Dead Astronauts

Product Information

At the end of the mission, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Lyakhov and Afghan cosmonaut Abdul Ahad Mohmand undocked from Mir in the spacecraft Soyuz TM-5. NASA engineer Elmer Andrew Thomas, 69, of Titusville, FL suffered a heart attack while watching the Challenger disaster from a NASA viewing room. A young Irish couple gets together, splits up, gets together, splits up—sorry, can't tell you how it ends! The first African-American astronaut, selected for the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, was killed when his F-104 Starfighter jet crashed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, while practicing a series of high speed, quick descent landings with Major Harvey Royer as pilot in command.

There are hints at an explanation for what happens in the first half (possible childhood trauma, climate catastrophe, descent into madness). The 11-man launch crew did not realize that an oxygen leak from the missile's fuel system had raised the partial oxygen pressure to 32% (the maximum allowed was 21%). Astronauts have also died while training for space missions, such as the Apollo 1 launch pad fire that killed an entire crew of three. The writing, although perhaps in places somewhat experimental or unconventional, feels tight, well-crafted, and a true work of art. Hill, 22, fell more than 100 feet (30 m) from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B Service structure.

Lyakhov determined that they were not, in fact, out of alignment, and asserted that the problem was caused by conflicting signals picked up by the alignment sensors caused by solar glare. Great imagination, great descriptions that allow you to imagine everything on your own, great characters, and weird stuff. The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds after lift-off on STS-51-L at an altitude of 15 kilometers (49,000 ft).

I readily admit it's quite possible that I just didn't 'get' Dead Astronauts (I know it's the second of the Borne books, and I haven't read the first, so perhaps something important was divulged there (though I suspect not)) - but I honestly didn't have the feeling that there WAS anything to get. It’s a moment that brings to mind the queasy reality of the conscience-free leadership we find ourselves under day after day, where the phrase keeps being repeated, “The cruelty is the point. In a small park on the side of the road is a memorial monument: a black column with a bust of Komarov at the top. Worker disconnecting a coupling on a temporary pipe used to purge a liquid oxygen system near Launch Complex 37.

Pulaski Award given to Spaceport Integration Team: A memorial was also dedicated to two USFWS firefighters who perished on the Ransom Road Fire in June, 1981". If a second parachute had failed, the spacecraft would probably have been crushed on impact with the ocean, according to a NASA official.