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T O P I C R E V I E WFra MauroI just finished "Spacious Skies," by ScottCarpenter & his daughter. Did anybody else read it and want to share a reaction?JakeYou mean we are supposed to READ a book we buy and get signed by an astronaut...?!?!?!------------------Jake Schultz - curator,Newport Way Air Museum (OK, it's just my home)eurospace quote:Originally posted by Fra Mauro:I just finished "Spacious Skies," by ScottCarpenter & his daughter. Did anybody else read it and want to share a reaction?Finished mine about three weeks ago. One of the better astronaut books, I think. The gruelsome family situation is more modern than most astronaut childhood stories I have read. His accounts of the situation in the astronaut office and with Chris Kraft add detail and another point of view to the existing accounts. His detailed report about his Mercury flight makes his experience come to live - you share every second of the mission, it seems. Better even, the collaboration of his daughter made the book a well researched report of almost scientific value, much better stuff than some other biopics that seem to be written by "now I tell you all the anecdotes and you write them down" rule. ------------------Jürgen P EsdersBerlin, Germanyhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/AstroaddiesFra MauroI always buy astronaut biographies and while this book had its good moments, I was a little disappointed. It seems more like a book for his family to read. Too much time onlittle family details, not enough on aviation. The Carpenters spend too much time crticizing Chris Kraft. I would have like to have known why he turned down a Gemini mission. Did he have a choice? The best part of the book is when he directly speaks aboutAurora 7. The book needed more of his direct imput. He should have spend a little more than pages on the last 30 years of his life.I think it is better than Cooper's book.bruceRegarding Fra Mauro's statement about Scott's book spending too much time criticizing Chris Kraft, I would offer this. Mr. Kraft spent an entire chapter ("The Man Malfunctioned") criticizing Scott personally and not once mentioning Aurora 7's faulty horizon pitch scanner, which plagued him throughout the entire flight. True to his character, Scott has just sucked up any over-shoot criticism for the past 40 years. I'm glad he finally wrote about it. Further, I know people who worked at JSC during Mercury and Gemini who were asked to proof-read Kraft's book prior to publication. They did so and made corrections and suggestions to many of Kraft's "memories". None of them (zero) were ever taken into consideration. I will not name names, but one very well known Mission Control person was amazed at the book's "agenda". While I certainly do appreciate Mr. Kraft's many significant contributions to the space program, I do not know him personally so I will not write here what others have said to me about certain resemblances to Chris Kraft and that of a donkey.As for Scott "turning down" a Gemini mission, it was never in the cards. When Chris Kraft had a grudge against someone in those days, their fates were sealed.I spent about 2 hours talking one on one with Chris Kraft after his book came out. He seemed somewhat uptight, defensive and even made emphatic statements that contradicted known facts about the Mercury control systems. On the other hand, you will never meet a nicer, more friendly guy than Scott Carpenter. Best Regards,BruceOPOSThanks for your insight Bruce. While I have never had private conversations with persons who would know Krafts motives first hand, I think back to a response he gave me to a question I asked him once. I asked why space to ground audio still sounded terrible (most of our audio today comes from space anyway- why not make astronauts sound good?)His reply was "why would they want to?" I think that captures the essence of the diffences between Kraft and Carpenter.Tom EdmondschetPerhaps we should get a graphologist to study Kraft's signature; this may tell us more. And if there's a twofer rate, Carpenter's as well.-ChetFra MauroI met Carpenter also and he seems to be a genuine person. I think the most balanced account of his flight comes from Eugene Kranzbook, where he states both the problems of the ground and the astronaut during Aurora 7.eurospace quote:Originally posted by chet:Perhaps we should get a graphologist to study Kraft's signature; this may tell us more. And if there's a twofer rate, Carpenter's as well.-ChetI seem to remember from Kraft's book that his hand suffered an injury during childhood. In that case, a graphological analysis would probably yield no results other than stating that his handwritng is strongly influenced by this injury.------------------Jürgen P EsdersBerlin, Germanyhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies
------------------Jake Schultz - curator,Newport Way Air Museum (OK, it's just my home)
quote:Originally posted by Fra Mauro:I just finished "Spacious Skies," by ScottCarpenter & his daughter. Did anybody else read it and want to share a reaction?
Finished mine about three weeks ago.
One of the better astronaut books, I think. The gruelsome family situation is more modern than most astronaut childhood stories I have read. His accounts of the situation in the astronaut office and with Chris Kraft add detail and another point of view to the existing accounts. His detailed report about his Mercury flight makes his experience come to live - you share every second of the mission, it seems. Better even, the collaboration of his daughter made the book a well researched report of almost scientific value, much better stuff than some other biopics that seem to be written by "now I tell you all the anecdotes and you write them down" rule.
------------------Jürgen P EsdersBerlin, Germanyhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies
Further, I know people who worked at JSC during Mercury and Gemini who were asked to proof-read Kraft's book prior to publication. They did so and made corrections and suggestions to many of Kraft's "memories". None of them (zero) were ever taken into consideration. I will not name names, but one very well known Mission Control person was amazed at the book's "agenda". While I certainly do appreciate Mr. Kraft's many significant contributions to the space program, I do not know him personally so I will not write here what others have said to me about certain resemblances to Chris Kraft and that of a donkey.
As for Scott "turning down" a Gemini mission, it was never in the cards. When Chris Kraft had a grudge against someone in those days, their fates were sealed.
I spent about 2 hours talking one on one with Chris Kraft after his book came out. He seemed somewhat uptight, defensive and even made emphatic statements that contradicted known facts about the Mercury control systems. On the other hand, you will never meet a nicer, more friendly guy than Scott Carpenter.
Best Regards,Bruce
Tom Edmonds
-Chet
quote:Originally posted by chet:Perhaps we should get a graphologist to study Kraft's signature; this may tell us more. And if there's a twofer rate, Carpenter's as well.-Chet
I seem to remember from Kraft's book that his hand suffered an injury during childhood.
In that case, a graphological analysis would probably yield no results other than stating that his handwritng is strongly influenced by this injury.
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