Scan barcode
A review by kathywadolowski
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Adam Higginbotham leaves absolutely no stone unturned in his exploration of the failings that led to the Challenger disaster. In fact he goes much further than that, detailing the long history of failures, tragedies, oversights, and just plain bad decisions that preceded it and even followed it. And even though you already know the outcome of the Challenger flight before you've even cracked the spine, somehow Higginbotham still manages to build the suspense to an almost unbearable level. How, sir, did you have me hoping that the shuttle would launch without a hitch???
Through his narrative, it becomes so painfully clear (and clearly tragic) just how avoidable the Challenger explosion was. So what happened? I think the short answer is hubris. The (mostly) men of NASA had higher-than-sky-high hopes for what was achievable, and by the skin of its teeth NASA had mostly always been able to pull off incredible feats. And these feats, while honestly probably mostly flukey, reinforced the idea that every undertaking was predestined and essentially couldn't fail. And by the time administrators—and not just those of NASA, but the engineers of Morton-Thiokol as well—realized how wrong this attitude was, it was far too late.
There are a LOT of reasons to pick up this book: if you're interested in the mechanics of space travel or the workings of NASA; you appreciate a cautionary tale about the dangers of pride and ego, or an inspirational but also kind-of-depressing tale about those who speak up in the face of HARSH pressure from above; you want to read about American heroes AND VILLAINS; or you like learning (in general) about major moments in American history (specific). This book covers all of that and much more, and your emotions will truly run the gamut throughout. 5 stars.
Through his narrative, it becomes so painfully clear (and clearly tragic) just how avoidable the Challenger explosion was. So what happened? I think the short answer is hubris. The (mostly) men of NASA had higher-than-sky-high hopes for what was achievable, and by the skin of its teeth NASA had mostly always been able to pull off incredible feats. And these feats, while honestly probably mostly flukey, reinforced the idea that every undertaking was predestined and essentially couldn't fail. And by the time administrators—and not just those of NASA, but the engineers of Morton-Thiokol as well—realized how wrong this attitude was, it was far too late.
There are a LOT of reasons to pick up this book: if you're interested in the mechanics of space travel or the workings of NASA; you appreciate a cautionary tale about the dangers of pride and ego, or an inspirational but also kind-of-depressing tale about those who speak up in the face of HARSH pressure from above; you want to read about American heroes AND VILLAINS; or you like learning (in general) about major moments in American history (specific). This book covers all of that and much more, and your emotions will truly run the gamut throughout. 5 stars.