Review by Booklist Review
Here's the story of the recovery of the remains of the space shuttle Columbia, told by the man who spearheaded the effort. Leinbach was the director of NASA's space shuttle program in 2003, when the Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Along with coauthor Ward, he chronicles, in this gripping and dramatic book, the massive undertaking that was involved in finding the remains of the shuttle, and he notes throughout the enormous toll that the mission took on the people involved (some of whom were looking for what remained of the bodies of their dead colleagues and friends). Readers may wonder why this story hasn't been told before; many know what happened to Columbia, but most likely their understanding of what took place afterward is hazy. It's an important and fascinating chapter in space history, and it finally gets the full treatment it deserves. As told by someone who was involved in the effort from the beginning, it's also a deeply personal and moving story.--Pitt, David Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this fast-paced and affecting account, Leinbach, NASA's last shuttle-launch director, and Ward, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's solar-system ambassador, expertly relate "the largest land search-and-recovery operation in United States history." The space shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry in February 2003 due to an undetected and unlikely breach in the leading edge of the left wing, and wreckage rained down along a 250-mile path across Texas and Louisiana. The authors intimately reconstruct the tragic disaster through spare but necessarily jargon-heavy prose and extensive interviews. It's a moving and sometimes uncomfortably close account; they relate, for example, how the heat shield disintegrated and dusted roads "with something that looked like fine snow," as well as details about the crew's last moments. A team of 25,000 people searched an area "roughly the size of Rhode Island," recovering 84,000 pieces of debris-many of them nickel size-and all seven astronauts' remains. The unadorned, multisensory narration richly depicts the emotions and everyday acts of heroism of all involved. Keen's sketches of the recovery's dizzying logistics and the science describing the shuttle's crash and reconstruction allow readers to experience what every volunteer interviewed said "was a singular defining moment" in their lives. Illus. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry, killing all seven crew members and raining debris across a 250-mile stretch of mostly eastern Texas and western Louisiana. To search this vast distance for remains, it took dozens of federal agencies and hundreds of volunteers who embarked on weeks of painstaking work, making the disaster the largest ground search operation in U.S. history. But finding the pieces of the wreckage was not the end of the story; months of reconstruction and analysis were needed in order to figure out what happened. In this behind-the-scenes account of the investigation, Leinbach (retired, NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Ctr.) and Ward (solar system ambassador, Jet Propulsion Laboratory), in a true narrative fashion, present a very nuanced view of the entire proceedings, from the mistakes made within NASA to the somberness of the memorials to the chaos of the first days after the disaster and the meticulousness of the latter ones. While an array of acronyms and minute technical details appear throughout, such specialized knowledge is not necessary to understanding the material. VERDICT Readers interested in space and systems -operations will find much to enjoy about this title.-Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
On Feb. 1, 2003, the Columbia space shuttle went silent upon re-entry. Here are the principal details about the accident, the recovery of the wreckage and human remains, the reassembly, the discovery of the cause, and the consequences for the shuttle program.Leinbach, in whose first-person voice we hear this account, was the launch director for the Columbia mission; co-author Ward is an authority on space exploration and author of two previous works on the subject (Countdown to a Moon Launch, 2015, etc.). Chronological in approach, the story begins with the silence from the shuttle and the fearand certaintyon the ground that the worst had happened. The shuttle broke apart, scattering debris across 250 miles of East Texas and Louisiana, an accident that could have been far worse, as the authors note. No one on the ground was injured, though even a small change in the breakup could have sent the wreckage spilling into cities. The authors follow the sequence carefully and chronicle in great detail the search and recovery of the wreckage (eventually more than 60,000 pieces) and human remains, a search that ultimately cost millions of dollars and involved some 25,000 people, from private citizens to personnel from a myriad of local and federal agencies. The authors describe the hunt for the human remains, but, humanely, they do not tell us exactly what that entailed. Instead, we hear, for example, a poignant story about a watch found and returned to a spouse. The authors are careful to credit individuals who played key roles and take care to describe and explain what caused the crash, a conclusion possible only after careful reassembly and analysis. They also discuss subsequent shuttle missions and the ultimate demise of the program.A gripping account of a fatal tragedy and the impressive and deeply emotional human response that ensued. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
