Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space Book

Foreword vii

Prologue: "Go" or "No-Go" 1

Part I A Flying Career

1 From Cartersville to Georgia Tech 9

2 Gunnery Officer to Naval Aviator 23

3 Fighter Pilot to Test Pilot 32

4 Pax River 42

Part II Into Orbit

5 The New Nine and Project Gemini 57

6 Countdown 71

7 Three Orbits 79

8 Dual Rendezvous 86

Part III Lunar Journeys

9 From a Fire to the Moon 111

10 Call Sign Charlie Brown 125

11 From Tranquility to a Lost Moon 140

12 To the Descartes Highlands 152

13 In the Briar Patch 172

14 The End of Moon Landings 191

Part IV The Shuttle Era

15 Enterprise 213

16 "The Boldest Test Flight in History" 223

17 Advent of the "Operational" Shuttle 240

18 A Steep Spiral Staircase 254

19 The Challenger Disaster 272

20 A Mountain of Memos 295

21 "The Next Logical Step" 320

22 On a Wing and a Prayer 332

Epilogue: When Worlds Collide 356

Abbreviations 375

Notes 379

Index 403