The Truth About Challenger

By Randy Avera

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932258000
• ISBN13: 9781932258004
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Randolph Pub
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.3"
• Age Range: 10 years and up

Customer Reviews

Great book

The book is well written. Randy Avera made a great job to describe his feeling about the Challenger Tragedy.

Probably not what you think it is.

When I first spied this book on Challenger at an airport gift shop while heading home from STS-114's first launch scrub. I was intrigued, but reluctant to buy it. The reason was that I figured that everything that could have been written about Challenger had been after nearly two decades since the accident. I also was reluctant to re-experience some feelings that I hadn't experienced since I was a starry-eyed high school age kid who found out the Challenger was destroyed in 1986 and the similar feelings I had when I heard about Columbia. The title to me also sounded like a tabloid headline. But, after browsing the synopsis, recommendations on the back and a couple chapters, I decided to buy it and I am very glad I did. Randy Avera was a KSC engineer involved with the handling, mission preparation and checkout of shuttle orbiters between their missions. Since he wasn't directly involved with Challenger's STS-51L launch preparations, he was selected to help with the accident investigation and this book chronicles his involvement and the findings of the investigation (as well as his own findings about issues that weren't written in the final report). He was there from day one to the end when Challenger's remains were finally buried. It can be a very emotional ride at times. But considering how the NASA community and the workers at KSC put their heart and soul into the shuttle program among the long hours, you get a perspective as to just how gut wrenching it was back in 1986 when NASA suffered its first fatal tragedy since Apollo 1. For many of these people, they had to get on with the process of finding what happened first while finding time to grieve later. This book provides an inside account of the investigation and helps to counter many of the myths that have popped up about Challenger over the years. Some readers might be critical of the author's quoting of several pages from the Rogers Commission reports, but it is helpful to have those words provided here without editing in order to understand the conclusions being made since the author lays it all out for the reader to digest. This isn't the kind of story that one might find in a Readers' Digest condensed novel. The book also provides an excellent glimpse into the lives of those who work on the hardware from a day to day basis. Many books have been written about astronauts, NASA policy and the pioneers on the space program. But, practically none have been written about the people who work at KSC, doing their jobs to keep the hardware flying. They have a story to tell as well and it is usually one that is only found in programs on PBS and the Discovery Channel. The book can be a little preachy in spots as it also addresses the damage that we still have today to the space program as perceived by the public after Challenger (and Columbia for that matter). The author provides some interesting ideas as to how to help get our nation back on track to explore space and making it interesting

a must read

A compelling first-person account of the circumstances surrounding the Challenger tragedy. Randy Avera's role in the investigation gives the reader an insider's perspective and uncovers the real causes. It's a wonder this book wasn't published sooner, considering the importance of what it reveals. A well-written story with stunning implications.