Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut Book

The first line in the book is I was naked, lying on my side on a table in the NASA Flight Medicine Clinic bathroom, probing at my rear end with the nozzle of an enema.

Yep, the Rocky Mountain News was sure right when they proclaimed, "This is not your father's astronaut memoir..."

I first learned about this book in Mary Roach's Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. Her words of advice ran something along the lines of if you read just one astronaut autobiography, make it this one.



Mike Mullane was one of a group of pilots, military and civilian specialists, the TFNGs or Thirty-Five New Guys, chosen in the late seventies for the brand-spanking new space shuttle program. Mullane uses a very joking, conversational tone that is a real pleasure to read. He admits that he and many of his colleagues were little more than sexist pigs when they started the program which included six women. To be fair, coming from military and aviation backgrounds, most of them had never had a female coworker. Their behavior was less than admirable. Though Sally Ride bristled at some of their antics, Judy Resnik became "one of the guys" and developed a great rapport with Mullane.

With Mullane as your guide, you will take a step-by-step ride through the intensive training process, from a ride on the Vomit Comet to a trip to the toilet trainer. (I won't go into any details here, but Mullane certainly does not hold back.)

Learn about the interminable wait for a flight assignment and then, sit in nervous anticipation through infuriating and nerve-wracking launch scrubs. (It's as great as being there, only you don't have to put on a diaper...unless you want to.)

Mullane finally made it into orbit on the 12th shuttle flight, the first mission for Discovery.


Bottom row: Mullane, Steve Hawley, Mike Coats, Hank Hartsfield / Back row: Charlie Walker, Judy Resnik

This was a wonderful, exhilarating trip from beginning to end, though it's not all fun and games. Mullane candidly discusses both the Challenger and Columbia tragedies and muses about steps that could have been taken to prevent them. He also speaks poignantly and with great affection for Resnik, who died with the other crew members of the Challenger.


Why are we fascinated by astronauts? Because they go places we will never go, see and experience things that we will never know, AND THEN, they come back down to earth and tell us about their adventures.

And, though a child growing up today probably has a better chance of becoming President than an astronaut, I hope there are still young boys and girls, standing in their back yards, looking skyward and dreaming of flying beyond the stars.

Because...