Mika > Recent Status Updates

Reading with my partner! Finished the intro and I’m skeptical already. This man is very opinionated and has a huge bias. Even tho I would agree with some of these points, he seems almost hostile about it, and talking about the birds more from opinion rather than fact. I love non fiction, but prefer making up my own mind, not reading an opinion piece that tells me the authors mind and how i should feel.

End chpt 28, final chpt. Quiet the book this was. I dont feel like justice was served here. Just a damn tragedy all around. So sad this all happened again too. This is a fantastic journalist deep dive into a tragic, and important, accident within American history.

End chpt 27. The remains were found and the final verdict reached. I was very intrigued by this chapter since the salvage operation was the main star of this one. The detail about the unbroken jar of jif peanut butter being found in the crew cabin under the sea after the previous chapter where the wife kept accidentally buying it at the grocery for her dead husband was heart breaking.

End chpt 26. Ill say it again, mcdonald and boisjoly are truly incredible for standing up to nasa and their company. I agree with the statement that mcdonald was an american hero for this act. It’s also fascinating to read about the salvage mission. So morbidly cool to see how that was handled. The detail about the morning families, specifically june accidentally buying pb for her dead husband is heartbreaking

End chpt 25. This is where stuff gets interesting. Now all the threads are being pulled and the coverup is coming out. Im very happy the engineers at Thiokol had empathy and ethics, reading about McDonald speaking up at the hearing while his superiors were trying to cover up their involvement is inspiring. I hope i always have such resolve for justice and truth even in the face of huge pushback.

End chpt 24. All about the immediate aftermath and shock of the tragedy. The whole chapter really envelopes the feeling of intensive shock that happens after tragedy. It’s the quiet during the eye of the storm, just delt with a storm prior but have much more to go.

End chpt 23. If the last chapter was the most enraging this one was the most sad. The incident finally occurring and over. The scene where the closeout specialist saw terror in Mcauliffe’s face was so heart breaking. The excitement of Greg to go to space only for his life to end like this is tragic beyond words. Very well written chapter, I was full of anxiety while reading it.

End chpt 22. This is an infuriating chapter. Pure negligence and concealment. Shout out the engineers and mcdonald for not being willing to go along with this shit and trying to convince NASA to stop the launch. Shame on the Thiokol exec team for not standing up for their people and saying no to NASA all because NASA threatened them if they postponed the launch.

End chpt 21. If so many people recommended not to launch this thing then wtf did it launch? God i feel bad for the o ring task force, they wanted to make this thing safe so badly.

End chpt 20. Its getting more emotional to read these chapters since I know their deaths are so close. What horrifically bad luck it was that the launch was scrubbed on the day it would have been perfect to fly, it could have saved everyone’s lives. Seeing how everyone’s families were excited and nervous just makes me feel awful.

Mcauliffe’s quote about tuning in on day 4 to watch her two lessons taught from space fills me with a type of grief I don’t often get the chance to feel. The grief of knowing exactly what could have been and what never came to be. What a treasure we all were deprived of witnessing, her two special lessons taught from space.

End part 2. The final characterization of all the astronauts and the people responsible. I think the next few chapters are going to be very intense. Mcauliffe is so personable it is a damn shame she dies so tragically.

End chpt 18. Man it is so sad to see how hard Boisjoly worked to fixed this and how little he was heard. His colleague Ebeling also tried to make people listen to no avail. I’ve never been so enraged by negligence in my life. Mcdonald tried to help too but was really stunted by his manager Mulloy too. It’s so sad seeing how anxious these people were about a disaster only to know as the reader that it’s coming.

End chpt 17. This chapter is infuriating. It is just blatant corruption and people wanting to keep their jobs that killed these astronauts. Huge respect for Boisjoly who really did all he could to get this issue fixed before it killed someone. He really really tried. Hindsights a bitch, but it’s so clear that the o-ring failures are getting worse, how did no one ground these shuttles?

End chpt 16. This was a good chapter. Shows the dichotomy of the happy new teachernaut against the failing equipment during shuttle launches. Mcauliffe seems so lovely as a person from the way the book describes her. Just a perfect fun normal american!

End chot 15. We are introduced to Christa, the teacher chosen for space. It’s super interesting to see the difference between them choosing a civilian vs a proper astronaut pilot. Christa is so unbelievably relatable I’m not surprised she was chosen. It really did seem like the adventure of a life terms vs a career.

End chpt 14. First half discussed escalating issues with the Or rings in the rocket boosters. One section stuck out to me about accidentally widening the frame work of what is considered acceptable risk. All people are prone to that, but it is egregious to see it in this setting. Second half was about the grand feat of the first salvage mission in space that lead to a ‘perfect’ image of nasa.

End chpt 13. Mostly learned more about our primary astronauts involved in challenger. About judy, ron, and a new one , greg. Greg and his wife are absolute goals, it was adorable to read about their life. Also learned about judy’s first space flight which almost ended in disaster. I like the characterization chapters a lot, gives some personality to our main cast.

End chpt 12. Mostly covered how the main factory making the SSRs was having major set backs, from faulty noses to a factory explosion. It’s really setting up that this factory was making many mistakes.

End chpt 11. Covered the creation and problems of making the shuttle boosters. Even without knowing what part of the shuttle failed to cause the challenger disaster, it’s pretty obvious from this chapter it is being set up that the O rings failed. Im surprised at the rampant (what i would call) corruption regarding turning heads of possible safety risks, especially from the risk analysis.

End chpt 10. Covered the social aspect of the new recruits at this time, especially regarding picking the first mew teams with the first black and first woman astronaut. It’s interesting to read about the social culture within the TFNGs. It’s also infuriating to see how much safety was put aside all in the name of a good press appearance.

End chpt 9. Covered the first flight of the first shuttle. It was honestly very touching to see how it brought america together with excitement and optimism. I love reading about young since he was born and raised in my town. Reading how Lee cried at the idea of her heat shield not working while they were flying was also touching in a way. I could feel her pain, youngs excitement to be alive and the American spirit

End chpt 8. Covered the extreme delays and issues with the heat shield tiles specifically while giving societal context to how the american people viewed the shuttle project as a failure. I liked this chapter a lot, really brings perspective to how hard it was to make the shuttle flight worthy and it still had immense risks.

Loved the quote from president Carter regarding the state of the people and America. Feels similar to today’s struggles, except back then they had a president that gave a shit.

End chpt 7. Covered both the massive issues/delays building the shuttle present as well as covered the training the new astronauts went through. I liked the personalization this chapter gives to our star astronauts, makes them feel human, like real people. Also crazy how little they were paid.

End chpt 6. Introduced the background for some of the major astronauts involved in the challenger. Judy seems so fun, i immediately liked her characterization. Also shout out to the title ‘TNFGs’ the fuckin new guys lol i love that as a group name. I was also amused how hard nasa advertised to have minorities and women apply, especially after the sexism and racism of the last chapter.

End chpt 5. Mostly discussed the extreme uphill battle women and minorities faced in trying to be taken seriously as candidates for spaceflight. As a woman, it is enraging to read about how easily these women were brushed off. Seeing how wronged Dwight was in his pursuit for space flight without knowing he was a pawn was also incredibly sad.

End chpt 4. It’s sad to see how the military and government totally ignored the nasa engineers when designing the space shuttle. More focused on cost and military use instead of making a safe aircraft, like they never learned from the 012 or x-15 disasters. Again, also shocked at how much power the ex-nazi was given over creating american rockets.

End chpt 3. Explained how various early shuttle planes/models were developed. Very mechanical jargon heavy chapter with lots of players and time jumps. I was shocked at the heavy influence of german nazi engineers in the creation of the early shuttle prototypes and nasa. Also shocked by how involved yet quiet the air force was at trying to make a military space presence despite that not being the goal.

End chpt 2. Covered the investigation into 012’s fire accident and how the space program fell out of favor. I liked seeing the parallels between what the space program was doing and how the country was also struggling with so many social issues that it affected the favor of nasa to the people. It makes sense the insane budget nasa had would have been a point of contention with struggling Americans.