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Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut

Mike Mullane

4.17 · Rating details · 3,939 ratings · 344 reviews

On February 1, 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts, twenty-nine men and six women, were introduced to the world. Among them would be history makers, including the first American woman and the first African American in space. This assembly of astronauts would carry NASA through the most tumultuous years of the space shuttle program. Four would die on Challenge ...more

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Paperback, 382 pages

Published February 6th 2007 by Scribner (first published January 24th 2006)

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Oct 22, 2014 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: 2014, non-fiction, space, rocket-man, blinded-me-with-science, biography

Between this book and Packing for Mars I know way more about pooping in space than I ever wanted to…..

Mike Mullane’s childhood fascination with space travel gave him the determination to become one of the first groups of astronauts chosen for the space shuttle program, and eventually he made three trips into orbit. Despite eyesight bad enough to prevent him from being a pilot, he was also an Air Force officer who flew combat missions in Vietnam as the weapons system operator. (Like Goose in Top Between this book and Packing for Mars I know way more about pooping in space than I ever wanted to…..

Mike Mullane’s childhood fascination with space travel gave him the determination to become one of the first groups of astronauts chosen for the space shuttle program, and eventually he made three trips into orbit. Despite eyesight bad enough to prevent him from being a pilot, he was also an Air Force officer who flew combat missions in Vietnam as the weapons system operator. (Like Goose in Top Gun.) He’s traveled the world and has a lot of funny stories about meeting famous people like hobnobbing with Christie Brinkley at a Super Bowl and getting a tour of the White House while cracking jokes with Barbara Bush. While he’s justifiably proud of his achievements, he’s also got a self-deprecating sense of humor that shows he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

All in all, Mullane has lived a life that’s going to make most of us seem about as interesting as a bowl of cottage cheese by comparison, and he’d probably be entertaining as hell if you had a couple of beers with him. He’s amusing at providing the details about what it’s like to be in space including oversharing a bit on the Viagra effect of zero-G as well as a step-by-step explanation of using the toilet. However, despite having the subtitle of “The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut”, I didn’t find any of the tales that outrageous or different from other books I’ve read from people involved in the space program.

Since the shuttle missions were mainly about delivering freight to space, they just aren’t that exciting unless something went horribly wrong. It doesn’t help that two of Mullane’s three missions involved putting top secret military hardware into orbit so he can’t even talk about the details of those because they're classified. I feel silly saying that a guy writing about riding a giant tank of burning rocket fuel into space seems kind of routine, but when I contrast this with something like Jim Lovell’s Lost Moon, in which Lovell recounts not only his life story but the life-threatening Apollo 13 mission, then this seems kind of tame by comparison despite Mullane’s efforts to convey the wonderous nature of viewing the Earth from orbit. (In fairness, part of the reason I checked this out was because Andy Weir’s The Martian gave me a tremendous hankering to read something from a smart-ass astronaut’s point of view, but it’s really not fair to compare the fictional Mark Watney to the real life of Mullane.)

What I did find intriguing was Mullane’s frankness when discussing the shuttle program, NASA management and his own obsession with getting into space. He doesn’t hedge when saying that after NASA completed the greatest engineering project in history by getting to the moon that it was turned into a freight hauling service with demands to become cost effective by politicians and bureaucrats who treated the shuttle like a commercial jetliner instead of the high risk experimental aircraft it was. He’s highly critical of the NASA management that let a secretive process to select flight crews turn the astronaut’s office into a seething stew of paranoia, fear and frustration. Mullane plainly lays the blame for the Challenger and Columbia disasters on the culture that resulted from these factors. He also confesses that like most of the other astronauts he was so desperate to get into space that he ignored safety concerns, and that he often put his own family second to his career.

Mullane is also brutally honest when recounting the casual sexism that he and the other astronauts engaged in when they were training with America’s first female astronauts. As someone who had gone to the all-male West Point as well as being a military officer, Mullane’s background had been almost exclusively male, and he admits to behaving like a jerk at times. However, he would grow to respect most of the female astronauts and would develop a strong friendship with Judith Resnik who would later be killed on-board Challenger. He was far less friendly with Sally Ride, and one gets the impression that the two of them probably didn’t exchange Christmas cards.

While I enjoyed his story as well as his frankness, in the end I wish that NASA had come up with a grander mission for a guy like Mike Mullane rather than risking his life to put satellites into orbit. ...more

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Mar 11, 2014 Melki rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, sciency-stuff, best-of-2014, taking-up-space

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 o ...more

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Jun 07, 2013 Stephen rated it it was ok

Shelves: self-congratulatory, memoir, space-shuttle, human-spaceflight

Mike Mullane is a shuttle astronaut with a penis fixation. Although Riding Rockets is ostensibly about the opening decades of the space shuttle era in NASA, it could be titled the Cosmic Adventures of Mike and his Member. If he doesn't mention his genitalia more times than he uses the acronym "NASA", he at least makes a valiant effort. His is an astronaut memoir of an altogether different kind than say, Jim Lovell's, or Deke Slayton's. This is not a heroic tale of people achieving the impossible Mike Mullane is a shuttle astronaut with a penis fixation. Although Riding Rockets is ostensibly about the opening decades of the space shuttle era in NASA, it could be titled the Cosmic Adventures of Mike and his Member. If he doesn't mention his genitalia more times than he uses the acronym "NASA", he at least makes a valiant effort. His is an astronaut memoir of an altogether different kind than say, Jim Lovell's, or Deke Slayton's. This is not a heroic tale of people achieving the impossible:it is instead the story of a man-child and his bros in space. He is juvenile, inappropriate, and obsessed with himself --- but someone who has an interesting story to tell, one that sometimes verges on thoughtful, if you can endure his boorishness.

Riding Rockets gave me fits, being an uncomfortable read: Mullane has all the tact of a dog in heat, and writes almost confrontationally. His emotions are ever on his sleeves, and he dares anyone to challenge him. ("Come at me, bro!") His story is entertaining, and even touching -- there were times when I shook with laughter, and moments wherein I put the book away to put some distance myself and Mullane's emotions, like his despair at his friends' death following the Challenger explosion. Part of the appeal in reading the memoirs of astronauts is that they've seen Earth and humanity in a way the overwhelming majority of us haven't. A photo of Earthrise cannot have the same profound effect on people as actually being there, hanging in the black of space and seeing the Earth -- the stage for every human drama, the sum of our experienced lives -- shrinking below, the entirety of our existence reduced to a finite thing that can be left behind. Mullane can write beautifully, but instead he makes a lot of penis jokes, and those moments of author-reader connection were always broken by wanting to recoil from his personality.

Despite the sometimes beauty of his words, and his insights, Mullane is, candidly, a jackass. The image that comes to mind is that of a drunk teenager invading a bar, perhaps one who has just finished the greatest high school football game of his life and can't wait to impress his audience with it -- but is oblivious to the fact that he is in the company of grown adults who find his posturing and immense self-satisfaction wholly obnoxious. He identifies himself early on, and somewhat proudly, as being in a state of a Arrested Development, along with most of the astronaut corps. Having cheerfully written off his ability to function as a mature, considerate, and thoughtful human beings, he spends most of the book acting instead like a jackass -- ogling women, devoting paragraphs to how rockin' the bods of some of his female colleagues were; endlessly complaining and opining about everyone who thought or acted differently from himself, and of course, chatting merrily away about his penis. Inexplicably, he forgot to mention said organ in the index. It was certainly mentioned enough times to merit inclusion there. Charming he isn't, although his attempts at civilized behavior are almost comic. After dismissing civilian astronauts for being a bunch of pantywaisted granola-eating libtards -- in contradistinction to the solid, right-thinking, manly-man military pilots -- Mullane reflects on their performance throughout the shuttle missions and concludes, "Hey, those guys did have a pair. Not bad!"

I couldn't be impressed by Mullane. Behind the cocky grin and the swagger are thoughtful eyes and a mind that can deliver stirringly poetic tributes and reflections to friends, love, and the beauty of life , but these occasions are few and far between, diamonds in a rough possibly too broad to justify digging in. There aren't many astronaut memoirs about the shuttle program, but I'm planning on reading the other I've found (Sky Walking, Tom Jones) to see if readers interested in that era of NASA's history have to be content with this story of adolescents in space. ...more

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May 24, 2011 Jon McBride rated it it was amazing

Excellent read, though I am admittedly biased from growing up around NASA. Mike has a way of bringing back memories - joyful, painful and all points between - of America's Space Shuttle Program and the Astronaut corp of "Thirty-Five New Guys" of 1978, or TFNGs (which included my father, Jon McBride).

The book is raw and honest, taking a look behind the public face of NASA into the lives of the men and women who comprised the program as well as the spouses and families who also sacrificed much to Excellent read, though I am admittedly biased from growing up around NASA. Mike has a way of bringing back memories - joyful, painful and all points between - of America's Space Shuttle Program and the Astronaut corp of "Thirty-Five New Guys" of 1978, or TFNGs (which included my father, Jon McBride).

The book is raw and honest, taking a look behind the public face of NASA into the lives of the men and women who comprised the program as well as the spouses and families who also sacrificed much to fuel the dream of human spaceflight.

Having been a "child of NASA", growing up across the street from JSC and in 1984 watching my father pilot Challenger, it was great to read this book and relive the memories. The rosy childhood lenses have long been replaced by adult perspective of the realities of the dangers of military aviation and rocketry, but it made the book more fascinating to me in many ways.

From the exhilaration of realizing lifelong dreams to the many observable yet dismissed warning signs that led to tragedies for the Challenger crew and, later, Columbia's, Colonel Mullane respectfully remembers those who gave their lives and those who were left behind to live with the scars. I appreciate him mentioning my own brother's death in military aviation and memorializing numerous other's in the close-knit extended family of NASA's astronauts.

The Outpost - the now demolished tavern that was an old NASA hangout - came back to life for me. I could see George Abbey once again, though I really just knew his fantastic children as sometimes play buddies. I even remember my dad chuckling at some message cork-board in the astronaut office (now I get it!). I could almost smell the jet fuel at Ellington Field as I watched my dad and perhaps Colonel Mullane in the back seat of a T-38 say "goodbye" for a short trip by way of a giant and probably unnecessary afterburner that seemed 100ft long!!

Thanks for this gem Colonel Mullane and thank you for your service; great to see you before the final flight of Discovery a couple months ago. This book helps me understand what that launch must have meant to you personally, and so many others. And also to keep reaching for dreams!!

When the final launch of the Space Shuttle takes place (scheduled for July with Atlantis), it will be bittersweet to be sure. I hope that the United States continues human spaceflight in some significant way. ...more

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Feb 16, 2021 Toria rated it it was ok

Had been very lucky with non fiction about space, loving everyone of them so I guessed I would love this as well but it wasn't really my thing. Found the humor and writing be juvenile and not at all funny. Wasn't as into the space fact in this one, but some of it was quite interesting but not liking the voice of the book took away from my enjoyment. ...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Kathryn rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2014

Like probably half of American kids, I wanted to be an astronaut. So I was hoping this book would get down to the nuts and bolts of what it's like to be on a space shuttle, what astronauts do all day when they're up there, what the training is like, etc. Also, this book came recommended by Mary Roach.

I was very disappointed. First of all, the writing style is that of a talented sixth-grader. The dialogue, such as it is, is stilted and unrealistic. (Proud of that Tarzan nickname, are you, Mike? Like probably half of American kids, I wanted to be an astronaut. So I was hoping this book would get down to the nuts and bolts of what it's like to be on a space shuttle, what astronauts do all day when they're up there, what the training is like, etc. Also, this book came recommended by Mary Roach.

I was very disappointed. First of all, the writing style is that of a talented sixth-grader. The dialogue, such as it is, is stilted and unrealistic. (Proud of that Tarzan nickname, are you, Mike? So proud you need to use it in every sentence Judy says?) The author himself seems to be stuck permanently in sixth grade as well-- the jokes are either about poop or boobs, and self-aggrandizement alters with self-pity so fast it should have given the author whiplash. He's fixated on the idea of himself as a red-blooded, all-American, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps don't-ask-nothin'-from-nobody kind of guy, and then whines throughout the book about how the female astronauts get the most press attention, and other missions get the most press attention, and Sally Ride was mean to him because he's a serial sexual harasser, and on and on and on. In one paragraph, he asserts that the civilian astronauts don't have any life experience, and in the next, he states that he's never worked with a woman before. Because the only kind of life experience that exists is fighting in Vietnam, apparently. And even though this is supposedly the beginning of his transformation in thinking, I have never read anything less self-aware. Later on, he wants some cookies for having realized that the women he works with are competent and do their jobs well. As a self-professed middle-of-the-road guy, you'd think he'd have recognized that a woman, like Sally Ride, with a PhD in physics from Stanford was beyond competent. In fact, this book left me with serious doubts about NASA's HR.

Mike Mullane is one of those people who substitutes "politically correct" for "polite." A large percentage of the book is taken up by his gleeful stories of sexually harassing other astronauts and staff. He takes about a page to go through the women in his astronaut class and give their credentials, along with their marital status and number of kids. (Of course, he never does anything similar with the men.) The only women he likes are the ones who don't object to his sexist jokes, many of which he recounts in detail. Sorry, Mike, if you're looking at a woman's chest while talking to her, that's not un-politically correct. That's both unprofessional and an asshole move.

When he finally gets on the shuttle, there is very little about day-to-day life, except the details of the space toilet (which I thought was pretty interesting). There's almost nothing about the mission itself or what astronaut work looks like (his second two missions were classified, but the first wasn't). There's a lot of wanna-be poetical stuff about watching the earth below the shuttle, which is also written at a sixth-grade level, tops. If you want to know what an astronaut's job is, read a different book.

The only interesting parts in the book were about NASA internal politics and the Challenger explosion. According to the author, there were a lot of internal screw-ups and a nasty office culture that led to the Challenger explosion, and the Columbia disaster several years later. He spends quite some time on the toxic climate in NASA, where astronauts fear that any dissent will get them grounded permanently, and where there is no transparency or accountability for things like flight assignments and engineering failures. The effect this lifestyle has on astronaut families is tragic, and you really do feel bad for the author's wife.

Mostly, though, I only finished this book because I was waiting for my next hold to come in from the library. Don't read it if you like professionalism, women, or the English language.

...more

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Dec 06, 2010 MAP rated it it was amazing

Recommended to MAP by: Mary Roach

Shelves: biographies-and-memoirs, non-fiction

You'll read a lot of reviews on this site talking about the sexism in Mullane's book, and how if you can get through that, it's pretty funny. One thing they don't mention thought is:

HE KNOWS IT. In fact, one of the themes of growth in this book is that Mullane goes from being a sexist pig in the 70s to a man who realizes women can do everything he can do as well and better. Now, granted, he still doesn't seem to be able to resist telling us the sexist jokes he used to make (to prove just how sex ...more

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Nov 07, 2011 diane rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, history

This book was everything I had hoped for. It gave me insight into the real life of an astronaut, it humanized the incredible feats it took to get into space, and it made me even more enthusiastic, if that's even possible, about the human species exploring the vasty nothingness of space.

I've read some other reviews that mention that Mullane is sexist, and talks about his penis a great deal. While those assessments of the man are actually correct, the reviewers missed the point. Mullane came from This book was everything I had hoped for. It gave me insight into the real life of an astronaut, it humanized the incredible feats it took to get into space, and it made me even more enthusiastic, if that's even possible, about the human species exploring the vasty nothingness of space.

I've read some other reviews that mention that Mullane is sexist, and talks about his penis a great deal. While those assessments of the man are actually correct, the reviewers missed the point. Mullane came from an era where men, especially fighter pilots, were sexist misogynistic pigs. No doubt about that. But the point of him recounting his idiot tendencies, which he admits to and apologizes for, is that he actually changes his mind - he grows and changes, as all people should.

The talk about his penis does one really important thing: takes the luster off space flight. He's not talking about his bits to impress anyone. He's talking about them because the reality of space flight is that astronauts wear diapers, or urine-catching condoms, and it's NOT sexy. While the rewards for getting into space are amazing, as he recounts with loving detail, the hurdles to get there are also well detailed, spelling out the reality that space travel is hard work. That he chose to approach it with a 5th grader's sensibility and make jokes was actually fine with me.

His recounting of the Challenger disaster really got to me. Probably because I had the same thoughts about the accident that he did - that the crew was killed instantly and didn't suffer. ... The reports from the investigation show otherwise. They were awake and alive for the two and half minute fall to earth, with no way out.

With his insights, I understand better why the shuttle program was eventually shut down. I hope for our return to space as explorers, but with slightly more opportunity for survival.

You would think with all my praise, I would give it 5 stars. But there are some down sides to this book - the use of acronyms being one of them. I get that in the astronaut service they use acronyms with no difficulty, but being a civilian, it was often bewildering when he threw 6 - 10 acronyms out and just kept using them assuming I remembered them all through the course of the book. Not so, really.

And at times, the writing suffers. He is eloquent and moving in many parts of the book. And other times the writing is tedious and boring, with poor word choices and phrases that jolt you out of the narrative.

That being said, really worth the read. I really quite enjoyed it. ...more

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Mar 11, 2018 Daniel Villines rated it it was ok

A fair characterization of this book is that it tells two stories. The first story is one of the astronaut program as it was transformed after Apollo and operated during the initial years of the space shuttle program. The second is the personal story of the book’s author, Mike Mullane, and his complete lack of consideration for the mere mortal humans that come into contact with His Grace, the One True Astronaut.

The first story, as does the second, spans the entire book. Mullane gives a recount A fair characterization of this book is that it tells two stories. The first story is one of the astronaut program as it was transformed after Apollo and operated during the initial years of the space shuttle program. The second is the personal story of the book’s author, Mike Mullane, and his complete lack of consideration for the mere mortal humans that come into contact with His Grace, the One True Astronaut.

The first story, as does the second, spans the entire book. Mullane gives a recount of his career from his selection as a shuttle astronaut, progresses through his training, and continues on through three flights on the space shuttle. The story is insightful and indeed contains the very information and insights I was hoping for in any book about the space program.

Mullane knows his stuff. When he’s focused on his job he cannot be impeached. He had me completely captivated. There were minor details and major facts that had never been revealed to me previously about the shuttle program. His reports of the Challenger and Columbia disasters were complete and insightful. The first story about the shuttle program is well worth the read provided you can keep your lunch down during the various ascensions of Mike Mullane’s personal life-views, i.e. the second story.

Within the periodic appearances of the second story, Mullane has a superiority complex of the worst kind. Women that come into his world are initially judged as incompetent and incapable. They are assigned a mental rating with imaginary numeric cards ranging from 1 to 10 based solely on their looks. If a woman is a 9 or 10 (and is tolerant of lecherous behavior), Mullane might actually become enlightened by her abilities as time goes by, but only because he wants to be around her. His physical attraction towards women provides the time required to form an opinion about their competency.

Along these same lines, the astronauts who are academic scientists are also made to suffer his holier-than-thou perceptions of them. What right do scientists have to fly into space when military fighter jocks like Mullane are virtually ordained to do so? While in Mullane’s presence, the astronaut-scientists have no purpose other than to make Mullane feel good about himself by suffering the brunt of Mullane’s stupid juvenile jokes. However, with the passage of time and forced exposure, Mullane sees fit elevate some of the astronaut-scientists to a level of measured respect.

And that’s why didn’t like Mullane. In his eyes, everybody who is not like Mullane is someone who is less than himself, not different, but less. Redemption to achieve some value of consideration by Mullane is just that: an elevation by Mullane to a level that resides somewhere below his own god-like self perception. Heaven forbid that a woman or a scientist should present themselves as equals to Mullane based upon the merits of being selected as an astronaut. What Mullane forgets is that his credibility for this book stems from those very same qualifications.

I gave this book a punitive two stars where three could actually be due. Mullane is not the right voice for a topic of such universal and human importance as space exploration. There must be other books by other astronauts that can provide the same information provided in Riding Rockets but do not foster the caustic feelings of alienation that are fanned by Astronaut Richard Michael Mullane. ...more

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Aug 09, 2010 Sharon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a great book. Here's why:

1. Some of his childhood stories are utterly hysterical. I was actually lying in bed reading, laughing so hard that tears were rolling down my face.

2. There's a lot of crazy, odd, humiliating stuff about being an astronaut and he shares ALL of it. The man has never heard of TMI. Some of the details, most of the humor, and a little of the language is pretty crude, so consider yourself forewarned. It's part of Mullane's "charm", such as it is.

3. His friendship wi This is a great book. Here's why:

1. Some of his childhood stories are utterly hysterical. I was actually lying in bed reading, laughing so hard that tears were rolling down my face.

2. There's a lot of crazy, odd, humiliating stuff about being an astronaut and he shares ALL of it. The man has never heard of TMI. Some of the details, most of the humor, and a little of the language is pretty crude, so consider yourself forewarned. It's part of Mullane's "charm", such as it is.

3. His friendship with Judy Resnik, who died on Challenger (along with 3 of his other astronaut classmates/friends) is funny, moving, and sad.

4. His analysis of NASA culture, especially the astronaut office and the 'experimental' nature of the Space Shuttle is disturbing and occasionally shocking.

5. His countdowns to his first launch on the Shuttle had me literally holding my breath. For PAGES.

6. His talk of the "normalization of deviance" is soooo important and interesting. I'd never really thought about things that way and it is easy to see how disasters like Challenger and Columbia happen when you consider how easy it is to normalize deviance when it occurs repeatedly with no associated tragedies.

7. His descriptions of looking at the earth from space are among the best I've read and his practice of sticking his bed sack to a wall so his face was near a window and then staying up to watch the earth roll beneath him while he was supposed to be sleeping are great. A quote: "To say the view was overwhelmingly beautiful would be an insult to God."

8. He's was a sexist pig. He knows he was a pig. He's a little proud he was a pig. He was a real, real pig. But he's funny and easy to forgive for being a pig. He made a lot of progress over the years and came to respect most of the women he worked with (never really came to like Sally Ride, though!) and to understand something about the realities of discrimination. But if sexist banter and jokes bother you, don't read this book. LOL.

9. It's just a great, laugh-out-loud funny, heartbreaking book. :) And educational along the way. ...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Carolyn rated it it was amazing

Of all the astronaut biographies published over the past 30 years Mike Mullane’s Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut stands apart from the rest. An alternate title for Mullane’s book could easily be The Sacred and the Profane, because the author, a former shuttle astronaut, delivers a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners peek inside examination of NASA’s astronaut office that is irreverent and occasionally blasphemous, yet engaging and spellbinding.

Like most astronau Of all the astronaut biographies published over the past 30 years Mike Mullane’s Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut stands apart from the rest. An alternate title for Mullane’s book could easily be The Sacred and the Profane, because the author, a former shuttle astronaut, delivers a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners peek inside examination of NASA’s astronaut office that is irreverent and occasionally blasphemous, yet engaging and spellbinding.

Like most astronauts of his generation, Mullane was inspired by Sputnik to spend his high school years building rockets (for “high school projects”) with the blessing of his constantly supportive parents (he speaks fondly of his father who was crippled by polio when Mike was a boy). After flying 134 missions in Vietnam, he volunteered for the space program where he was subjected to every test known to man or beast including counting backwards by 7 (a test he failed) and a colonoscopy. “I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses.”

Having passed the clean ass exam, Mullane joined a new class of trainees, the TFNGs (either the thirty five new guys or the fucking new guys depending on who you ask), the first class that NASA tried to diversify, hiring African American men and white women (including Judy Resnik and Sally Ride). Mullane has no problem accepting other races, but initially holds the same chauvinistic sexist views about women that characterized an era. He spent 12 years in all boys Catholic schools, followed by the military academy, followed by Vietnam. His only concept of women came from his mother and his wife, both of whom seemed content and fulfilled without a career. Mullane is honest about these feelings in the book, and while we can’t really cheer for him for his Road to Damascus revelation that “Oh wow! Women can be as talented and as smart and as good as men,” I did appreciate his candor.

And NASA clearly was a boys club. Where else can you “snort” at particularly attractive women (as in “I want to snort her flanks”) and get away with it? Or use the shuttle manipulator arm and camera to give head-to-toe inspections of female colleagues, as Mullane remembers doing? And where else but in microgravity do you get a “morning” Viagra effect thanks to the redistribution of blood?On orbit opportunities abounded for the Planet AD crowd. One shuttle commander, a particularly right-wing crewmember, ordered a countdown from a colleague—literally, “3, 2, 1, 0!”—in orbit so he could “squeeze … out a [fecal] muffin on that [expletive] Castro” as the shuttle passed over Havana. To say that Mullane and the other Planet AD inhabitants were uninhibited is an understatement. They were living on the edge—seemingly impervious. Of course, some of the more conservative post-doctorate members and female astronauts weren’t so amused. According to the author, Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, carried a heavy feminist chip on her shoulder. But other female astronauts, like Judy Resnik and Rhea Seddon, shrugged it all off and gave as good as they got.

However, discount the profane in this book, entertaining though it may be. Instead, admire Mullane’s moving description of the sacred ground of the Beach House, with its Ozzie and Harriet furniture, where the Challenger crew last saw their loved ones. And appreciate, along with Mullane, his close friendship with fellow TFNG Judy Resnik. A few strands of her hair were all that were recovered after the Challenger disaster. Considering it is doubtful we will ever read a dedicated biography of Judy Resnik, this book probably provides the best insight into her life as an astronaut. This book is an honest, sympathetic and authentic look into the fears and frustrations in these astronauts’ lives.
...more

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Sep 22, 2010 Paul rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ibooks

I've always been a NASA/space shuttle geek, and Mullane's book, recommended to me by several friends, was an excellent look behind the scenes at JSC and KSC, and how the program unfolded. If you can tolerate not-that-rare occasions of crude and sexist humor, it's pretty funny, and reading his stories of interactions with the ill-fated crew of Challenger, especially Judy Reznik, were particularly touching, too. Anyone who is a fan of NASA and manned space exploration in general, and the shuttle i ...more

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Oct 03, 2019 McKenzie/literarydragon added it

Shelves: non-fiction, cannot-finish

My feelings toward this book are best summed up in Kathryn's review which is in the link below. Blegh.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 Mauri rated it it was ok

Shelves: non-fiction

I've written this review about thirty times in my head. After reading An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, I wanted more space. I read the summary for this, but rejected it until Mary Roach mentioned it as "if you only read one astronaut biography, read this one". (Her book was published before Hadfield's.)

It's...hysterical. I literally laughed until I cried at some points. Mullane writes irreverently about the first decade of the space shuttle program, revealing NASA as it was, warts and all. I've written this review about thirty times in my head. After reading An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, I wanted more space. I read the summary for this, but rejected it until Mary Roach mentioned it as "if you only read one astronaut biography, read this one". (Her book was published before Hadfield's.)

It's...hysterical. I literally laughed until I cried at some points. Mullane writes irreverently about the first decade of the space shuttle program, revealing NASA as it was, warts and all.

But oh, the misogyny. It dripped from every page, lurking in every chapter and leaping out at unexpected moments. I suspect Mullane is beloved friend, husband, and father, but the contempt he holds for people (read: women) unwilling to put up with his "Planet Arrested Development" outlook is stomach-churning. It makes me sad and upset that this guy was an astronaut, who got to go into space three times, representing his country. It makes me angry that someone published what he says about women in the 21st century. There are places in the narrative where he almost seems to apologize for his behavior - he lays out what he did or said, elevates the person who put up with it for, well, putting up with it, but he never condemns himself or his fellow astronauts or apologizes in any way. No mention about they shouldn't have had to put up with it in the first place.

He almost, almost pulls it up at the end, outlining what he learned about the bravery and dedication of women (and civilian post-docs, the poor things) and how it changed him. There's a particularly moving story where he first notes angrily that all these women probably just up and decided to be astronauts when they saw a poster on a job bulletin board...only to come to the realization that a little girl seeing Sputnik go up in the 1950s and wanting to be an astronaut would be discouraged at every turn, unlike Mullane, who had the full, enthusiastic support of his parents, teachers, and the military. I'm just not sure if it makes up for the previous 350 rage-inducing pages of "god, feminists, why so uptight?"

In the end, his attitude made it hard to take his complaints about the organizational structure of NASA at the time and how it lead to the Challenger incident. Sorry dude, but while you were a small cog in the machine, the "Right Stuff" attitude held by you and most everyone else in the space program at the time only contributed. ...more

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Dec 15, 2008 Nathan rated it liked it

Shelves: franklin-library

George Carlin meets John Glenn. If you can get past the constant sexism and crude excuses for humor, Mike Mullane offers a wide-eyed glimpse into space travel that might turn out to be the closest any of us ever get. For that reason, a good read but not a great one.

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Aug 10, 2012 Brendan Oldham rated it it was ok

I didn't like. He comes off as arrogant and pig-headed. It was like reading "Top Gun". That said, if you're interested in space, you'll learn a lot about being an astronaut. It certainly convinced me that I'd never want to be one! ...more

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Dec 21, 2014 Alicia rated it it was amazing

I learned everything about going to space and living in space very explicit not for the kids. I loved everything about it even met and got a autographed copy of this book.

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Jun 10, 2020 DJ Williams rated it did not like it

Shelves: nonfiction, biography-memoir

DNF at 70%. this entire book is tanked by the fact that the author is a chauvinist jackass and it bleeds into every fucking sentence he writes.

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Feb 14, 2020 Everydayreader1 rated it it was ok · review of another edition

RIDING ROCKETS was one of those books I expected to be among my favorite reads of 2020. Mike Mullane writes candidly about his life and being part of the crew of the first flight of the space shuttle Discovery. From that perspective, it is well written and informative, especially concerning the culture at NASA during his time there.

The reason I gave this book less than a stellar rating is because of the constant emphasis, it seems to me, on the feminine/masculine divide or differences, and his o

...more

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Nov 04, 2018 Volodymyr Yatsevsky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It’s dramatic, fun and exciting at the same time. It’s full of technical stuff to stay aware how daring were the shuttle flights. It’s about loss and gains, dreams and reality, life and death in all details. It’s an odyssey in the end and pure tranquility of the orbital gravity. This book stands out being the story of a true space Forrest Gump.

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Jan 06, 2019 Rebecca rated it it was amazing

In addition to a lot of information about Mullane's crotch, this also gives a clear insight into the machinations of NASA practices and policies in the Shuttle era. Worth the read, or even better, the listen - Mullane reads it himself. ...more

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Mar 26, 2019 Bruce rated it it was amazing

I'm going to go ahead and give this 5 stars, even though Mullane's favorite thing about himself--his sense of humor--is mostly awful. Still, the man can write, and he does a great job of chronicling how the astronaut's special blend of obsessive competitiveness, huge self-confidence, and gut-churning fear can land him in the back seat of a space craft, wearing a urine condom and praying the weather will clear so he can be blasted skyward even as he counts the various ways he can end up dead in t ...more

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Oct 11, 2020 CatReader rated it really liked it

Shelves: slco, slco-requests

Mixed feelings on this book -- a lot of fascinating stuff, but also a lot of detracting (and distracting) elements. I'm generously rounding up 3.5 stars to 4.

Pros:
- of all the astronaut biographies/memoirs I've read to date, Mike Mullane's memoir does the best job at critiquing some of NASA's major blunders of the space shuttle era -- namely the culture of bravado that let safety issues slip to the point where not one but two shuttle crews were tragically lost. I hadn't realized how many shuttle Mixed feelings on this book -- a lot of fascinating stuff, but also a lot of detracting (and distracting) elements. I'm generously rounding up 3.5 stars to 4.

Pros:
- of all the astronaut biographies/memoirs I've read to date, Mike Mullane's memoir does the best job at critiquing some of NASA's major blunders of the space shuttle era -- namely the culture of bravado that let safety issues slip to the point where not one but two shuttle crews were tragically lost. I hadn't realized how many shuttle missions that did successfully take off and land had sustained damage to O-rings and by insulation foam (including several shuttle missions Mullane was a part of). I also naively didn't realize how many shuttle missions of the '80s-'90s were "classified" and flown with the main/sole purpose of launching military satellites, which makes the persistent safety issues that NASA failed to fully investigate until they killed crews even more egregious. Mullane's memoir is also the first one that I've read that levels (totally legitimate) criticism at NASA's '80s era administrators for not making the flight assignment process transparent and giving away so many flight seats to politicians, foreign royals, and other non-astronauts, thus taking away flight opportunities from the astronaut corps. One wonders how much the killing of the shuttle program in the early '10s was due to the cessation of this overt pandering to influential people.

- A lot of interesting insights (albeit from a (sexist) male's perspectives) about how the female astronauts in his cohort had to work hard to appear feminist but not too feminist, not too hard but not too soft, and the fine, seemingly impossible line they walked in general to be seen as successful astronauts. Mullane's first shuttle mission was also the first shuttle mission of Judy Resnick, the second American woman in space, and he tells some pretty interesting anecdotes about how Judy dealt with her unique situation. (Judy would tragically die in the Challenger disaster a few years after that and never got the chance to tell her own story.)

Cons:
- length. This was a 400-pager that could have been judiciously trimmed to a 300-pager.

- all the penis mentions, and talk about how men really can't help themselves around attractive women. Gross and unnecessary.

- the putdowns of fellow astronauts who weren't military members. It seems like later on he changed his mind, but all the mentions of "those postdocs who've never dealt with anything hard in their lives" is pretty tone-deaf (especially since he seemed to lump all of the non-military MDs into that group too, who I'd wager saw a lot more blood, guts, and gore than he had in the military). Interestingly he later bitches and moans about being assigned to science missions on the space shuttle...hmm, wonder who would excel at those?

Both pro and con:
- as a 30-something working woman, this is perhaps one of the most eye-opening accounts I've read (from a male perspective) of the extent and pervasiveness of sexual harassment that women faced a few decades ago. Mullane was part of NASA's astronaut group 8, the first astronaut class that included (white) women as well as men of color (the inclusion of women of color wouldn't come until later). Mullane spends a lot of time recollecting egregious episodes of sexual harassment perpetrated by many of the men in his cohort, many of which would probably be fireable offenses in today's post-#metoo climate.

- usually in memoirs, people tend to paint themselves in a flattering light. Mullane doesn't exactly do this, which is both refreshing and also a bit TMI (see comments above). I finished the book wondering what exactly he thinks of women, especially professional women, due to all of the contradictory points he made as the book went on about respecting women but also seeing them as nothing but sex objects. ...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Michael Mcclelland rated it it was amazing

A surpringly honest, emotionally baring, funny and mostly modest tale from an American astronaut. As one of the first new intake of gifted and skilled people selected to man the space shuttle - what he would soon realise was a vehicle more dangerous than any that preceded it, despite its tradesmen-like intent - Mike Mullane is subjected to the politics, terror, exhilaration, depression, frustration and deathly mismanagement that was the lot of a NASA astronaut.

From the homemade rocket-launching ...more

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Jan 18, 2013 terpkristin rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, beach-books, 2013, kindle, dead-tree

Over the course of my education, internships, and now career, I've met and worked with a few astronauts. I actually think I may have met author Mullane while at an internship at Kennedy Space Center. Because of this experience, this interaction, nothing in this book was a real surprise. Astronauts are driven folks. They know how to act (how to hide things that shouldn't be shown like fear or concern, except when the cameras are off and they're in the company of their peers and teams that help ma Over the course of my education, internships, and now career, I've met and worked with a few astronauts. I actually think I may have met author Mullane while at an internship at Kennedy Space Center. Because of this experience, this interaction, nothing in this book was a real surprise. Astronauts are driven folks. They know how to act (how to hide things that shouldn't be shown like fear or concern, except when the cameras are off and they're in the company of their peers and teams that help make space missions succeed). They have big egos (well, a lot of them do).

Mullane's book was an often funny and sometimes somber (Challenger, other disasters) reflection of his life leading up to and then his career as an astronaut. From what I know from the astronauts I've met, it's pretty honest. Mullane doesn't sugar-coat things when they shouldn't be--in that sense, even though he isn't an engineer by training, he shares that with his ground-based brethren. Some of his honesty might be easier since he's now so far removed from his duties as an astronaut, but it's still refreshing to read.

Mullane broke each chapter into a fairly well-contained story on its own (though at the end, bigger stories spanned multiple chapters). This was a good thing and a bad thing; it made it easy to pick up and put down for short reading bursts. As such, this book took me forever to finish. Especially in the beginning, as he discussed his early life, it was easy to read a chapter then put down for the next shiny object. But that also made it convenient to read, easily read while waiting at a doctor's office or while in line.

If you've never met an astronaut and have ever wondered what the space program is like, this is a great book to read. If you have met astronauts, or you're an engineer in the field, you'll probably still enjoy it...but it might be more of what you already know. For me, it was a reminder of the people involved in the field I'm in, that there are human lives impacted by the work I do. ...more

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Dec 28, 2020 Pam R rated it liked it

When he's not talking about his penis, Judy Resnick's body, or his arrested emotional development, Mullane tells a pretty good story that is oftentimes very funny. He and the TFNGs were THE pioneers of the space shuttle program and I respect and admire them as such. I particularly loved the insight he gives into the Astronaut Office at JSC, the confounding, secretive and toxic management culture at NASA and all the politics, his first flight on Discovery 41D with the "zoo crew," and particularly ...more

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Nov 24, 2007 rinabeana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: space

The shuttle program was something I didn't know much about, and don't really follow now. Most of my space nerdiness regards the Apollo program (and Mercury and Gemini as they led up to it). This book was a double whammy because I learned a lot about the shuttle program and was very entertained. I loved Mullane's writing style and no holds barred stories. (I perhaps didn't need to know quite so much about waste excretion in space, but what can you do?) I was (naively) shocked to discover just how ...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Jamie Collins rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-and-medicine, history-and-biography, memoir, american-history, space-program

Recommended by Mary Roach in Packing for Mars. This was a very good read, full of every entertaining anecdote Mullane could think of concerning his astronaut career.

He doesn’t discuss training very much, but he gives detailed accounts of what it was like to exchange tearful farewells with his wife and be strapped into the shuttle, spending uncomfortable hours waiting for a launch that might very well be scrubbed. He describes mundane details of life in orbit, including everything you’d want to k ...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Lisa Shininger rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, space

It's a great memoir, by turns tender and irreverent, with sometimes refreshing candor and healthy doses of self-congratulation. Mullane doesn't shy away from the more horrifying aspects of an astronaut's life (both the flyboy culture and the work) and might actually beat Mary Roach at bringing in-flight vomiting and pooping to life. I think he's more convinced of his own conversion from sexist jerk to tolerant guy than the evidence warrants, but at least he makes it amusing along the way. He is ...more

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Feb 08, 2014 Wes Metz rated it really liked it

Follow astronaut Mike Mullane as he progresses from male chauvinist pig fighter jock to reluctant feminist. Along the way he flies into space on the shuttle three times, loses a close friend in the Challenger explosion, lives in terror of dying on every flight he takes, and is even more terrified by the thought that he might not be allowed to go. Mullane has much to say about the administrators of NASA, none of it good, and accuses some of them of being more interested in power and job security ...more

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