Mission: An American Congressman's Voyage to Space

by Bill Nelson, Jamie Buckingham

An account of one American's adventure in space and an inspiring call for the nation to recapture the lead in space exploration. More than just the journal a voyage, this book offers a clear, aggressive plan of action for America's role in space.

Genres: Space, Science

334 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Bill Nelson is a politician who first served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979. He then served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1991. After returning to local Florida politics, he was elected to the United States Senate in 2000.

In January 1986, he became the first sitting member of the U.S. Congress to fly into space when he served as a payload specialist on the space shuttle Columbia.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I'm sure the U.S. space program has changed much since the late 1980s, this is till an interesting inside view of the space shuttle program. The first half mostly covers Nelson's NASA training and his 1986 Columbia mission; the second half covers the science research being done in space, its applications in the business world, and future planned space exploration missions.