How NASA’s Progress ‘Episode ’78’ Changed the Face of Space Travel

The New Men: A History of the Astronauts Who Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel Meredith Bagby William Morrow (2023)

In the year Growing up in racially segregated South Carolina in the 1950s, Ronald McNair fell flat on his face behind the door. The public pool was for whites only, so he couldn’t learn to swim. When he was nine years old, a librarian called the police on him for borrowing calculus books.

McNair fought racism and studied physics at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro—a historically black institution—and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. In the year In 1978, NASA selected him as a finalist to become an astronaut in the first group that included women, people of color and scientists. Its pioneering class includes Sally Ride, the first US woman in space. Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian American in space; and Guion Bluford, the first African American in space.

Fifty years after astronauts leave the moon, they return. why?

with The new boys, film producer and former journalist Meredith Bagby has produced a comprehensive and easily readable narrative about this team of American astronauts. She didn’t break new ground in describing their experience and the team’s role in space history. But she also discussed the historical nature of their choices and, more importantly, how they helped shape NASA’s space shuttle program. From the first flight in 1981 to

The Mercury Seven, NASA’s first astronaut class selected in 1959, consisted of John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Gus Grissom. The next six groups were in a similar vein: all white, male military pilots were lionized for getting “the right thing.” Then came the class of 1978. Of the 35 new astronauts, there were 14 civilians, 6 women and 4 colored men.

It was a time of great change for NASA. The Apollo Moon program wound down, and NASA planned to build a reusable spacecraft that would launch and land like an airplane. Astronauts on this vehicle deploy military and scientific satellites into space. It was time for a new kind of astronaut for a new spaceship.

Breaking prejudice

Bagby draws on the experiences of her space shuttle era astronauts to focus on women entering new roles. They include Ride, a gay woman who stayed in the closet during her time at NASA because the agency wouldn’t hire otherwise. Geologist Catherine Sullivan; Physicians Rhea Seddon and Anna Fisher; biochemist Shannon Lucid; and engineer Judith Resnick.

In the year By the late 1970s, the view in most NASA ranks was that the agency had lowered its standards to accept a more diverse unit, and the unit was titled “Those Fucking New Guys.” John Glenn and Chuck Yeager, prominent “right stuff” pilots, were among those who fought against the hiring of women astronauts. Yeager’s resistance probably helped keep Black’s test pilot, Ed Dwight, from joining the old class.

As NASA focuses on deploying larger satellites, Bagby’s narrative shines as it explores the first spacecraft. For example, in 1990, Sullivan helped launch the Hubble Space Telescope; This large area cannot be moved around on any vehicle.

Space Shuttle Astronauts It is easy to forget that in 1984 the first in-orbit satellite maintenance by the Sun’s High Mission Observatory and deployments such as the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Ulysses mission to study the Sun. But the push to fly as often as possible to meet customer demand quickly caught on with NASA. Since 1983, cost cutting has meant fewer engineers, fewer inspections, and less time and attention spent on thorny mechanical issues.

On different flights in January 1985 and April 1985, Onizuka and crew member Frederick Gregory were unwittingly near-death when the O-rings that helped seal the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters nearly failed. Faced with long scheduled launches, NASA managers overcame concerns raised by contractors. In January 1986, four members of the team – McNair, Onizuka, Resnick and Richard Scobie – were in the space shuttle along with three other astronauts. Challenging‘The O-rings failed right after take off, causing an explosion that killed everyone.

A $93 billion plan to return astronauts to the moon

Ride served on the panel investigating those deaths, and helped bring the O-ring scandal to public light. The accident ended the spacecraft’s role in deploying satellites and cooperating with the military.

However, Ride in 2010 In 2003, she met again on the investigative panel – this time regarding the fatal accident of the shuttle Colombia, which disintegrated shortly before landing because foam from the fuel tank during takeoff damaged the craft’s thermal insulation panels. as with Challenging, NASA culture was responsible. Mission control didn’t even notify. Colombia “This item is not even worth mentioning, other than to not surprise you with a question from a journalist,” he said of the foam strike, which lasted nearly 16 days to a week.

After astronauts completed construction on the International Space Station, NASA launched the shuttles in 2010.

Most of the information in The new boys It can be found elsewhere. 2020 book by David Shayler and Colin Burgess NASA’s first space shuttle astronaut’s choice It contains more technical details on the 1978 section. Sociologist Diane Vaughan The challenge is the launch decision (1996) is an accurate account of the disaster situation. Many popular stories about the shuttle program include journalist Pat Duggins’ 2007 book Final count. But The new boys It succeeds in providing a comprehensive and engaging overview of this period in the history of space exploration.

Today, NASA astronauts are very diverse; Last year, the European Space Agency announced former Paralympic athlete John McFall as the world’s first disabled astronaut candidate. We can all thank Fucking New Guys for that.

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.