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The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel – NASA's 1978 Women and Minority Pioneers Through Triumph and Tragedy
The never-before-told story of NASA’s 1978 astronaut class, which included the first American women, the first African Americans, the first Asian American, and the first gay person to fly to space. With the exclusive participation of the astronauts who were there, this is the thrilling, behind-the-scenes saga of a new generation that transformed space exploration
The story of NASA’s Astronaut Class 8, or “The F*cking New Guys,” as their military predecessors nicknamed them, is an unprecedented look at these extraordinary explorers who broke barriers and blasted through glass ceilings. Egos clashed, ambitions flared, and romances bloomed as the New Guys competed with one another and navigated the cutthroat internal politics at NASA for a chance to rocket to the stars.
Marking a departure from the iconic military test pilots who had dominated the space program since its inception, the New Guys arrived at the dawn of a new era of space flight. Teardrop-shaped space capsules from Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo gave way to the space shuttle, a revolutionary space plane capable of launching like a rocket, hauling cargo like a truck, and landing back on Earth like an airliner. They mastered this new machine from its dangerous first test flights to its greatest launching hundreds of satellites, building the International Space Station, and deploying the Hubble Space Telescope.
The New Guys depicts these charismatic young astronauts and the exuberant social and scientific progress of the space shuttle program against the efforts of NASA officials who struggled to meet America’s military demands and commercial aspirations. When NASA was pressured to fly more often and at greater risk, lives were lost in the program’s two biggest Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003).
Caught in the crosshairs of this battle are the shuttle astronauts who gave their lives in those catastrophes, and who gave their lives’ work pursuing a more equitable future in space for all humankind. Through it all they became friends, rivals, lovers, and ultimately, family.
The story of NASA’s Astronaut Class 8, or “The F*cking New Guys,” as their military predecessors nicknamed them, is an unprecedented look at these extraordinary explorers who broke barriers and blasted through glass ceilings. Egos clashed, ambitions flared, and romances bloomed as the New Guys competed with one another and navigated the cutthroat internal politics at NASA for a chance to rocket to the stars.
Marking a departure from the iconic military test pilots who had dominated the space program since its inception, the New Guys arrived at the dawn of a new era of space flight. Teardrop-shaped space capsules from Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo gave way to the space shuttle, a revolutionary space plane capable of launching like a rocket, hauling cargo like a truck, and landing back on Earth like an airliner. They mastered this new machine from its dangerous first test flights to its greatest launching hundreds of satellites, building the International Space Station, and deploying the Hubble Space Telescope.
The New Guys depicts these charismatic young astronauts and the exuberant social and scientific progress of the space shuttle program against the efforts of NASA officials who struggled to meet America’s military demands and commercial aspirations. When NASA was pressured to fly more often and at greater risk, lives were lost in the program’s two biggest Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003).
Caught in the crosshairs of this battle are the shuttle astronauts who gave their lives in those catastrophes, and who gave their lives’ work pursuing a more equitable future in space for all humankind. Through it all they became friends, rivals, lovers, and ultimately, family.
526 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2023
99 people are currently reading
4370 people want to read
About the author
Meredith Bagby
9 books15 followersMeredith Bagby is the author of The New Guys: The Astronauts That Changed the Face of Space Travel. She is a partner at Big Swing Productions, a film and TV production company. Bagby's previous books include We’ve Got Issues, Rational Exuberance, and The Annual Report of the United States of America. Bagby was a senior film development executive at DreamWorks SKG, a reporter and producer for CNN, and a teaching fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Her education includes Columbia Law School and Harvard College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
November 16, 2022
Meredith Bagby presents a masterclass in narrative journalism that tells the story of the NASA shuttle program, from start to finish, in a manner that is engaging and approachable even by those of us who are not space geeks.
I am a little surprised that I entered this giveaway, as I’m not that big into space. I suppose I feel a morbid fascination with space—I have no interest in blasting off the surface of the Earth. It sounds terrifying. I don’t want to go to Mars. But at the same time, I’m fascinated by those people who do feel this urge, and The New Guys fully explores the ambitions, joys, fears and weaknesses of this rare breed of human.
Readers become acquainted with the shuttle astronauts as individuals, while understanding the technical and budgetary constraints inherent in a government department.
Don’t let the door-stop size of the book dissuade you—there are about 100 pages of notes and citations, plus the text moves along quickly.
***this review is of an uncorrected ARC received in a giveaway.
March 24, 2023
Just as Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff set its portrait of the original astronaut class, the Mercury Seven, into its time and place in the history of the space program and the 1950s space race that preceded it, The New Guys performs a similar service for the 1978 astronaut class, the 35 astronauts recruited to help design, build and crew the Space Shuttle.
The concepts behind the books may be similar, but the people they follow were very, very different, both by design and because of the events of the intervening decade, the tumultuous 1960s, when the civil rights movements took hold and gained more ground than anyone could have imagined in the 1950s.
At the same time, there’s something similar in the two groups, that both were willing to sit “on top of an enormous Roman candle…and wait for someone to light the fuse,” as Wolfe said about the group of astronauts he portrayed. That most of the fuel for that Roman candle sat next to rather than directly under the Space Shuttle at launch doesn’t change the unstated point in that quote, that sometimes that Roman candle might just explode instead of providing liftoff – and that every astronaut who sat atop or beside it knew it.
Because it had happened before – and might happen again.
But before the disasters that marked the waning days of the Space Shuttle program, Challenger and Columbia, first there were the years of endless testing, of heady excitement, of competition to be the first as well as the camaraderie of being part of the most glorious dream that humanity ever imagined. The journey to leave this “big blue marble” in order to see its beauty and its fragility from the black of space.
The astronaut class of 1978, “The New Guys”, “Thirty-Five New Guys (AKA TFNG)” or “Those F*cking New Guys” as they were dubbed by the old hands, were recruited for the express purpose of making the “final frontier” seem like a possible dream for everyone, and not just restricted to a few white men who could qualify to be military test pilots.
This is their story. The story of a dream given form. But also the story of the personal costs to those who dreamed that dream – and to their friends and families. And underlying the good and the great, the firsts and the glory of it, there’s a hidden uncurrent of an organization and a country who cared more about the costs and the potential financial benefits than they did about the lives of the people sitting on or by that Roman candle.
Escape Rating A+: I loved this. Truly, seriously, I just loved it. And even though the eARC version I read did not include the pictures, I could still picture more of it in my head than seems possible.
But I do need to confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for the space program and books about it and I always have. So I expected to love it and was NOT disappointed. Howsomever, if you plan to read the book after reading this squee of a review, do get a copy with the pictures. Also, be advised that this is a much quicker read that it would seem from the stated length. The notes are EXTENSIVE.
All of that being said, what made the book work for me was that it was a view from the inside of something that I always wanted to be inside of but would never have had the chance. At the same time, because of the time period the story covers, it sheds light on some darker parts of the history I lived through from the 1970s and into the 2000s.
And there certainly were dark places, even before the shadows left behind by the Challenger and Columbia disasters – the causes for which are not glossed over here. Instead, the deep dive into the reasons behind both made me cry – because neither needed to happen and yet were inevitable because of situations that could have been predicted and corrected long before either explosion.
But a big part of what made this book so absorbing were the stories of how many of the individuals in this particular class of astronauts came to the point where they applied for the program, and how their perspectives were affected by the situations they came to the program from. Six of the new astronauts were women, one of whom was Jewish. Three of the men were African American, one was Asian American. In other words, 10 out of those 35 new astronauts were people who would never have been permitted into the selection process before this class, and faced bigotry and resentment as well as intense scrutiny along with all of the personal and professional stress that came with becoming astronauts.
Their stories felt real in a way that previous astronaut stories may not, because there were finally people that more of us could identify with.
But this book also contains those huge hard places, as it pokes and prods its way into NASA’s overall culture, the frequently terrible economics of the times when the Shuttle Program was at its peak, and how those factors played into the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Those sections are frustrating, infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s a rough read but so very necessary to set the whole story in its proper context.
The story of The New Guys takes the TFNG from their earliest dreams of space to the ends of their careers. But there’s a wider context to the story of the space program as a whole, placing this book in the center between the machismo of Wolfe’s The Right Stuff and the end of the era as told in Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean.
In conclusion, if you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut, if you ever wondered what it would be like to go through the intensity – and occasionally insanity – of that program, The New Guys will give you a taste of what it was like for someone you might have been inspired by – or aspired to be. If you are looking for a dive into the causes of the Challenger and Columbia disasters that is accessible to both the layperson and the layperson’s tear ducts, this book will make the whole mess human, comprehendible and utterly frustrating and infuriating at the same time.
The New Guys is a book to touch both the heart and the stars.
Originally published at Reading Reality
The concepts behind the books may be similar, but the people they follow were very, very different, both by design and because of the events of the intervening decade, the tumultuous 1960s, when the civil rights movements took hold and gained more ground than anyone could have imagined in the 1950s.
At the same time, there’s something similar in the two groups, that both were willing to sit “on top of an enormous Roman candle…and wait for someone to light the fuse,” as Wolfe said about the group of astronauts he portrayed. That most of the fuel for that Roman candle sat next to rather than directly under the Space Shuttle at launch doesn’t change the unstated point in that quote, that sometimes that Roman candle might just explode instead of providing liftoff – and that every astronaut who sat atop or beside it knew it.
Because it had happened before – and might happen again.
But before the disasters that marked the waning days of the Space Shuttle program, Challenger and Columbia, first there were the years of endless testing, of heady excitement, of competition to be the first as well as the camaraderie of being part of the most glorious dream that humanity ever imagined. The journey to leave this “big blue marble” in order to see its beauty and its fragility from the black of space.
The astronaut class of 1978, “The New Guys”, “Thirty-Five New Guys (AKA TFNG)” or “Those F*cking New Guys” as they were dubbed by the old hands, were recruited for the express purpose of making the “final frontier” seem like a possible dream for everyone, and not just restricted to a few white men who could qualify to be military test pilots.
This is their story. The story of a dream given form. But also the story of the personal costs to those who dreamed that dream – and to their friends and families. And underlying the good and the great, the firsts and the glory of it, there’s a hidden uncurrent of an organization and a country who cared more about the costs and the potential financial benefits than they did about the lives of the people sitting on or by that Roman candle.
Escape Rating A+: I loved this. Truly, seriously, I just loved it. And even though the eARC version I read did not include the pictures, I could still picture more of it in my head than seems possible.
But I do need to confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for the space program and books about it and I always have. So I expected to love it and was NOT disappointed. Howsomever, if you plan to read the book after reading this squee of a review, do get a copy with the pictures. Also, be advised that this is a much quicker read that it would seem from the stated length. The notes are EXTENSIVE.
All of that being said, what made the book work for me was that it was a view from the inside of something that I always wanted to be inside of but would never have had the chance. At the same time, because of the time period the story covers, it sheds light on some darker parts of the history I lived through from the 1970s and into the 2000s.
And there certainly were dark places, even before the shadows left behind by the Challenger and Columbia disasters – the causes for which are not glossed over here. Instead, the deep dive into the reasons behind both made me cry – because neither needed to happen and yet were inevitable because of situations that could have been predicted and corrected long before either explosion.
But a big part of what made this book so absorbing were the stories of how many of the individuals in this particular class of astronauts came to the point where they applied for the program, and how their perspectives were affected by the situations they came to the program from. Six of the new astronauts were women, one of whom was Jewish. Three of the men were African American, one was Asian American. In other words, 10 out of those 35 new astronauts were people who would never have been permitted into the selection process before this class, and faced bigotry and resentment as well as intense scrutiny along with all of the personal and professional stress that came with becoming astronauts.
Their stories felt real in a way that previous astronaut stories may not, because there were finally people that more of us could identify with.
But this book also contains those huge hard places, as it pokes and prods its way into NASA’s overall culture, the frequently terrible economics of the times when the Shuttle Program was at its peak, and how those factors played into the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Those sections are frustrating, infuriating and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s a rough read but so very necessary to set the whole story in its proper context.
The story of The New Guys takes the TFNG from their earliest dreams of space to the ends of their careers. But there’s a wider context to the story of the space program as a whole, placing this book in the center between the machismo of Wolfe’s The Right Stuff and the end of the era as told in Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean.
In conclusion, if you ever dreamed of becoming an astronaut, if you ever wondered what it would be like to go through the intensity – and occasionally insanity – of that program, The New Guys will give you a taste of what it was like for someone you might have been inspired by – or aspired to be. If you are looking for a dive into the causes of the Challenger and Columbia disasters that is accessible to both the layperson and the layperson’s tear ducts, this book will make the whole mess human, comprehendible and utterly frustrating and infuriating at the same time.
The New Guys is a book to touch both the heart and the stars.
Originally published at Reading Reality
March 2, 2023
I’m always proud to read a book published by a friend or someone I know. I’m especially proud when that book turns out to be extraordinary like this one. Meredith’s soaring history of the New Guys is a great read, especially for Gen Xers like me. She eloquently brings each New Guy to life to remind us of the magic and danger of space exploration. I was moved to tears during her retelling of the the Challenger explosion and recovery, but she then caused me to boil over with anger at the bureaucracy that ultimately led to the disaster. Overall the book left me with a strong sense of admiration for the women and men who helped inspire a new generation of astronauts, scientists, and STEM enthusiasts, and I learned a great deal about them and the space program in general. I’m glad someone as talented as Meredith has finally told this story.
March 10, 2023
In-depth comprehensive inside look at the Space Shuttle program that broke many molds of who an astronaut should be. Unvarnished and unflinching (Chuck Yeager was a misogynistic racist who hounded a highly qualified African-American astronaut candidate out of the Apollo Space program.), the author does not shy away from anything.
November 12, 2023
This was everything my nerdy heart could have wanted! It fed my obsession of astronauts and space travel. The amount of research that went into this is so impressive! I highly recommend recommend the audiobook!
August 18, 2025
I heard that this was a book TJR used in her research while writing “Atmosphere” & when I saw it was available on the Libby library app I decided to read it first - the author put an intense amount of research into this book chronicling the era when NASA finally decided to recruit astronauts that weren’t just white male Air Force pilots.
February 9, 2023
An exceptionally engaging narrative, writer Meredith Bagby transports readers through space and time to shed light on the lives of “the new guys” in the NASA astronaut program. Complete with a list of characters who constituted this pivotal group, the text is exhaustively researched and written in a style that reads more like a thriller novel than a history tome. Bagby does a great job of setting historical context and highlighting challenges that many of the new astronauts faced. The three worst NASA disasters act like bookends to the space race era, the end of the Cold War, and the ISS age. A literary tribute to all the astronauts who have pushed the limits of human endurance to further our understanding and exploration of the universe. Perfect read for any science enthusiast secondary school age and older.
September 20, 2025
4.5. incredibly eye opening. learning about the politics and management at NASA during the space shuttle program was honestly a bit nauseating. so many of the disasters could have been prevented had NASA actually cared more about their astronauts rather than their fundings. i honestly don’t know if i’ll ever look at NASA the same after learning everything in this book.
that being said, i loved getting to read about the astronauts in a personal way, and i really felt like i got to know them. what fantastic people, and what a fantastic book
that being said, i loved getting to read about the astronauts in a personal way, and i really felt like i got to know them. what fantastic people, and what a fantastic book
May 12, 2023
This was awesome. Overall a great balance of personal narrative, political strife, scientific details, and historical context. Compulsively readable and with wonderful insights from extensive interviews with the astronauts, Bagby provides a strong nonfiction story that compels the reader along.
April 26, 2024
Definitely a candidate for one of the best works of nonfiction I've read this year and maybe ever. It's a really thorough account of the space shuttle program that is brutally honest about NASA's dysfunction and major mistakes. If you're interested in the history of space travel I'd highly recommend this one, but be warned it is very dense nonfiction.
November 16, 2022
I received a DRC of this book.
The New Guys is an excellent, engaging accounting of NASAs work to create an astronaut force more representative of global population, made up of civilians not members of the military. These astronauts dubbed The F***ing New Guys were the next generation, trained to pilot, crew and perform research for the brand-new shuttle program. This is a fascinating social and scientific history.
The New Guys is an excellent, engaging accounting of NASAs work to create an astronaut force more representative of global population, made up of civilians not members of the military. These astronauts dubbed The F***ing New Guys were the next generation, trained to pilot, crew and perform research for the brand-new shuttle program. This is a fascinating social and scientific history.
February 8, 2023
An immersive and beautifully written look into the heyday of America's space program. Reading The New Guys, I felt like I was actually there with these astronauts, rocketing to space at 17000 mph and hanging out at astronaut happy hour (who knew that was a thing?). With all the books and movies about Apollo, we need more on The New Guys! Highly recommend.
March 20, 2025
Sally Ride biopic miniseries NOW!!!!!!
June 13, 2025
Did this book turn me into a space nerd? Maybe.
Even though I was born in the middle of the shuttle program’s heyday, there’s so much I didn’t know about this era. Author Meredith Bagby does a phenomenal job of anchoring the story to its time, place, and historical context—even as the plot rockets forward.
I appreciate Bagby’s care in creating three-dimensional profiles of the pioneering astronauts of NASA’s Class 8—showing them in all their flawed, brilliant, complicated glory. Sally Ride’s background as an almost-pro tennis player made her both focused and super competitive. Guy Bluford’s hyper successful family thought he wasn’t college material. Ron McNair and Rhea Seddon were both weak swimmers and terrified of failing the program’s water survival training component, so they formed a secret alliance and practiced together at a local community pool. All taking different paths to the shuttle program, you can’t help but feel like they represented the absolute best of their generation.
I wish I could say I walked away with the same great impression of NASA. To her credit, Bagby presents the good along with the bad, and it’s clear that there were true visionaries in house.
But the increasing role of politics in the space program—especially as the shuttle started earning cash from telecom satellite deployments—resulted in a work culture that deprioritized safety in favor of an accelerated launch schedule. And much of these details were unknown to the astronauts themselves, who consistently put their lives in the hands of the private contractors who provided the equipment and engineers that blasted them into space. The results were, as we know, catastrophic.
Even through the mounting frustration with NASA, I loved tracking the shuttle program through its more than three decades, learning about what brought these individuals into NASA’s orbit, even if only for a short time.
Even though I was born in the middle of the shuttle program’s heyday, there’s so much I didn’t know about this era. Author Meredith Bagby does a phenomenal job of anchoring the story to its time, place, and historical context—even as the plot rockets forward.
I appreciate Bagby’s care in creating three-dimensional profiles of the pioneering astronauts of NASA’s Class 8—showing them in all their flawed, brilliant, complicated glory. Sally Ride’s background as an almost-pro tennis player made her both focused and super competitive. Guy Bluford’s hyper successful family thought he wasn’t college material. Ron McNair and Rhea Seddon were both weak swimmers and terrified of failing the program’s water survival training component, so they formed a secret alliance and practiced together at a local community pool. All taking different paths to the shuttle program, you can’t help but feel like they represented the absolute best of their generation.
I wish I could say I walked away with the same great impression of NASA. To her credit, Bagby presents the good along with the bad, and it’s clear that there were true visionaries in house.
But the increasing role of politics in the space program—especially as the shuttle started earning cash from telecom satellite deployments—resulted in a work culture that deprioritized safety in favor of an accelerated launch schedule. And much of these details were unknown to the astronauts themselves, who consistently put their lives in the hands of the private contractors who provided the equipment and engineers that blasted them into space. The results were, as we know, catastrophic.
Even through the mounting frustration with NASA, I loved tracking the shuttle program through its more than three decades, learning about what brought these individuals into NASA’s orbit, even if only for a short time.
July 15, 2025
This was a beautiful and inspiring history of the shuttle program and a biography of the first shuttle astronaut class.
I've always had a love for space and space exploration, so reading this was a long time coming. It makes it tough to confront the reality of the deeply political nature of NASA and square it with the truly important mission the agency carries out. Learning of the egos and fears of budget cuts that constantly hounded the agency is a bitter pill to swallow, but important as we move into a new era of space exploration. The shuttle will forever be an enduring symbol of mankind's journey to space, but it is bittersweet to know that it was functionally a flawed and compromised spacecraft from the very start.
This astronaut class showed, possibly more than any previous class, just how much can be done for humanity through the exploration of space and the experimentation it allows for. They opened up space for all of humanity and I hope their legacy continues to be honored.
I've always had a love for space and space exploration, so reading this was a long time coming. It makes it tough to confront the reality of the deeply political nature of NASA and square it with the truly important mission the agency carries out. Learning of the egos and fears of budget cuts that constantly hounded the agency is a bitter pill to swallow, but important as we move into a new era of space exploration. The shuttle will forever be an enduring symbol of mankind's journey to space, but it is bittersweet to know that it was functionally a flawed and compromised spacecraft from the very start.
This astronaut class showed, possibly more than any previous class, just how much can be done for humanity through the exploration of space and the experimentation it allows for. They opened up space for all of humanity and I hope their legacy continues to be honored.
November 3, 2024
A little boring at times and took me longer to get through than I originally thought but it was interesting.
“ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ.”
“ᴀɴɴᴀ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ, ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀꜱꜱ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ɪᴛꜱ ʜᴀʟʟꜱ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴅᴀʏ, ꜱᴏᴀᴋɪɴɢ ɪɴ ɪᴛꜱ ᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ, ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴛᴀɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ, ᴛᴏ ꜱɪᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɢɪᴀɴᴛ ᴀʟᴜᴍɪɴᴜᴍ ꜰʀᴀᴍᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴜᴛᴛʟᴇ, ᴀᴛᴏᴘ ᴛʜᴏᴜꜱᴀɴᴅꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴘᴏᴜɴᴅꜱ ᴏꜰ ʟɪQᴜɪᴅ ꜰᴜᴇʟ ᴏɴ ꜰɪʀᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇ ᴛʜʀᴜꜱᴛ ᴀᴛ ᴀɴ ᴜɴɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴀʙʟᴇ ꜱᴘᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ. ᴛᴏ ꜱᴋɪᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴜʀꜰᴀᴄᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴛʜᴇʀ, ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ꜰʟᴏᴀᴛ Qᴜɪᴇᴛʟʏ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ.”
“ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ.”
“ᴀɴɴᴀ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ, ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀꜱꜱ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ɪᴛꜱ ʜᴀʟʟꜱ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴅᴀʏ, ꜱᴏᴀᴋɪɴɢ ɪɴ ɪᴛꜱ ᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ, ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴛᴀɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ, ᴛᴏ ꜱɪᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɢɪᴀɴᴛ ᴀʟᴜᴍɪɴᴜᴍ ꜰʀᴀᴍᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴜᴛᴛʟᴇ, ᴀᴛᴏᴘ ᴛʜᴏᴜꜱᴀɴᴅꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴘᴏᴜɴᴅꜱ ᴏꜰ ʟɪQᴜɪᴅ ꜰᴜᴇʟ ᴏɴ ꜰɪʀᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇ ᴛʜʀᴜꜱᴛ ᴀᴛ ᴀɴ ᴜɴɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴀʙʟᴇ ꜱᴘᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴꜱ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ. ᴛᴏ ꜱᴋɪᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴜʀꜰᴀᴄᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴛʜᴇʀ, ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ꜰʟᴏᴀᴛ Qᴜɪᴇᴛʟʏ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ.”
March 30, 2023
For Fans of Space Exploration, This Fills A Void
It’s natural. Humans are obsessed with “firsts.” But as is so often the case, those who follow make more important history. Such is true for NASA’s astronaut class known as the Thirty-Five New Guys.
Their firsts began with the fact that they weren’t all guys - or white, or even straight, as it turned out. They were, in short, extraordinary examples of “us” who, as it proved to be, had as much or more of the “right stuff” as the American heroes they followed.
If space flight fascinates you, this is a worthy read.
It’s natural. Humans are obsessed with “firsts.” But as is so often the case, those who follow make more important history. Such is true for NASA’s astronaut class known as the Thirty-Five New Guys.
Their firsts began with the fact that they weren’t all guys - or white, or even straight, as it turned out. They were, in short, extraordinary examples of “us” who, as it proved to be, had as much or more of the “right stuff” as the American heroes they followed.
If space flight fascinates you, this is a worthy read.
April 11, 2023
Rather disappointing book that could have been great. The author is too concerned about racial and sexual firsts to even talk about the prior blacks in the space program, the true pioneers in the program.
March 25, 2023
A self-described NASA geek, I thought I knew a lot about the space program. I now know that I knew a lot about the program through the Apollo era but very little about the shuttle program. I personally consider the book Apollo by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox to be the definitive account of NASA history. The New Guys does not quite live up to that book - but it is very, very close. The book explores not only what NASA got right with the ambitious shuttle program but also what they got wrong, the errors that lead to national catastrophes. Meredith Bagby brings the super-sized American heroes who risked it all to advance scientific progress to brilliant life. By the end of the book, you will feel like these are people you know. You will have favorites and root for their successes and, in some cases, dread the ending you know is coming. This is a highly recommended incredible book!
September 11, 2024
I thought the story was interesting and thoroughly researched. I was engaged through the whole book. My one complaint is that the time line would sometimes jump back and forth as the story was explained from a new astronauts perspective.
November 23, 2025
I have read so much about the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs but never the Space Shuttle. I loved loved loved this book.
April 7, 2023
The history of the shuttle program and the people who were, in turn, shaped by and shaped it was a privilege to read. This is an incredible reconstruction of the successes and heartbreaking failures I was able to glimpse from afar through news media, as I grew up and lived my life.
A thorough and thoughtful work, it is truly a tribute to both the vision and resourcefulness of human beings, even as it exposes some very flawed bureaucratic thinking and management inherent in NASA’s administration in the shuttle program era.
Ad astra, always!
March 31, 2023
The author is clearly passionate about the history of the space shuttle program. The portrait of the players and the time period is accurate and authentic.
I found the language a bit too chatty.
I found the language a bit too chatty.
February 26, 2023
Wow. I received a complimentary ARC of this book and cannot recommend it highly enough. It really opened my eyes about the struggles and racism within NASA. These astronauts really are heroes in every sense of the word.
August 6, 2025
Boring and superficial. I feel like I learned very little about TNFGs. Somehow, they were very one dimensional characters instead of feeling like real, interesting people. The Right Stuff was more successful in bringing historical figures to life and The Challenger does a much better job of outlining the history of NASA, the shuttle project as a whole, the disasters, and the crews. The author has a mountain of citations & notes, but didn't manage to make this engaging.
March 12, 2023
Incredibly written. It’s intimate with personal stories of the astronauts, and is interwoven beautifully with the history of NASA and the space shuttle program.
September 20, 2024
Like most of the rest of our country, NASA started to diversify with the 1978 NASA class that included the first American woman (Russians sadly beat us). first African American, first Asian, and first (although not openly gay until the last line of her obit) known Gay astronaut. All total, of the 355 shuttle astronauts, 49 women, 14 African Americans, six Asian Americans, and nine Hispanic Americans flew; this means the majority were still white males. They were Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Protestants, and atheists. It was an about face of the men selected to participate in NASA’s Mercury 7 – seven white, military men.
This was at a time when NASA budget was ballooning to $5.25 billion in 1965 and after women like Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb were shut out of being a NASA pilot because of sexual discrimination. It lead to a 1962 investigation of NASA’s discriminatory employment issues. By 1972, NASA’s employees of color were only 5.2% while women only made up 16.2% of their workforce. AS NASA became more diverse, the old style manage style came in confrontation with the new workforce. Some NASA employees partied together, dancing to Fly me to the Moon and attending cookouts hosted by the boss. Meanwhile, NASA used media to increase public support for NASA efforts – and budgets. The first woman spacewoman, Sally Ride, became the media darling, gracing the covers of Newsweek, People, and Ms. T-shirts were sold and “Sallymania” flooded the country. Demonstrating her teamwork, Sally invited her crewmates to join her in interviews. But fans focused on her, including calling her at all hours of the day.
While African Americans were realizing gains – on television with The Crosby Show and The Color Purple, with income, with opportunities thanks to the EEOC, and music like Michael Jackson, the African American NASA pilot didn’t receive the attention that Sally Ride enjoyed.
Yet, NASA was making incredible leaps of technological improvements. The first shuttle could handle only 1.4 million instructions per second compared to about sixteen trillion operations a second in a current iPhone processor. With these limitations, the shuttle hit 17,500 miles per hour and were subjected to 3,000 degrees. The book covered how costs reduced safety inspections and forced management to push forward with flights even when there were concerns about safety. The astronauts were kept out of the loop of safety concerns.
To keep our mission of exploring space, NASA first was coupled up with the Department of Defense under President Carter than the Russians under President Bush. Both had their difficulties as spelled out in the book.
Bagby does a fine job speaking both of the growing pains NASA experienced as it diversified, the budget constraints and safety issues of this dangerous science experience, some about the political process to use and sometimes safeguard NASA, our cooperation with our former (and now current adversary) Russia, and the brave men and women who wanted a job literally out of this world. It’s a complementary book to The Right Stuff, about new people and new technology with the same determination and curiosity of what’s in the Heavens.
This book also demonstrates the power of the American dream. The first African American, Ron Bluford, who fly in the shuttle was just three generations from being a slave in our country. Others simply had the drive and eagerness to make it through school and be accepted in the astronaut crew.
As an Ohioan, there were many mentions of Ohio. President Ford cut the ribbon of the National Air and Space Museum, Wright Patterson Air Force Base was mentioned often, and Guy Bluford was from Cleveland.
Having lived through this period, read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, I learned so much that I had forgotten or had no knowledge. It was a good mixture of interesting stories on the characters and the longer story about NASA and chasing the stars.
This was at a time when NASA budget was ballooning to $5.25 billion in 1965 and after women like Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb were shut out of being a NASA pilot because of sexual discrimination. It lead to a 1962 investigation of NASA’s discriminatory employment issues. By 1972, NASA’s employees of color were only 5.2% while women only made up 16.2% of their workforce. AS NASA became more diverse, the old style manage style came in confrontation with the new workforce. Some NASA employees partied together, dancing to Fly me to the Moon and attending cookouts hosted by the boss. Meanwhile, NASA used media to increase public support for NASA efforts – and budgets. The first woman spacewoman, Sally Ride, became the media darling, gracing the covers of Newsweek, People, and Ms. T-shirts were sold and “Sallymania” flooded the country. Demonstrating her teamwork, Sally invited her crewmates to join her in interviews. But fans focused on her, including calling her at all hours of the day.
While African Americans were realizing gains – on television with The Crosby Show and The Color Purple, with income, with opportunities thanks to the EEOC, and music like Michael Jackson, the African American NASA pilot didn’t receive the attention that Sally Ride enjoyed.
Yet, NASA was making incredible leaps of technological improvements. The first shuttle could handle only 1.4 million instructions per second compared to about sixteen trillion operations a second in a current iPhone processor. With these limitations, the shuttle hit 17,500 miles per hour and were subjected to 3,000 degrees. The book covered how costs reduced safety inspections and forced management to push forward with flights even when there were concerns about safety. The astronauts were kept out of the loop of safety concerns.
To keep our mission of exploring space, NASA first was coupled up with the Department of Defense under President Carter than the Russians under President Bush. Both had their difficulties as spelled out in the book.
Bagby does a fine job speaking both of the growing pains NASA experienced as it diversified, the budget constraints and safety issues of this dangerous science experience, some about the political process to use and sometimes safeguard NASA, our cooperation with our former (and now current adversary) Russia, and the brave men and women who wanted a job literally out of this world. It’s a complementary book to The Right Stuff, about new people and new technology with the same determination and curiosity of what’s in the Heavens.
This book also demonstrates the power of the American dream. The first African American, Ron Bluford, who fly in the shuttle was just three generations from being a slave in our country. Others simply had the drive and eagerness to make it through school and be accepted in the astronaut crew.
As an Ohioan, there were many mentions of Ohio. President Ford cut the ribbon of the National Air and Space Museum, Wright Patterson Air Force Base was mentioned often, and Guy Bluford was from Cleveland.
Having lived through this period, read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, I learned so much that I had forgotten or had no knowledge. It was a good mixture of interesting stories on the characters and the longer story about NASA and chasing the stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2024
A fascinating group biography of the first class of space shuttle astronauts / saga of an understudied era in NASA history (70s-90s). I bought it because I love space, but it was also very interesting from a DEI perspective, as it tells the story of the first astronaut class where women and racial minority candidates were not deliberately excluded, and the reactions to them both internally at NASA and from the country at large. Yet somehow this is also a story of an organization trying to push the limits of human exploration within a very limited budget, and the sometimes deadly compromises involved. Bagby somehow balances the personal stories of dozens of astronauts, technical explanations of their training and how the shuttle works, and accounts of the broader politics in the US and NASA's organizational structure. She does so drawing partially on original interviews conducted with the survivors of the New Guy class, meaning she has details and color you can't find anywhere else. Especially for Sally Ride, who was extraordinarily private in general and also in a secret long-term relationship with a woman starting in the 1980s until her death in 2012, this showed me her personality in a way that no adoring media snippet has ever managed before. (Sally Ride biopic when????) The book also gave a detailed account of the decision to launch the Challenger in freezing weather, and it was... even worse than I had known. But the account is respectful and focuses on the impact the disaster had on the astronauts left behind (including Sally Ride, who played a key role in the investigation) and the culture at NASA. The Columbia disaster weirdly got a lot less page time, but I was again stunned by how much NASA struggled with the thermal tiles from the beginning, and the decision (again, advocated for by Sally Ride) to end the shuttle program due to these numerous safety issues. As a child of the 90s I admit I used to be nostalgic for the shuttle era, but after reading this book I have a lot less admiration for the shuttle itself-- and a lot more for the astronauts who flew it.
December 22, 2022
I received this book from GoodReads for an honest review. I am fascinated by the writing, by the lives of these astronauts, AND by the struggles ( sociological and personal) that they went through in this new aspect of the Space Program in the late 1970's. ...So many 'firsts'... The first group not to be military trained pilots. The first women, the first Black (or negro in the vernacular of the time) men and woman, Jewish, the 'later revealed' first gay woman, to undergo the same rigorous training as the military did. This was so revealing to me: I lived my younger years in this era--- working for equality, for justice. I had never expected NOR known of so much prejudice, so many barriers in the everyday aspects of the Space Program of the LATER 1970's and into the 1980s. . The motivation, the singular persistence of these men and women " THE NEW GUYS"is fascinating.
The struggle with u.s. sociological barriers existed (exists?) on a very personal level with daily derision and impediments to advancement. I remain shocked that such vile statements were made to people of color, to people from another background , by INDIVIDUALS in the space program.
The blatant racism and discrimination also existed on a systemic level: The program had the SMALLEST percentage of minorities of any government agency.
The author so well addresses their backgrounds that made them so motivated, their joyous experiences in achievement(including the pride and surprise at seeing your own face in a space center mural while still training..).
I love her writing style. There used to be a tv program "YOU ARE THERE". Historic events were played out by actors, marvelously. Ms. Bagby's writing is also marvelous, it makes me feel like "I AM THERE!"
The research is well done; footnoted. The writing vividly makes their life stories real and fascinating. Thank you GoodReads and Meredith Bagby for a great book.
The struggle with u.s. sociological barriers existed (exists?) on a very personal level with daily derision and impediments to advancement. I remain shocked that such vile statements were made to people of color, to people from another background , by INDIVIDUALS in the space program.
The blatant racism and discrimination also existed on a systemic level: The program had the SMALLEST percentage of minorities of any government agency.
The author so well addresses their backgrounds that made them so motivated, their joyous experiences in achievement(including the pride and surprise at seeing your own face in a space center mural while still training..).
I love her writing style. There used to be a tv program "YOU ARE THERE". Historic events were played out by actors, marvelously. Ms. Bagby's writing is also marvelous, it makes me feel like "I AM THERE!"
The research is well done; footnoted. The writing vividly makes their life stories real and fascinating. Thank you GoodReads and Meredith Bagby for a great book.
June 2, 2023
Meredith Bagby is a veteran of the film and television production industry who has penned this inspiring account of the first Space Shuttle class of astronauts. Historians will long remember this class of 1978 as among the most memorable of the astronaut classes, partly because they included the first women, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans selected as astronauts, partly because they helped to inaugurate the era of the most complex flying machine ever devised, and partly because they weathered the tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger that claimed four of their members. Bagby does a solid job in underscoring each of these points for readers. Although she is not an academic historian, she knows how to engage her readers while bringing momentous events to life. I am impressed with the depth of the research she conducted in this task, as she consulted a great variety of literature while also conducting her own interviews with the astronauts and some other figures who worked with them. After all of her work, I learned details about the astronauts' upbringing and thoughts on their jobs that I had not read anywhere else. For instance, I am now familiar with the ways that Judy Resnik's parents influenced her and Ron McNair's automobile accident during the early 1980s. The book moves through the first shuttle flights for several members of the class, the Challenger accident, the post-Challenger era, and finally the Columbia accident and its aftermath. With the departures of Anna Fisher and Shannon Lucid, the class of 1978 had left the astronaut office behind. But readers will know a great deal about the personalities behind the astronauts' accomplishments thanks to Bagby's thorough research and writing.
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