Status Updates From The Burning Blue: The Untol...

This is good for those who want to learn about the Challenger but not get overwhelmed by the physics

I can't get enough of the facts and statistics in this book. The shuttle had more than 20,000 six-inch silica tiles to protect it from the heat of reentry. "Those black tiles, made from the purest quartz sand, fitted and glued by hand onto the shuttle's fuselage, were so resistant to heat that if you held one by the edge when the center was red hot, you wouldn't feel a thing."

" . . . [Sally] Ride would have to answer a thousand dumb questions that had nothing to do with the job. During the run-up to Ride's ride, reporters kept asking her about bras and makeup in space. At one press conference, a writer from Time asked Ride if she cried when simulations went south. Turning to pilot Rick Hauck, she said, "Why doesn't anyone ever ask Rick these questions?""