Table of Contents

List of IllustrationsForewordPrefaceAcknowledgments1. The Feeling of Flying2. In the Beginning3. TFNG4. Getting Ready to Fly5. First Flight6. The Demonstration Flights7. Open for Business8. The Next Steps9. Science on the Shuttle10. Secret Missions11. People and Payloads12. The Golden Age13. To Touch the Face of GodSources

About the Author

David Hitt is the coauthor of Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story (Nebraska, 2008). Heather R. Smith has worked as an education writer for NASA. Bob Crippen is a NASA astronaut who piloted the first Space Shuttle flight.

Reviews

"Read this book to experience the Space Shuttle as it matured. Smith and Hitt tap sources that made this aerospace wonder's early history. You'll feel the needs and wants of those involved; the joys and sadness that came with conceiving, building, and flying this vehicle. It's a trip - I know." - Charles D. Walker, engineer, corporate executive, first commercial industry astronaut, STS-41D, STS-51D, STS-61B "Although the shuttle program has now run its course, this wonderful book brings back the awe, the inspiration, the promise, and the sadness associated with the early history of those magnificent vehicles and the teams of ground and flight crews that flew them." - Jerry L. Ross (Col., USAF, Ret.), NASA astronaut, STS-61B, -27, -37, -55, -74, -88, and -110 and author of Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer "A rich, engaging account of the first years of the Space Shuttle era, Bold They Rise recounts the development and pioneering missions of a truly magnificent flying machine that helped open the door to space for scientists such as myself." - Donald A. Thomas, NASA Astronaut, STS-65, STS-70, STS-83, and STS-94