posted 08-30-2007 07:47 PM               

As the United States and the Soviet Union went from exploring space to living in it, a space station was conceived as the logical successor to the Apollo moon program. But between conception and execution there was the vastness of space itself, to say nothing of monumental technological challenges. Homesteading Space, by two of Skylab's own astronauts and a NASA journalist, tells the dramatic story of America's first space station from beginning to fiery end.

Homesteading Space is much more than a story of technological and scientific success; it is also an absorbing, sometimes humorous, often inspiring account of the determined, hardworking individuals who shepherded the program through a near-disastrous launch, a heroic rescue, and an exhausting study of Comet Kohoutek, as well as the lab's ultimate descent into the Indian Ocean. Featuring the unpublished in-flight diary of astronaut Alan Bean, the book is replete with the personal recollections and experiences of the Skylab crew and those who worked with them in training, during the mission, and in bringing them safely home.

• Hardcover, 548 pages
  
• University of Nebraska Press (November 1, 2008)
  
• ISBN-10: 0803224346
  
• ISBN-13: 978-0803224346

posted 09-07-2007 10:05 AM               

Since the book is still in the editing phase at the publisher, I'm reluctant to discuss exactly who or what is in the book, since that may be subject to changes beyond our control.

I will say that the scope of the book is much larger than the actual manned period in chronology and larger not only than flight crew, but ops in general, in content.

Obviously, in a book of any size about a subject with this much depth to it, there's no way to tell every story, but we've tried to cover as broad a spectrum of the experience as possible.

posted 09-08-2007 09:35 PM            

From my outside perspective, the flight controllers get a large amount of attention and respect for their efforts in the book. For example, long after the astronauts had finished with missions to Skylab, the difficult, fascinating and often-overlooked efforts of the Skylab reentry flight control team are explained with first-hand input from many key members. People forget (or never knew) how much active work was done from mission control to try and create a safe Skylab re-entry, and the story is a fascinating one.

I feel that it should be pointed out too that even if this was "yet another astronaut book," that would not be a bad thing for this subject. Because there has never been an astronaut book like this about Skylab for this to be "another" of. Unlike other histories and memoirs of the human spaceflight era, there has not been an astronaut-penned book for adults dedicated to chronicling this amazing program.

posted 09-09-2007 12:01 PM               

I feel obligated to make one small factual correction. I still have a copy of your e-mail of 5 Sept. 2006 deferring from participation in the book.

posted 09-09-2007 12:56 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by DavidH:
I still have a copy of your e-mail of 5 Sept. 2006 deferring from participation in the book.

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posted 03-12-2008 03:10 PM               

The dark spine will match up with the three previous volumes.

posted 04-09-2008 09:05 AM            

One sentence of yours puzzled me, however — is there such a thing as "yet another astronaut book" when it comes to Skylab?

It was one of the most amazing space programs ever carried out, with a huge amount of drama and achievement — and yet I can't think of a single book written by Skylab astronauts for adults about the program - before this one.

The nearest we have had is:

• Alan Bean and Bill Pogue writing slim space books for children, neither wholly devoted to Skylab.

• An authorized biography of Jerry Carr by David Shayler, which has yet to be published.

• A biography of Pete Conrad by his widow.

• Space-themed science fiction novels by Bill Pogue and Ed Gibson, a book of Apollo paintings by Bean, and science textbooks by Owen Garriott and Ed Gibson.

posted 04-09-2008 04:51 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Naraht:
It's just that I personally am not interested in reading books primarily about the astronauts.

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I think you'll be pleased by the broad scope of this book when it does come out, and find plenty of interesting non-astronaut stories in there. I know that I did when reading the draft.

posted 04-10-2008 09:51 AM               

(From a personal perspective, the idea that there's even a possibility that I've co-authored "yet another astronaut book" is kind of cool.)

Obviously, it's not going to be unusual for a book about a human spaceflight program to pay a fair amount of attention to the in-space operations, and Homesteading is no exception. However, a pretty fair amount of the book takes place on the ground, as well.

The book is also not a memoir; my co-authors' personal experiences and recollections certainly are a key foundation of the book, but, in the end, they are just two characters in a larger cast.

I initially approached Owen about working with him on his memoir; after we heard about this project from Colin, he decided that he was much more interested in telling the story of Skylab than his own personal story.

And, ultimately, that's what we've tried to do. Writing the book was an amazing experience because of the sheer level of passion everybody we talked to had for Skylab, from the grunt-level engineers to George Mueller. They were so excited that the story was finally being told like this.

And that, more than anything, was ultimately our goal for the project -- that the story not be lost; that the story of those people's labor of love be recorded for history. There's no way, of course, that we could do justice to all those people, or even to a fraction of the different types of contributions that were made. But we hope that we've captured some impression of what went into making Skylab happen.

posted 10-09-2008 10:18 PM            

Congratulations David! About the best "book launch" you could hope for!

posted 10-15-2008 07:04 PM               

Update: It officially exists.

posted 10-22-2008 07:33 AM               

A friend of mine who writes music was inspired to create a Homesteading Space Fanfare for the book.

posted 10-22-2008 06:05 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by cspg:
An advanced reading copy of some sort?

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posted 11-24-2008 06:07 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay Chladek:
In summary, he gives it good marks.

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posted 01-13-2009 02:28 PM               

Homesteading Space is not just about the scientific knowledge that was obtained in orbit – this is the story of the astronauts who conducted the experiments, who lived in space for weeks or months at a time, and how they coped. Skylab provided an enormous opportunity for individual cooperation and perseverance, for there were numerous problems that could have easily prevented the program from happening at all. But, each time, the astronauts and their ground support were able to overcome each problem and continue onwards...

posted 02-06-2009 06:32 PM               

Homesteading Space, the story of Skylab, is another outstanding addition to the very popular Outward Odyssey series! This installment, like its predecessors, includes numerous insightful and humorous personal stories, many previously untold, of the brave men who flew these pioneering missions.

I often had the feeling while reading the book that I was at a cocktail party shooting the breeze with these brave heroes as well as many of the support personnel responsible for getting the missions off the ground.

Most enjoyable is the focus on the wonderful leadership skills of Commander Alan Bean during the second manned Skylab mission. Astronaut Bean seemed to walk in the shadow of Commander Pete Conrad on his earlier Apollo 12 mission to the moon where Bean was the Lunar Module Pilot, but I always felt that if called upon that Bean could have taken command and done an equally impressive job. On Bean's Skylab mission he proved his command and leadership skills, and Homesteading Space helps the reader understand Bean's leadership style and passion.

But all nine of the Skylab astronauts are showcased in this wonderful story of America's first space station, giving the reader a close-up look at what it took to test the unknowns of long duration space flight. The book also highlights how the pilot and scientist astronauts worked together as a team to ensure all scientific experiments were carried out as planned.

Homesteading Space tells the human story of a pioneering space mission that proved humans could live and work for long durations in outer space, and paved the way for the International Space Station! It's more than a story about pioneering exploration; it conveys to the reader what it was like to live for months in outer space!