posted 09-05-2010 08:36 PM               

You know, this has my wife now reading collectSPACE!

To answer the question from GoesTo11, yes - this is my first published book. I had two others I was working on when the opportunity came up for Ambassadors. But they were just personal ventures, so I quickly set them aside to dive into the worlds of Explorer, Ranger, Voyager, and the others.

posted 11-10-2010 09:39 PM               

I will try to get a few shots of the event and post them here!

posted 11-17-2010 08:51 PM               

Anne and I flew in yesterday morning, and I was able to catch a bit of the ISS-themed conference that afternoon. Pretty fascinating stuff! I was particularly intrigued by the challenges of recycling wastewater aboard the station.

At 6pm the AAS held their awards reception. We enjoyed some magnificent pastas, sauces, and other nibblers. Anne downed what I believe was her sixth or seventh Diet Coke of the day.

The AAS presented several awards before the Emme. I'm sure glad they did because after the first few, I totally slashed what I planned to say - trimming my comments down to a length which I hoped would not put people to sleep!

I did take the opportunity to thank Anne, my sons, the University of Nebraska Press, and my editor Colin Burgess.

I also mentioned the great work (and comradeship) offered by other space history writers such as Asif Siddiqi, Philip Corneille, Paolo Ulivi, and Brian Harvey. "You guys are my support group!" I told the audience.

After that we did some pictures. Here's a shot of me with Michael Ciancone, who is the Chair of the AAS History Committee.

Former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin was at the table next to ours, but he departed before I had a chance to ask for a picture with him.

I was able to speak with some really nice folks from Lockheed Martin, JPL, and other organizations. These people do such amazing work; I am constantly in awe of their accomplishments.

Many thanks to everyone out there for making us Gallentines feel so welcome! Michael Ciancone and Jim Kirkpatrick from the AAS were gracious hosts; the greeters went out of their way to help me navigate the conference.

A very big thrill for me was the opportunity to meet and spend a bit of time with Jim Burke. Mr. Burke was one of the key individuals behind the JPL/NASA 'Ranger' program of the early 1960s and is a central character in 'Ambassadors'. I interviewed and worked with him extensively, but we'd never had the chance to meet.

Finally, a shot of myself with Jim Burke:

And of course, I couldn't resist asking this living legend to sign a picture!

This morning, Anne and I climbed aboard a plane - leaving the hot Florida sun for a 35-degree overcast Minnesota day.

posted 11-18-2010 01:26 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by MCroft04:
Why not attend the 2011 ASF show at KSC?

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posted 02-21-2011 06:06 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay Gallentine:
....In the mean time, I am still trying to explain to my conspiracy-minded co-worker that we really did land people on the moon.

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Jay, has he seen the "Mythbusters" episode debunking the "Apollo hoax"? If not, try to get a copy for him. It does a pretty comprehensive demolition job without getting too technical. Demonstration is far more effective than endless explanation.

posted 02-21-2011 10:12 PM               

And it's great to know that cS is filled with so many die-hards. The 'unabridged' version of Ambassadors went into much more detail about early Soviet rocketry, Ranger, and the Voyager Record. Perhaps the most painful section to cut out was the additional material about the University of Iowa Physics Department and their work on Pioneer 3 and 4. Truth be told, I could have done an entire book on just the Iowans!

All in all though, I'd have to say that the book does flow much better in its current trimmed-down state.

Many have asked why I spent so many pages on Ranger. Well, this was the first time NASA and JPL ran a program together, and everyone was trying to figure out how in the heck to do this work. I thought some extra time behind the scenes would help people understand what it took to lay the foundation for future space mission operations.

Others have asked why I spent so much time on the story of Michael Minovitch. Exactly what he did and did not do, who said what and when, what happened to his computer program, and exactly how Voyager originated, is discussed and debated to this very day - up and down the JPL hallways, in other books, as well as on-line. The story in Ambassadors about the Voyager quiz bowl says it all. Not even old-time JPL'ers knew what really happened!

posted 03-05-2012 07:28 AM            

I know there have been equivocal comments on Amazon.com about some of the writing style, but I loved it. The almost colloquial way of explaining some concepts was very refreshing.

Highlights for me were the detail in the later chapters covering the Yoyager missions, which became more nostalgic toward the Uranus and Neptune encounters (which were beyond the original mission budget, even though the mission planners hoped they would reach those destinations, which they did), and the absolutely fascinating decades-long "feud" over the true invention of gravity-assist outer planetary trajectories, between Mike Minovitch, Gary Flandro and others associated with JPL in the early days. I have never heard this stuff before, but it was an absolutely fascinating read.

Just momentarily, this book succeeded in convincing me that unmanned probes can be more exciting than the manned space program.

posted 03-06-2012 07:55 PM               

If you have any questions about the material, just let me know.

posted 05-14-2012 10:45 PM               

A story that is only slightly funny: my wife came home the other day and looked at the stack of new library books on the counter. From it she unearthed a copy of Ambassadors and asked, "You checked out your own book??"

I tried to explain that I had been wondering if our library had received the Emme stickers, and if they'd actually been applied to the covers. I said I was somewhat surprised that the stickers were put on over top of the clear dust covers, but pleased that they made it on at all.

posted 05-14-2012 11:15 PM               

I wrote major sections of Ambassadors while sitting at my son's gymnastics practices. The other parents spent about ten months wondering what in the world that guy was doing over there coming in with book bags full of binders and other materials and spreading them all out in front of a laptop.

Then about ten months later we were all volunteering at a meet and someone finally asked, "We're all kind of curious just what you're doing with all those materials day after day!" That was kind of funny because I'd been rather unaware of the mystery that a lot of those folks went home with. I was 'The guy who's working on something all the time.' A few people thought I was a teacher prepping never-ending lesson plans.

posted 04-15-2013 07:47 PM               

- Libel
- Slander of Title
- Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage
- Misappropriation of Right of Publicity
- Unfair Competition
- Declaratory Relief

Dr. Minovitch demanded a jury trial on the above-named charges. He sought to halt publication of Ambassadors from Earth and, in his words, "Disgorge me of my ill-gotten gains." He wanted a large settlement, along with a determination by the court of who actually 'invented' gravity assist.

In addition to myself, he also sued Caltech (in their entirety), along with 'John Does No. 1-20' whom, he alleged, were un-named co-conspirators, along with myself, in a plot to deny him 'official credit' for the invention of gravity-assist propulsion. I had thirty days to respond or he could petition the court for a default judgement against us.

A couple days before the deadline, both Caltech and myself did submit responses and request hearings.

On February 26th, Dr. Minovitch voluntarily dismissed the case. I am now back to writing.