. I don't get the sense he is particularly inspired about the future of human spaceflight either. a more forgiving story might have closed on the success of the ISS, or speculated on what the future might hold. no. this book ends in mission control on February 1, 2003 with the flight director telling mission control to prepare for dealing with the aftermath of the disaster and to "Lock the doors."

and rightly so. not every story has silver linings. seven people died in a preventable tragedy. the appropriate lessons were not learned. seven more people died. NASA has never recovered. the novel is riveting, fascinating, and likely something I will revisit. the hopes and dreams of the astronauts on the page are inspiring. but this is an upsetting read. it's very worthwhile, but it was damned hard.

(copied my review over from goodreads)

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

great overview of challenger disaster

This is a very solid book. Really great for those interested in aerospace, engineering, and also bureaucracy and organizations. The author did a great job of making the material interesting and fairly easy to understand. Minor negative is that being an audiobook I found it hard to keep track of all the names. Def recommended.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Well researched

A well researched engrossing account of the path to the Challlenger disaster. Could not put it down. Well done

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Riveting and Heartwrenching

Much like the Netflix docuseries which came out early this year, Higgenbotham's efforts to bring the people of Challenger (not only the crew but those close to them and the others at the heart of the program) to life as vivid human beings makes the tension, urgency and anguish of the story that is being told all the more wrenching. I am too young to have been alive for Challenger, and I just barely remember Columbia, but works like these make tangible what it must have been like to have that day, those images, seared into your heart and mind forever, and to have that be a shared experience. The narrative draws clear parallels to the hubris of Apollo 1 by starting its tale with The Fire, then brings you close not only to the doomed shuttle astronauts and their families, but also to characters such as George Abbey who dotes on his astronauts as the eccentric program director, and the individual Thiacol employees trying desperately behind the scenes to sound an alarm bell nobody wants to hear ring. You go in knowing how the story ends, and you still end up feeling like surely, somebody can still do something, somebody can stop it, it's not too late! The desperate tension and frustration of a doomed narrative moving forward. That it ends touching on the Columbia disaster left me wishing for a book-length exploration of similar depth into that mission, too, and its own doomed narrative. Perhaps that can be Higgenbotham's next project. Great narration as well, it took a bit to warm up to but once you can pick out the subtle shifts in Roy's tone you really start to enjoy the way he delivers it. Highly recommend the whole thing.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!