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The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger Disaster
The untold story of a national trauma—NASA’s Challenger explosion—and what really happened to America’s Teacher in Space, illuminating the tragic cost of humanity setting its sight on the stars
You’ve seen the pictures. You think you know what happened. You do not.
On the morning of January 28, 1986, NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after blasting off from Cape Canaveral. Christa McAuliffe, America’s “Teacher in Space,” was instantly killed, along with the other six members of the mission. Right? Wrong.
Thirty-five years after NASA’s revitalization program literally went up in smoke, Kevin Cook uncovers the untold story of the disastrous order to launch on an ice-cold Florida day. For the first time, he takes readers inside the shuttle for those agonizing two minutes and forty-five seconds after the fire, which, yes, some of the astronauts survived.
But this is more than a simple corrective to a now-dimming memory. Centering on McAuliffe, a charmingly ordinary civilian on the cusp of history, The Burning Blue animates the mission’s colorful cast of characters, which featured the second female astronaut (who was also the first Jewish astronaut), the second Black one, and the first Asian-American and Buddhist in space. Drawing intimate portraits of the people wearing the spacesuits and detailing how they earned the right to suit up, Cook makes readers temporarily forget the tragedy toward which the tale is hurtling. Infused with drama, immediacy, and compelling characters, The Burning Blue reveals the human price paid for politics and capital-P Progress on that ill-fated, unforgettable morning.
You’ve seen the pictures. You think you know what happened. You do not.
On the morning of January 28, 1986, NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after blasting off from Cape Canaveral. Christa McAuliffe, America’s “Teacher in Space,” was instantly killed, along with the other six members of the mission. Right? Wrong.
Thirty-five years after NASA’s revitalization program literally went up in smoke, Kevin Cook uncovers the untold story of the disastrous order to launch on an ice-cold Florida day. For the first time, he takes readers inside the shuttle for those agonizing two minutes and forty-five seconds after the fire, which, yes, some of the astronauts survived.
But this is more than a simple corrective to a now-dimming memory. Centering on McAuliffe, a charmingly ordinary civilian on the cusp of history, The Burning Blue animates the mission’s colorful cast of characters, which featured the second female astronaut (who was also the first Jewish astronaut), the second Black one, and the first Asian-American and Buddhist in space. Drawing intimate portraits of the people wearing the spacesuits and detailing how they earned the right to suit up, Cook makes readers temporarily forget the tragedy toward which the tale is hurtling. Infused with drama, immediacy, and compelling characters, The Burning Blue reveals the human price paid for politics and capital-P Progress on that ill-fated, unforgettable morning.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published June 8, 2021
101 people are currently reading
3330 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Cook
67 books120 followersKevin Cook, the award-winning author of Titanic Thompson and Tommy’s Honor, has written for the New York Times, the Daily News, GQ, Men’s Journal, Vogue, and many other publications, and has appeared on CNN and Fox TV. He lives in New York City.
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January 21, 2022
"I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early fantasies. I watched the 'Space Age' being born, and I would like to participate . . . " -- from Christa McAuliffe's essay portion of her 'Teacher in Space' application to NASA, in 1984
My first 5-star read of 2022, Cook's The Burning Blue harkens back to an American historical event that serves as one of those generational touchstones - much like JFK's assassination or the 9/11 attacks - in which an individual can likely recall 'where they were' upon hearing devastating news. For my fellow Gen-Xers, we experienced President Ronald Reagan's thwarted assassination attempt five years earlier, but likely more affecting to us was the space shuttle Challenger explosion in late January 1986, which horrifically killed the seven crew members in front of a nationwide televised audience shortly after liftoff. It was all the more shocking as this mission boasted NASA's inaugural 'Teacher in Space' program, in which Christa McAuliffe - a happily married 37 year-old social studies instructor from New England, and a mother of two young children - was famously one of the victims.
What was really amazing and noteworthy about The Burning Blue is just how much author Cook is able to deftly disseminate in only 250 pages. Nothing or no one gets the so-called short-shrift here - McAuliffe's six fellow crew members (and their families) are discussed at length, the involved training / preparation segments are reasonably well-explained, and the requisite post-incident investigation interestingly takes care to not make a single person the easy villain of the piece. I thought this was an admirably fair and compassionate examination of a tragedy that, sadly, could have been avoided.
My first 5-star read of 2022, Cook's The Burning Blue harkens back to an American historical event that serves as one of those generational touchstones - much like JFK's assassination or the 9/11 attacks - in which an individual can likely recall 'where they were' upon hearing devastating news. For my fellow Gen-Xers, we experienced President Ronald Reagan's thwarted assassination attempt five years earlier, but likely more affecting to us was the space shuttle Challenger explosion in late January 1986, which horrifically killed the seven crew members in front of a nationwide televised audience shortly after liftoff. It was all the more shocking as this mission boasted NASA's inaugural 'Teacher in Space' program, in which Christa McAuliffe - a happily married 37 year-old social studies instructor from New England, and a mother of two young children - was famously one of the victims.
What was really amazing and noteworthy about The Burning Blue is just how much author Cook is able to deftly disseminate in only 250 pages. Nothing or no one gets the so-called short-shrift here - McAuliffe's six fellow crew members (and their families) are discussed at length, the involved training / preparation segments are reasonably well-explained, and the requisite post-incident investigation interestingly takes care to not make a single person the easy villain of the piece. I thought this was an admirably fair and compassionate examination of a tragedy that, sadly, could have been avoided.
July 19, 2021
***SPOILERS HIDDEN***
The 1986 Challenger explosion was one of those “Where were you when…?” moments that’s seared into the memories of so many. It was tragic in itself but even more so because Christa McAuliffe was on board. She was a regular woman, a social studies teacher from New Hampshire, who'd been chosen out of thousands of applicants for a new "Teacher in Space" program. Author Kevin Cook wanted to probe beyond the 1986 images and video of both the explosion and McAuliffe to expose why Challenger exploded and to show who McAuliffe really was.
Told in an easy-going style, The Burning Blue starts at the very beginning, with foundational information about the role of politics and public interest in the space program, and then it moves on to Challenger itself; its seven-person crew; and, of course, the explosion. Politics and the explosion are linked. The space program was at the height of popularity in the 1960s, but public interest in, and support of, space exploration waned as years passed. President Reagan wanted to bring it back to its moon-landing glory days. The "Teacher in Space" program began getting drawn up in 1984, an election year. After Reagan drew the ire of teachers with budget cuts to the National Education Association, the special program was created to both renew public interest in space exploration and win teachers’ votes. It was in this political and social context that Challenger exploded and then crashed into the sea at 200 G.
The explosion was preventable.
The Burning Blue’s subtitle implies that McAuliffe and Challenger get equal attention, but really, this is about Challenger first and McAuliffe second. The book is very NASA- and astronomy-focused and could have been more accessible to the casual reader. Cook didn't get into the actual science of astronomy, but he wrote a lot about rocket statistics and technical details. Discussion of boosters, engines, fuselage, parts called O-rings, and the layout of the rocket’s interior get a lot of page space. This could be ok, except he discussed these things under the assumption that the reader knows what they are and how they look. Some illustrations and basic diagrams would’ve been very helpful.
As fascinating as The Burning Blue can be, it’s never gripping or really moving. McAuliffe gets plenty of attention but not enough to humanize her beyond her curated media persona. In the many preparatory months before the launch, what the public learned about her is that she was an exuberant woman who was passionate about teaching. After she was chosen, the public watched her fall naturally into the role of celebrity. Requests for interviews were numerous, and she happily obliged. Those asking for autographs got them. In a parade, she cheerfully waved to the crowd. Best of all for NASA, she was brave, expressing full faith in the program and its safety, likening the safety of space travel to routine air travel. What’s known about her now, after reading The Burning Blue, is pretty much the same. Cook wrote a lot about the other six on board too, including very impressive personal and professional details about each (some more than others), but it takes more than that to really humanize people, and their portrayals are no more complete than McAuliffe’s.
The “note on sources” section in the back proves that Cook did his homework, researching in all the standard ways: interviewing family members and friends, studying documents, watching footage, and so on, and the book is very thorough when it comes to the facts of Challenger and events leading up to, and after, the explosion. But when it came to those who died, he didn’t transform simple names on a page into complex people. This isn’t impossible. Plenty of investigative journalists have managed to humanize very successfully using the same research materials--and with more inscrutable, less appealing characters. The story of the Challenger explosion is sad for sure, but in Cook’s telling, it doesn’t break the heart.
The Burning Blue will appeal most to astronomy geeks. Everyday readers interested in the Challenger explosion will get all the insider details they’re hoping for. Few readers will find it satisfying as an emotional portrait of the humans involved, and they may be confused by the abundance of technical descriptions. This isn’t a horrible book by any stretch, but it could’ve been much better.
NOTE: I received this as an Advance Reader Copy from LibraryThing in June 2021.
The 1986 Challenger explosion was one of those “Where were you when…?” moments that’s seared into the memories of so many. It was tragic in itself but even more so because Christa McAuliffe was on board. She was a regular woman, a social studies teacher from New Hampshire, who'd been chosen out of thousands of applicants for a new "Teacher in Space" program. Author Kevin Cook wanted to probe beyond the 1986 images and video of both the explosion and McAuliffe to expose why Challenger exploded and to show who McAuliffe really was.
Told in an easy-going style, The Burning Blue starts at the very beginning, with foundational information about the role of politics and public interest in the space program, and then it moves on to Challenger itself; its seven-person crew; and, of course, the explosion. Politics and the explosion are linked. The space program was at the height of popularity in the 1960s, but public interest in, and support of, space exploration waned as years passed. President Reagan wanted to bring it back to its moon-landing glory days. The "Teacher in Space" program began getting drawn up in 1984, an election year. After Reagan drew the ire of teachers with budget cuts to the National Education Association, the special program was created to both renew public interest in space exploration and win teachers’ votes. It was in this political and social context that Challenger exploded and then crashed into the sea at 200 G.
The explosion was preventable.
The Burning Blue’s subtitle implies that McAuliffe and Challenger get equal attention, but really, this is about Challenger first and McAuliffe second. The book is very NASA- and astronomy-focused and could have been more accessible to the casual reader. Cook didn't get into the actual science of astronomy, but he wrote a lot about rocket statistics and technical details. Discussion of boosters, engines, fuselage, parts called O-rings, and the layout of the rocket’s interior get a lot of page space. This could be ok, except he discussed these things under the assumption that the reader knows what they are and how they look. Some illustrations and basic diagrams would’ve been very helpful.
As fascinating as The Burning Blue can be, it’s never gripping or really moving. McAuliffe gets plenty of attention but not enough to humanize her beyond her curated media persona. In the many preparatory months before the launch, what the public learned about her is that she was an exuberant woman who was passionate about teaching. After she was chosen, the public watched her fall naturally into the role of celebrity. Requests for interviews were numerous, and she happily obliged. Those asking for autographs got them. In a parade, she cheerfully waved to the crowd. Best of all for NASA, she was brave, expressing full faith in the program and its safety, likening the safety of space travel to routine air travel. What’s known about her now, after reading The Burning Blue, is pretty much the same. Cook wrote a lot about the other six on board too, including very impressive personal and professional details about each (some more than others), but it takes more than that to really humanize people, and their portrayals are no more complete than McAuliffe’s.
The “note on sources” section in the back proves that Cook did his homework, researching in all the standard ways: interviewing family members and friends, studying documents, watching footage, and so on, and the book is very thorough when it comes to the facts of Challenger and events leading up to, and after, the explosion. But when it came to those who died, he didn’t transform simple names on a page into complex people. This isn’t impossible. Plenty of investigative journalists have managed to humanize very successfully using the same research materials--and with more inscrutable, less appealing characters. The story of the Challenger explosion is sad for sure, but in Cook’s telling, it doesn’t break the heart.
The Burning Blue will appeal most to astronomy geeks. Everyday readers interested in the Challenger explosion will get all the insider details they’re hoping for. Few readers will find it satisfying as an emotional portrait of the humans involved, and they may be confused by the abundance of technical descriptions. This isn’t a horrible book by any stretch, but it could’ve been much better.
NOTE: I received this as an Advance Reader Copy from LibraryThing in June 2021.
August 12, 2021
The Burning Blue was so interesting. I had never read anything like this before. And although I had only just turned three when this heartbreaking disaster happened, I remember hearing about it throughout the years.
What an emotional read. The author did such a wonderful job introducing Christa McAuliffe and the other six crew members. I really got a feel for who each individual was. The backstory was fascinating and the details of the training that went into preparing for their launch was intense. I've seen it in movies but this book goes into great detail.
The launch and explosion was powerfully written. The transition from the crew, to the families/friends watching and then the teachers/students in the school was absolutely heartbreaking. I can't even begin to imagine how horrifying this situation was for everyone.
I also found myself feeling a lot of anger. To think that if protocols would have been followed properly, if it wasn't such a push to launch, and if a discovery that had been made prior to launch would have been followed up on ... perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided. (These of course are my own thoughts)
I highly recommend this book. It's a look into history and in my opinion, an important one.
Huge thank you to Henry Holt & Company for my gifted copy!
What an emotional read. The author did such a wonderful job introducing Christa McAuliffe and the other six crew members. I really got a feel for who each individual was. The backstory was fascinating and the details of the training that went into preparing for their launch was intense. I've seen it in movies but this book goes into great detail.
The launch and explosion was powerfully written. The transition from the crew, to the families/friends watching and then the teachers/students in the school was absolutely heartbreaking. I can't even begin to imagine how horrifying this situation was for everyone.
I also found myself feeling a lot of anger. To think that if protocols would have been followed properly, if it wasn't such a push to launch, and if a discovery that had been made prior to launch would have been followed up on ... perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided. (These of course are my own thoughts)
I highly recommend this book. It's a look into history and in my opinion, an important one.
Huge thank you to Henry Holt & Company for my gifted copy!
June 28, 2021
One of my earliest memories, watching the shuttle explode on TV was frightening and confusing. I remember seeing it shown again and again on the news and crying. I heard about the Challenger disaster here and there over the years, but it wasn't until now, 35 years later, having read The Burning Blue, that I fully understand what happened. This was an emotionally difficult read for me. I got to know Christa McAuliffe (the Teacher in Space), Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Gregory Jarvis, and even though I was well aware how the shuttle's story ended, when I came to that tragic point in the book, I couldn't help but hope they'd figure out a way to get back safely on the ground. How I wished I was reading a novel and the author could change the story and give us a happy ending instead. 💔
Overall a fascinating and thorough look into the lives of the seven Challenger crew members, the tragic explosion, the causes, and the aftermath.
Thank you Henry Holt Books for my gifted copy.
Overall a fascinating and thorough look into the lives of the seven Challenger crew members, the tragic explosion, the causes, and the aftermath.
Thank you Henry Holt Books for my gifted copy.
June 20, 2021
I really found this book so interesting. I remember The Challenger Disaster very well. It's definitely something that you can never forget. I remember I was in my fourth grade class and we were watching it live on TV. I remember the heartbreak everyone felt watching it. The teachers just having tears in their eyes...in complete shock!
The author did an amazing job introducing Christa McAuliffe and the crew members to the reader. Getting to know who they were on a more personal level. Then learning about the purpose of this mission, and the Teacher in Space project. I really enjoyed reading this now, because I was so young that I never really knew the details of this tragedy. You also read information about the aftermath of the disaster, the recovery of the bodies and shuttle, and the politics of it, which maybe that part I could've done without. All in all, I thought it was well written and we'll researched.
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!
The author did an amazing job introducing Christa McAuliffe and the crew members to the reader. Getting to know who they were on a more personal level. Then learning about the purpose of this mission, and the Teacher in Space project. I really enjoyed reading this now, because I was so young that I never really knew the details of this tragedy. You also read information about the aftermath of the disaster, the recovery of the bodies and shuttle, and the politics of it, which maybe that part I could've done without. All in all, I thought it was well written and we'll researched.
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!
April 2, 2021
It’s always going to be hard reading about a real life tragedy, knowing how it ends. That’s especially so when reading a book like this, which spends the first 50% introducing the reader to Christa McAuliffe and the other six Challenger astronauts on a personal, intimate level. The author did a wonderful job of presenting Christa and her family as the real people they are, who had every reason to believe the opportunity to join a space flight would be meaningful, productive, and above all, safe.
I was young when the Challenger disaster occurred - it’s my earliest memory of a major media event, and I really didn’t understand it at the time. I learned a lot from this about the people involved, the context of the mission and the Teacher in Space program, the legacy of the disaster, but most of all, I learned about some truly brave and accomplished people.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I was young when the Challenger disaster occurred - it’s my earliest memory of a major media event, and I really didn’t understand it at the time. I learned a lot from this about the people involved, the context of the mission and the Teacher in Space program, the legacy of the disaster, but most of all, I learned about some truly brave and accomplished people.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
January 10, 2022
Very fascinating and captivating read. Enormously gut-renching to turn pages describing the launch and subsequent disaster.
October 31, 2021
“Obviously a major malfunction.”
In many ways everything about the Challenger disaster typified the most crass excesses of Reaganite America, a big, brash and exorbitantly expensive exercise which was as much about political gain for an idiotic, egotistical man as it was for anything else it claimed to be doing.
I had no idea how little I knew about this disaster until I got into this book. There is a lot of really sound research and background info which really give us a well-rounded and informed picture of a tragedy that was all too avoidable.
We learn that in 1985 a warning memo was fired off, describing the booster as “a potentially major problem affecting flight safety.” Also another memo from an engineer typed on Morton Thiokol (the company who made faulty O-rings) letterhead, dated October 1, 1985 including and all caps plea of “HELP!”. Which expressed the engineers’ efforts to try and get help with serious issues regarding the O-rings, the last line read, “This is a red flag.”
Deadlines were more important than safety, political capital was paramount, even the cost of the search and rescue operation was ludicrous. Reagan was a moron, a deluded man-child who squandered billions on space related nonsense. The fact that so many Americans still regard him as the greatest ever president, tells you a lot more about America than it does Reagan.
The forensic detail is as morbid as it is fascinating and this approach reminds me of the likes of other quality disaster accounts, such as Dornstein’s “The Boy Who Fell Out of The Sky” and Moore’s “A Time To Die”. This is a highly readable and compelling account of a disaster which should not have happened.
“We all knew what the president wanted. What the agency wanted. What the system wanted.”
November 2, 2025
Christa McAuliffe was born in Boston in 1948. In 1985, McAuliffe was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to NASA's Teacher in Space Project and was scheduled to become the first teacher to fly in space. She was set to go into space on Challenger and teach two lessons via satellite link from space. Unfortunately, Challenger broke apart just over one minute after launch. Everyone on board was killed. This book discusses both the life before the disaster and the legacy left by McAuliffe to both the educational and space worlds. This was a decent read, especially if you are unfamiliar with this disaster.
September 15, 2021
I've been waiting a very long time for this book. My mother told me about the Challenger disaster when I was a boy (it occurred a year before I was born), and I've always been interested in it and the Space Shuttle era. Until now, there's never really been a go-to book on the accident; one that explores the lives of the crew, the lead-up, and aftermath. It's a tragic, poignant story, of course, but in that tragedy a kind of heroism emerges. So much was taken for granted that one forgets just how intrepid any mission to space really is. When you learn more about the crew, especially Christa McAuliffe, it makes it all the more resonant.
May 12, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. I think some of that has to be because I was almost 13 years old when it happened and I remember it. Reading the book and reliving that as an adult definitely allows me to look at if differently. I think of things very differently from my almost 13 year old self, like the children of those that died watching. That is just heartbreaking to me.
I think this book is well written, easy to read and full of things that I didn't know. It was interesting going back and reviewing this piece of history. It was nice to learn about each of those crew members and a bit of their personalities. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This is definitely one I would recommend. I didn't want to put it down. Not only do you get to know the crew, but you get a little peak into the families after the tragedy. I think Kevin Cook did a great job putting this together.
I think this book is well written, easy to read and full of things that I didn't know. It was interesting going back and reviewing this piece of history. It was nice to learn about each of those crew members and a bit of their personalities. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This is definitely one I would recommend. I didn't want to put it down. Not only do you get to know the crew, but you get a little peak into the families after the tragedy. I think Kevin Cook did a great job putting this together.
September 16, 2021
Originally published on my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
Kevin Cook does the narrative nonfiction genre proud in The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster. His story of America’s Teacher in Space and the whole Challenger story kept me absorbed on every page. Once I started, putting the book down was nearly impossible. Cook draws from a myriad of sources and lays out countless facts, but never loses track of the emotions in this tragic disaster.
Cook starts out with McAuliffe, her life, and how she became the Teacher in Space. He discusses her family life and how much her students loved her. As a student herself, McAuliffe loved the stories of women who pioneered to the West in America’s history. It’s no wonder she saw herself as a pioneer, going into space to show students that they could do even the most unexpected.
But there’s much more to this book and the Challenger Disaster. Cook introduces all the crew members, including their quirks and accomplishments. We also learn a little about their family backgrounds. More than anything, Cook delves into the science of space shuttles and the politics of NASA. These two aspects play the biggest part in the disaster of January 28, 1986.
Reading about them, I wondered how the space agency ever launched another flight. But Cook also explains how NASA and the US government unflinchingly examined what went wrong. And then how they moved to make changes.
My conclusions
The Burning Blue is everything I wish for in narrative nonfiction. I want the story to grip me, and read a bit like fiction. I appreciate relatable characters, despite the differences between our lives. Great narrative nonfiction also teaches me new things, which enlarges my perspective on life.
Cook manages all this in a medium-length book. His acknowledgments and notes prove the volume of research he did. Yet, this feels like intimate storytelling as well. It’s the perfect balance between facts and emotions.
For me, the Challenger disaster was an earlier version of 9/11. It’s a moment in time that I can describe in detail. I know who I was with, how I happened to watch live TV at just that moment, and what I said to my companion as we stood with our mouths agape and eyes full of tears. I feel the same about the next space shuttle flight, Discovery.
This book feels personal to me, despite my lack of any connection to NASA or space travel. Those memories are why I read the book, and why I’ll recommend it to anyone who asks about my recent favorites. It’s just that good.
Pair with my other favorite 2021 narrative nonfiction choice: We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese by Elizabeth Norman. The parallels are courageous female subjects and stellar writing. Otherwise, the topics are entirely divergent, which still makes for a meaningful pair.
As a side note, I also recommend the unique series from Apple TV called For All Mankind. It’s a mix of history and speculative fiction that pairs wonderfully with The Burning Blue. And additionally, it’s a little surreal to read this book and then watch the SpaceX “tourist” launch just a few days later.
Kevin Cook does the narrative nonfiction genre proud in The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster. His story of America’s Teacher in Space and the whole Challenger story kept me absorbed on every page. Once I started, putting the book down was nearly impossible. Cook draws from a myriad of sources and lays out countless facts, but never loses track of the emotions in this tragic disaster.
Cook starts out with McAuliffe, her life, and how she became the Teacher in Space. He discusses her family life and how much her students loved her. As a student herself, McAuliffe loved the stories of women who pioneered to the West in America’s history. It’s no wonder she saw herself as a pioneer, going into space to show students that they could do even the most unexpected.
But there’s much more to this book and the Challenger Disaster. Cook introduces all the crew members, including their quirks and accomplishments. We also learn a little about their family backgrounds. More than anything, Cook delves into the science of space shuttles and the politics of NASA. These two aspects play the biggest part in the disaster of January 28, 1986.
Reading about them, I wondered how the space agency ever launched another flight. But Cook also explains how NASA and the US government unflinchingly examined what went wrong. And then how they moved to make changes.
My conclusions
The Burning Blue is everything I wish for in narrative nonfiction. I want the story to grip me, and read a bit like fiction. I appreciate relatable characters, despite the differences between our lives. Great narrative nonfiction also teaches me new things, which enlarges my perspective on life.
Cook manages all this in a medium-length book. His acknowledgments and notes prove the volume of research he did. Yet, this feels like intimate storytelling as well. It’s the perfect balance between facts and emotions.
For me, the Challenger disaster was an earlier version of 9/11. It’s a moment in time that I can describe in detail. I know who I was with, how I happened to watch live TV at just that moment, and what I said to my companion as we stood with our mouths agape and eyes full of tears. I feel the same about the next space shuttle flight, Discovery.
This book feels personal to me, despite my lack of any connection to NASA or space travel. Those memories are why I read the book, and why I’ll recommend it to anyone who asks about my recent favorites. It’s just that good.
Pair with my other favorite 2021 narrative nonfiction choice: We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese by Elizabeth Norman. The parallels are courageous female subjects and stellar writing. Otherwise, the topics are entirely divergent, which still makes for a meaningful pair.
As a side note, I also recommend the unique series from Apple TV called For All Mankind. It’s a mix of history and speculative fiction that pairs wonderfully with The Burning Blue. And additionally, it’s a little surreal to read this book and then watch the SpaceX “tourist” launch just a few days later.
August 31, 2021
Told compassionately and compellingly, this is the story of Christa McAuliffe, the “Teacher in Space,” and the Challenger crew that lifted off on a cold January day in 1986, and found itself in disaster only a moment later.
I can remember watching the explosion as a seven year old child, having no idea that the crew cabin survived the explosion, only to fall into the ocean. Back then, no one was talking about the now known o ring problem, or the speculation about who may have forced the launch at threat of funding cuts. This book does a good job of covering the human side of the story and balancing it with the behind-the-scenes beaurocracy that may have put money and appearances ahead of the safety of astronauts and civilians.
It was interesting to read this around the same time that Branson and Bezos became some of the first billionaires in space. Have we learned enough in the past sixty years to safely begin sending civilians to the stars? Furthermore, should we?
Reading this book didn’t answer those questions, but it did give me a better look at the people we lost that day. I hope we’re doing better by them.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a gifted copy of the book!
I can remember watching the explosion as a seven year old child, having no idea that the crew cabin survived the explosion, only to fall into the ocean. Back then, no one was talking about the now known o ring problem, or the speculation about who may have forced the launch at threat of funding cuts. This book does a good job of covering the human side of the story and balancing it with the behind-the-scenes beaurocracy that may have put money and appearances ahead of the safety of astronauts and civilians.
It was interesting to read this around the same time that Branson and Bezos became some of the first billionaires in space. Have we learned enough in the past sixty years to safely begin sending civilians to the stars? Furthermore, should we?
Reading this book didn’t answer those questions, but it did give me a better look at the people we lost that day. I hope we’re doing better by them.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a gifted copy of the book!
June 28, 2021
This is a fantastic book. The Burning Blue details the events surrounding the Challenger explosion in the 1980's. At its core, it is a case study on the phenomena of instant celebrity and the dangers of mixing politics with science, two highly relevant contemporary topics. Cook does an outstanding job of bringing the personalities of the challenger astronauts to life, a rarity in historical books with a technology slant. Finally the book is incredibly well researched. Cook presents a number of facts, conversations and behind the scenes events that have not been captured elsewhere.
The Burning Blue has the right stuff and is an entertaining and thought-provoking read on the exhilaration and dangers of space flight, both natural and man-made.
The Burning Blue has the right stuff and is an entertaining and thought-provoking read on the exhilaration and dangers of space flight, both natural and man-made.
July 19, 2021
I appreciated the opportunity to revisit and learn more about the Challenger explosion, one of the seminal events of my young adult life, especially because I was overseas when it occurred and struggled with my distress and grief.
January 25, 2023
Very informative. So much learned that was quite surprising. Sad to learn we were misinformed about some incidents of the accident and what happened to the crew.
A strong narrative that I am so glad I got to read.
Strongly recommend you read it.
A strong narrative that I am so glad I got to read.
Strongly recommend you read it.
June 6, 2021
I was in 7th grade when the Challenger exploded. Until September 11, that seemed like it was going to be Generation X's seminal moment, our JFK assassination. I remember my shock in high school of seeing a photo of it in my brand-new American History textbook, just 4 years after it happened. I also remember getting in numerous arguments with high school friends whenever it came up and they insisted I did not see it at school because it was a teacher-in-service day as they repeatedly forgot I went to a different school system (Catholic) for middle school.
I remember our principal, Mr. Springman, RUNNING down the hall with a TV on a cart for our classroom (and I presume also the 8th graders.) I also remember with a shudder the jokes that started circulating just a day or two later, which in 7th grade we reveled in, and I think back on in chagrin (our poor teachers must have thought we were complete ghouls. Mr. Cook does address these in the book and they're presented actually as a coping method. I had heard both the jokes he references.)
I was worried this book would be depressing but it mostly wasn't. Half the book focused on Christa, her background, how she got to the point of applying, and how she was selected. And then on the training, and the other astronauts. I was so glad to learn about them. Especially Judy Resnick, who was awesome. I didn't previously realize the giant difference between an astronaut and a payload specialist and I won't misuse those terms again. I also was sadly so impressed with the diversity on this particular flight--out of seven astronauts, we had two women, one of whom was Jewish, an African-American, an Asian-American who was Buddhist, and only three white guys. Not only was that progressive as heck for 1986, that is probably pretty good for today. They don't get short shrift in this book--all of them are fully developed along with their backgrounds and families. Yes, they are constantly overshadowed by the Teacher in Space--in death as well as in life--but here they are given their due.
And then there is the explosion itself. Mr. Cook does an excellent job of describing the trajectory of the crew cabin so that those of us who saw the explosion hundreds of times that day and have it seared in our brains, can perfectly picture it. And he has new, compelling information from that crew cabin, which was recovered more than a month later, that the astronauts survived for a minute or two after the explosion. Three oxygen tanks were turned on. Multiple switches for things like flipping the aircrafts from auto to manual control, had their protective caps popped off, and were turned--which just can't happen in a crash. These aren't switches that can just be toggled if something heavy lands on them. They must be manipulated manually. Not to mention they weren't random switches--they were the ones you'd go for if you were a trained pilot in an emergency situation trying to regain control.
I also found the aftermath fascinating. Thank god Richard Feynman was on the investigative panel. Not only was he the one who figured out it was the temperature of the O-rings that was the culprit, but he wouldn't be bullied or cowed into sweeping this under the rug. Like one of my favorite TV shows, Air Disasters, they wanted to prevent this from happening again.
Finally, the book ends with the years and decades after, with the families' fallout from these events, and the politics. And last, it ends with the explosion on reentry of the shuttle Columbia, ending the shuttle era. It's sad to me that this important and tragic event in the 1980s will forever be overshadowed by events afterward. It's the 35th anniversary of the Challenger explosion this year, and also the 20th anniversary of September 11. But it's important to remember this event as well, the lives lost, and the lessons learned (and not learned!)
I remember our principal, Mr. Springman, RUNNING down the hall with a TV on a cart for our classroom (and I presume also the 8th graders.) I also remember with a shudder the jokes that started circulating just a day or two later, which in 7th grade we reveled in, and I think back on in chagrin (our poor teachers must have thought we were complete ghouls. Mr. Cook does address these in the book and they're presented actually as a coping method. I had heard both the jokes he references.)
I was worried this book would be depressing but it mostly wasn't. Half the book focused on Christa, her background, how she got to the point of applying, and how she was selected. And then on the training, and the other astronauts. I was so glad to learn about them. Especially Judy Resnick, who was awesome. I didn't previously realize the giant difference between an astronaut and a payload specialist and I won't misuse those terms again. I also was sadly so impressed with the diversity on this particular flight--out of seven astronauts, we had two women, one of whom was Jewish, an African-American, an Asian-American who was Buddhist, and only three white guys. Not only was that progressive as heck for 1986, that is probably pretty good for today. They don't get short shrift in this book--all of them are fully developed along with their backgrounds and families. Yes, they are constantly overshadowed by the Teacher in Space--in death as well as in life--but here they are given their due.
And then there is the explosion itself. Mr. Cook does an excellent job of describing the trajectory of the crew cabin so that those of us who saw the explosion hundreds of times that day and have it seared in our brains, can perfectly picture it. And he has new, compelling information from that crew cabin, which was recovered more than a month later, that the astronauts survived for a minute or two after the explosion. Three oxygen tanks were turned on. Multiple switches for things like flipping the aircrafts from auto to manual control, had their protective caps popped off, and were turned--which just can't happen in a crash. These aren't switches that can just be toggled if something heavy lands on them. They must be manipulated manually. Not to mention they weren't random switches--they were the ones you'd go for if you were a trained pilot in an emergency situation trying to regain control.
I also found the aftermath fascinating. Thank god Richard Feynman was on the investigative panel. Not only was he the one who figured out it was the temperature of the O-rings that was the culprit, but he wouldn't be bullied or cowed into sweeping this under the rug. Like one of my favorite TV shows, Air Disasters, they wanted to prevent this from happening again.
Finally, the book ends with the years and decades after, with the families' fallout from these events, and the politics. And last, it ends with the explosion on reentry of the shuttle Columbia, ending the shuttle era. It's sad to me that this important and tragic event in the 1980s will forever be overshadowed by events afterward. It's the 35th anniversary of the Challenger explosion this year, and also the 20th anniversary of September 11. But it's important to remember this event as well, the lives lost, and the lessons learned (and not learned!)
October 25, 2021
An amazing account of the Challenger disaster. It was a tough one to get through, but so good in the end.
October 4, 2021
Detailed account of the Challenger shuttle tragedy, with a heavy dive into the personal lives of the 7 who were lost (6 astronauts and Christa McAuliffe, the first Teacher in Space). Learning so much about them adds to the tension that builds as the launch date approaches—you want to reach into the pages and yell “don‘t get on that shuttle!” I vividly remember watching the launch and explosion live on TV, and this brought it all back.
May 24, 2021
I remember the day of Challenger’s last flight. I was driving to work, listening to the countdown on the radio. I arrived at the library shortly before the launch, so I didn’t hear the liftoff. Later, when I went to the front desk, a clerk asked if I’d heard about Challenger, and that teacher.
Since I’ve read most books on the space shuttles, I didn’t learn much new stuff from Burning Blue, the Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster. The effort of Steve McAuliffe, Christa’s widower, to prevent Judy Resnik’s family from receiving an equal award in the lawsuits because they weren’t spouses or children, was a surprise.
From the subtitle, you know there’s an emphasis on Christa and the Teacher in Space program. There is also emphasis on the importance of teachers and their lack of appreciation. The brief bios on the other six astronauts are appreciated, but it’s almost like they were just along for the ride.
Challenger was lost thirty-five years ago. This book offers a good look at the disaster for those unfamiliar with it.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
May 19, 2021
I received an advance reading copy of this book, for free, through Goodreads First Reads program in exchange for my honest review.
Having been born after the Kennedy Assassination, the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster was the first moment in my life in which I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I had just taken my seat in my eighth-grade history class, when my usually emotionless teacher entered the room with tears in her eyes. She explained to the class what had happened, and I can recall the sense of shock and disbelief felt by all.
In The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster by Kevin Cook, the story of the Challenger Disaster is told in comprehensive, and at times gut-wrenching, detail. The focus of the narrative is Christa McAuliffe, who beat out over 10,000 other teachers to be named NASA’s first-ever Teacher in Space. Readers are introduced to McAuliffe’s family, and follow her through her teaching career, her NASA training, and her experiences dealing with her sudden celebrity. Along the way, we meet the other six crew members of the Challenger mission and follow their journey right up to, and beyond, that fateful moment 73 seconds after liftoff.
The big reveal of the book, as hyped on the blurb on the back, is that the astronauts survived the explosion of the shuttle, only to perish when the plummeting crew cabin collided with the Atlantic Ocean. This was not really news to me, as I remember hearing this 15 years ago, but the reenactment of their descent and the disturbing facts about the recovery of the crew’s bodies were revelations.
The Burning Blue then shifted focus to the disaster aftermath. The fighting and politics regarding the placement of blame, the resurrection of the shuttle program, and the “what happened to” stories of the families of the seven shuttle astronauts are all examined. Overall, the author provided the reader with a exhaustive look at the events leading up to, and the 35 years that have passed since, January 28, 1986.
My only complaint about the book is the pervasiveness of politics of it. I expected some politics to be involved in the hearings and investigations following the disaster, but I did not expect to learn about Christa McAuliffe’s political leanings, her husband’s politics, the politics of the other crew members, etc. It all seemed unnecessary. One cannot turn on the television, watch a movie, or open a book today without being bombarded by political agendas. Literally, in the last five pages of the book the author cites an unnamed source (a Dunkin’ Donuts Deep Throat) who states (without proof) that President Reagan threated NASA officials with ‘If you don’t get that bird up in the air, we’ll cut your funding’.” In what had otherwise been a well-researched and factual account of events, this left a bad taste in my mouth by stooping to hearsay and innuendo.
Overall, The Burning Blue is an interesting read. I just could have done without the political slant.
Having been born after the Kennedy Assassination, the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster was the first moment in my life in which I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I had just taken my seat in my eighth-grade history class, when my usually emotionless teacher entered the room with tears in her eyes. She explained to the class what had happened, and I can recall the sense of shock and disbelief felt by all.
In The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster by Kevin Cook, the story of the Challenger Disaster is told in comprehensive, and at times gut-wrenching, detail. The focus of the narrative is Christa McAuliffe, who beat out over 10,000 other teachers to be named NASA’s first-ever Teacher in Space. Readers are introduced to McAuliffe’s family, and follow her through her teaching career, her NASA training, and her experiences dealing with her sudden celebrity. Along the way, we meet the other six crew members of the Challenger mission and follow their journey right up to, and beyond, that fateful moment 73 seconds after liftoff.
The big reveal of the book, as hyped on the blurb on the back, is that the astronauts survived the explosion of the shuttle, only to perish when the plummeting crew cabin collided with the Atlantic Ocean. This was not really news to me, as I remember hearing this 15 years ago, but the reenactment of their descent and the disturbing facts about the recovery of the crew’s bodies were revelations.
The Burning Blue then shifted focus to the disaster aftermath. The fighting and politics regarding the placement of blame, the resurrection of the shuttle program, and the “what happened to” stories of the families of the seven shuttle astronauts are all examined. Overall, the author provided the reader with a exhaustive look at the events leading up to, and the 35 years that have passed since, January 28, 1986.
My only complaint about the book is the pervasiveness of politics of it. I expected some politics to be involved in the hearings and investigations following the disaster, but I did not expect to learn about Christa McAuliffe’s political leanings, her husband’s politics, the politics of the other crew members, etc. It all seemed unnecessary. One cannot turn on the television, watch a movie, or open a book today without being bombarded by political agendas. Literally, in the last five pages of the book the author cites an unnamed source (a Dunkin’ Donuts Deep Throat) who states (without proof) that President Reagan threated NASA officials with ‘If you don’t get that bird up in the air, we’ll cut your funding’.” In what had otherwise been a well-researched and factual account of events, this left a bad taste in my mouth by stooping to hearsay and innuendo.
Overall, The Burning Blue is an interesting read. I just could have done without the political slant.
October 7, 2022
It took me a long time to finish this book. I would read for several pages and break out in tears. I still get sad at the end of every January. It wasn't just astronauts and America's first Teacher-in-Space that died. For many of us who were STEM students in the 80's, a bit of our dreams died as well.
The Challenger disaster showed we were not only up against nature and the basics of rocket science, but also against humans. Towards the end of the book, Cook quotes Michael Ciannilli, manager of NASA's Apollo Challenger Columbia Lessons Learned Program: "The problem with Challenger wasn't the machine. The machine was trying to talk to us, but we didn't listen."
That's what hurts the most. This didn't have to happen. Human frailty killed those people: hubris, fear, ambition. Human frailty stopped engineers and managers from fighting harder against an out-of-spec launch and seven people died. And for many of us, our dreams died too.
Dreams die hard.
But Cook's text does a wonderful job of celebrating not only the life of Christa McAuliffe, but of the whole crew. I actually met Ron McNair on a tour of the Johnson Space Center when I was young. It was VERY cool that a REAL astronaut would take time out of their training schedule to talk with a load of surly teens.
Worth a read if, like me, you're a child of the rocket age.
The Challenger disaster showed we were not only up against nature and the basics of rocket science, but also against humans. Towards the end of the book, Cook quotes Michael Ciannilli, manager of NASA's Apollo Challenger Columbia Lessons Learned Program: "The problem with Challenger wasn't the machine. The machine was trying to talk to us, but we didn't listen."
That's what hurts the most. This didn't have to happen. Human frailty killed those people: hubris, fear, ambition. Human frailty stopped engineers and managers from fighting harder against an out-of-spec launch and seven people died. And for many of us, our dreams died too.
Dreams die hard.
But Cook's text does a wonderful job of celebrating not only the life of Christa McAuliffe, but of the whole crew. I actually met Ron McNair on a tour of the Johnson Space Center when I was young. It was VERY cool that a REAL astronaut would take time out of their training schedule to talk with a load of surly teens.
Worth a read if, like me, you're a child of the rocket age.
July 5, 2021
I was in the 7th grade waiting excited in the school library for the Challenger to lift-off. Never expecting what I was about to witnesses. I think I will remember for the rest of my life. That moment that as a 13 year witnessing something so unbelievable. My whole world changed in a moment. I realized you never knew how long you have left on earth.
The Burning Blue we learn the beginning of Christa's journey into space. Cook leads us through every step of the mission. We get a chance to see behind the scenes in a sense.
Cook took time researching this book. He dug into old NASA files, talked to the family members, astronauts, engineers, and dug into every page he could find on this diaster. By him doing this, we learn of mistakes that were made.
I laughed and cried through this book. Maybe it's because I so clearly remember that day in school, when they were sending a teacher into space and the excitement in the school. If you remember this diaster, which if you were a kid in school in 1986 or older then you do, you should read this book.
Thanks to Goodreads, Henry Holt Publishing, and Cook for this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Happy Reading 😊
The Burning Blue we learn the beginning of Christa's journey into space. Cook leads us through every step of the mission. We get a chance to see behind the scenes in a sense.
Cook took time researching this book. He dug into old NASA files, talked to the family members, astronauts, engineers, and dug into every page he could find on this diaster. By him doing this, we learn of mistakes that were made.
I laughed and cried through this book. Maybe it's because I so clearly remember that day in school, when they were sending a teacher into space and the excitement in the school. If you remember this diaster, which if you were a kid in school in 1986 or older then you do, you should read this book.
Thanks to Goodreads, Henry Holt Publishing, and Cook for this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Happy Reading 😊
October 26, 2021
I saw that this book was highly recommended in a Washington Post article so I added it to my TBR list. I thought from the title that it was going to be an in-depth look at what happened to the Challenger but, having Christa McAuliffe's name in the title, should have told me otherwise. This book was really about the people lost in the disaster. Although it mostly centers on the "Teacher in Space," it also tells us about each and every astronaut that was on that mission. I feel like a know they all so much more intimately now, even in this relatively short book, and it makes me appreciate their sacrifices all the more. I was expecting a technical science-type book but got a very human story instead and I was not at all sorry about that. It is important to make people of our "heroes" which makes them even more heroic in my book. I definitely recommend this book.
September 11, 2023
Preface: I am of an age that remembers teachers wheeling tv’s into the auditorium to watch the Challenger launch. That + a general interest in NASA + women in space means I’ve read/seen a lot on the topic.
The Burning Blue walked a line between the “celebrity astronaut memoir” of Mike Mullane and the technical complexity of Truth, Lies and O-rings (which I still need to finish). It was at times a bit too saccharine for me but I think the reporting of Christa’s personality is probably accurate. (Sidebar: WHEN will someone write a good book about Judy Reznick??)
There is information in here about the post-disaster investigation that some people may not know.
Overall it was perfectly fine, sitting square in the middle of other books I’ve read on the topic with a focus more on the people (and families) than the technical.
The Burning Blue walked a line between the “celebrity astronaut memoir” of Mike Mullane and the technical complexity of Truth, Lies and O-rings (which I still need to finish). It was at times a bit too saccharine for me but I think the reporting of Christa’s personality is probably accurate. (Sidebar: WHEN will someone write a good book about Judy Reznick??)
There is information in here about the post-disaster investigation that some people may not know.
Overall it was perfectly fine, sitting square in the middle of other books I’ve read on the topic with a focus more on the people (and families) than the technical.
July 27, 2021
How could anyone watching that launch not be affected by it? I enjoyed the book but it brought back feelings I hadn't thought of in years. The book reminds us that they were people with lives, families and thoughts about their futures. I always thought how rough it must have been for the families and children of these people, who were there watching as the rocket took off.
The book was very interesting and did tell me a about the flight and the training involved. Now whether or not it is the "untold story", I'm not quite sure about that! Still, I give the book 4.5 stars!
The book was very interesting and did tell me a about the flight and the training involved. Now whether or not it is the "untold story", I'm not quite sure about that! Still, I give the book 4.5 stars!
July 9, 2024
"And if we let this setback halt the space program, then those seven people died for no purpose...None of them would've wanted that. So we want you to make the space program better than ever.
Make their deaths count for something."
-June Scobee
Amazing. Just amazing. It’s tragic how US workers get treated after projects led by the government. The Challenger crew deserved better. So sad that this disaster happened because of ignorance but this book was a great read. Top read of the year so far. This will hold a special place in my heart.
Make their deaths count for something."
-June Scobee
Amazing. Just amazing. It’s tragic how US workers get treated after projects led by the government. The Challenger crew deserved better. So sad that this disaster happened because of ignorance but this book was a great read. Top read of the year so far. This will hold a special place in my heart.
August 8, 2021
Echt een mega random keuze om dit boek te gaan lezen. Ik leefde nog niet toen de Challenger explodeerde en ook heb ik nooit de ambitie gehad om de ruimte in te gaan. Toch boeide dit boek wel! Goed geschreven, heel uitgebreid en interessant om het verhaal achter de Challenger en de eerste leraar die de ruimte in zou gaan te leren kennen.
Aanrader als je van geschiedenis en politiek houdt!
Aanrader als je van geschiedenis en politiek houdt!
February 10, 2024
Unpopular opinion
This book was highly recommended by a few of my trusted readers, so I was expecting something remarkable but I found this book a bit too Junior Scholastic. Informative and a sad reminder of the Challenger tragedy, but lacked any deep nuances. I wasn’t emotionally invested where I expected to be.
#BorrowNotBuy
This book was highly recommended by a few of my trusted readers, so I was expecting something remarkable but I found this book a bit too Junior Scholastic. Informative and a sad reminder of the Challenger tragedy, but lacked any deep nuances. I wasn’t emotionally invested where I expected to be.
#BorrowNotBuy
March 25, 2022
Like most of Gen X, the Challenger explosion had a huge impact on me but I was too young to know many of the details. This was a fascinating listen and helpful to put together the complete details of what happened.
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