This review of the Adam Higgenbotham’s Challenger book resembles my junior high school book reviews in that I have only read half the book. I am taking a break so I can see if I can go on, because I am taking this book too much to heart.
That must be because I am NASA-adjacent. My father Jerry started there during Apollo 8 and left after Apollo 13. (That’s why he was free to hang out on the beach in Galveston for three weeks: he was unemployed.)
Challenger, Chapter One: Actual explosion, seen through the eyes of the man narrating the flight. He was reciting the raw trajectory data from a screen, while the rest of the world was watching the Challenger spiral apart. So, setting the scene: oblivious NASA employee screws up.
“Well, fine,” I thought. “Get the painful stuff out of the way.” That’s how I viewed the Netflix 2020 documentary Challenger, the Final Flight, I started with episode 3 (the explosion), then 2 then 4 then 1, because I didn’t want them to manipulate me with rising tension.
So, the book begins with Chapter One: Explosion. As I say, get the painful stuff out of the way.
Challenger, Chapter Two: Apollo One.
I am not kidding you. and from there we are led by the hand through every single NASA fatality. If it isn’t a fatality, it’s s screw-up, or you are falling in love with one of the doomed shuttle crew.
So I’m halfway through, and I’m stopping. Just for a bit. It’s just too disheartening.