Book: Challenger
Author: Adam Higginbotham
Pages: 576
This is my 36th read for the year
What Amazon Says:
On January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds into flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 7 people on board. Millions of Americans witnessed the tragic deaths of the crew, which included New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Like the assassination of JFK, the Challenger disaster is a defining moment in 20th century history - one that forever changed the way America thought of itself and its optimistic view of the future. Yet the full story of what happened, and why, has never been told. Based on extensive archival research and meticulous, orginial reporting, Challenger follows a handful of central protagonsits - including each of the seven members of the doomed crew - through the years leading up to the accident, and offers a detailed account of the tragedy itself and the investigation afterward. It's a compelling tale of ambition and ingenuity undermined by political cynicism and cost-cutting in the interests of burnishing national prestige; or hubris and heroism; and of an investigation driven by leakers and whistleblowers determined to bring the truth to light. Throughout, there are the ominous warning signs of a tragedy to come, recognized but then ignored, and later hidden from the public. Higginbotham reveals the history of the shuttle program and the lives of men and women whosestories have been overshadowed by the disaster, as well as the disigners, engineers, and test pilots who struggled against the odds to get the first shuttle into space.
This was a good book. It is dense, but learning more about the personal lives of the Challenger fleet was worth the read. Reading up to the point of the disaster, and what it was like for their famlies, and then the search for survivors was hard to read. There are large stretches of this book that is technical and about trying to figure out who to blame, but overall - a good read.
Stars: 4
