Mika’s Reviews > Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space > Status Update

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.

End chpt 1. I had no idea about spacecraft 012 and this tragedy. The author has an uncanny ability to write very matter of factly yet still makes ur heart race because you know whats coming and the tiny details leading up to it makes the final act just so much more tragic. What horrific incompetence from all involved except the 3 astronauts that advocated until the end.

Prologue. I wanted to highlight the last sentence. I was born when this tragedy happened, but i have heard this exact line many times in songs, movies, ect and never knew what it was originally from. Gives a much more haunting meaning to most of those media pieces now. How gut punching