Out of Orbit

Out of Orbit

Author: Chris Jones

Publisher: House of Anansi

Published: 2008-05-01

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 1770890734

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In February 2003, American astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin were on a routine fourteen-week mission maintaining the International Space Station. But then the space shuttle Columbia exploded far beneath them. With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts had suddenly lost their ride back to earth. Out of Orbit chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered mission controls in Houston and Moscow as they worked frantically against the clock, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best, like a long shot. Latched to the side of the space station was a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, the rocket equivalent of a 1976 Gremlin. Despite the inherent danger, the Soyuz became the only hope to return Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit home. Their harrowing journey back to earth is a powerful reminder that space travel remains an incredibly dangerous pursuit.


Leaving Orbit

Leaving Orbit

Author: Margaret Lazarus Dean

Publisher: Graywolf Press

Published: 2015-05-19

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1555973418

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Winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, a breathtaking elegy to the waning days of human spaceflight as we have known it In the 1960s, humans took their first steps away from Earth, and for a time our possibilities in space seemed endless. But in a time of austerity and in the wake of high-profile disasters like Challenger, that dream has ended. In early 2011, Margaret Lazarus Dean traveled to Cape Canaveral for NASA's last three space shuttle launches in order to bear witness to the end of an era. With Dean as our guide to Florida's Space Coast and to the history of NASA, Leaving Orbit takes the measure of what American spaceflight has achieved while reckoning with its earlier witnesses, such as Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, and Oriana Fallaci. Along the way, Dean meets NASA workers, astronauts, and space fans, gathering possible answers to the question: What does it mean that a spacefaring nation won't be going to space anymore?


A Crown for Cold Silver

A Crown for Cold Silver

Author: Alex Marshall

Publisher: Orbit

Published: 2015-04-14

Total Pages: 656

ISBN-13: 0316277991

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"It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre." Twenty years ago, feared general Cobalt Zosia led her five villainous captains and mercenary army into battle, wrestling monsters and toppling an empire. When there were no more titles to win and no more worlds to conquer, she retired and gave up her legend to history. Now the peace she carved for herself has been shattered by the unprovoked slaughter of her village. Seeking bloody vengeance, Zosia heads for battle once more, but to find justice she must confront grudge-bearing enemies, once-loyal allies, and an unknown army that marches under a familiar banner. FIVE VILLAINS. ONE LEGENDARY GENERAL. A FINAL QUEST FOR VENGEANCE.


Out of Orbit

Out of Orbit

Author: Chris Jones

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 0307793907

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On February 1, 2003, the nation was stunned to watch the shuttle Columbia disintegrate into a blue-green sky. Despite the numerous new reports surrounding the tragedy, the public remained largely unaware that three men, U.S. astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox, and Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin, remained orbiting the earth. With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts, who were already near the end of a fourteen-week mission, had suddenly lost their ride home. Out of Orbit is the harrowing, behind-the-scenes chronicle of the efforts of beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow who worked frantically against the clock to bring their men safely back to Earth, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best, like a long shot. Given that no shuttle could come for them, the astronauts’ only hope for a return flight became a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, latched to the side of the space station—a piece of equipment roughly the equivalent of a “padded box attached to a parachute,” with a troubled history (in 1971 a malfunction in the Soyuz 11 capsule left three Russian astronauts dead) and dated technology. Gripping and faced-paced, Out of Orbit is an adventure in outer space that will keep you on the edge of your seat. In a day and age when space travel is poised to become available to masses, Out of Orbit vividly captures both its hazardous realities and soaring majesty.


The Helm of Midnight

The Helm of Midnight

Author: Marina Lostetter

Publisher: Tor Books

Published: 2021-04-13

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 1250258731

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Hannibal meets Mistborn in Marina Lostetter’s THE HELM OF MIDNIGHT, the dark and stunning first novel in a new trilogy that combines the intricate worldbuilding and rigorous magic system of the best of epic fantasy with a dark and chilling thriller. In a daring and deadly heist, thieves have made away with an artifact of terrible power—the death mask of Louis Charbon. Made by a master craftsman, it is imbued with the spirit of a monster from history, a serial murderer who terrorized the city. Now Charbon is loose once more, killing from beyond the grave. But these murders are different from before, not simply random but the work of a deliberate mind probing for answers to a sinister question. It is up to Krona Hirvath and her fellow Regulators to enter the mind of madness to stop this insatiable killer while facing the terrible truths left in his wake. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.


Reflections from Earth Orbit

Reflections from Earth Orbit

Author: Winston E. Scott

Publisher: Apogee Books

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13:

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In spite of the recent loss of the space shuttle Columbia, there are those who believe in the seemingly routine nature of space flight. The author's experiences however confirm the tremendous curiosity and overall fascination the world maintains for flying in space. As a public speaker, he talks regularly to thousands of people of all ages and from every walk of life. These audience members universally are inquisitive about life in space and the makeup of the individuals who form the corps of con-temporary space explorers. Reflections From Earth Orbit is not your typical 'how do you go to the bathroom in space' book. It is a book about life as told through the memories, or reflections, of the author navy Captain Winston Scott. These reflections were prompted by events that occurred during two space shuttle missions as a NASA astronaut aboard the space shuttles Endeavour and Columbia. It has been written that Captain Scott's journey to the stars is a testament to perseverance and vision. Reflections is his attempt to share some of the experiences that drove him to overcome his life's obstacles and become one of a select few who journeyed beyond the bonds of earth into outer space. Through Reflections the author takes the reader into space. He gives vivid descriptions of life in space emphasising the everyday aspects of living with which the average, everyday person is curious and to which he or she can relate. As his memory is jogged by an event in space, Captain Scott relates a fascinating story with lessons learned from his past. He has succeeded in capturing the essence of life in space and sharing the space flight experience with the reader. Although not every chapter follows this exact format, e.g. Where Have You Gone Sky King, Reflections will entertain, educate, and inspire a general audience. In other words, one does not have to be a space enthusiast to enjoy 'Reflections'.


Orbit

Orbit

Author: John J. Nance

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2006-03-13

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 0743289099

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The year is 2009. For Kip Dawson, winning a passenger seat on American Space Adventure's spacecraft is a dream come true. One grand shot of insanity and he can return to earth fulfilled. But the thrill of the successful launch turns to terror when a micrometeorite penetrates the capsule, leaving the radios as dead as the pilot. Reality hits: Kip isn't going home. With nothing to do but wait for his doomed fate, Kip writes his epitaph on the ship's laptop computer, unaware that an audience of millions has discovered it and is tracking his every word on the Internet. As a massive struggle gets underway to rescue him, Kip has no idea that the world can hear his cries -- or that his heroism in the face of death may sabotage his best chance of survival.


Orbit

Orbit

Author: Jay Apt

Publisher: National Geographic

Published: 2003-10

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780792261865

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Collects many of the most visually significant photographs taken during the first forty-one years of orbital space travel, in a volume that reflects the achievements of the space program, the natural wonders of the planet, and the consequences of pollution. Reprint.


Blameless

Blameless

Author: Gail Carriger

Publisher: Orbit

Published: 2010-09-01

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0316082562

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Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season in the third book of the NYT bestselling Parasol Protectorate series. Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead. While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.!--EndFragment-- BLAMELESS is the third book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking. The Parasol Protectorate Soulless Changeless Blameless Heartless Timeless For more from Gail Carriger, check out: The Custard Protocol Prudence ImprudenceCompetenceReticence Finishing School (YA) Etiquette & Espionage Curtsies & Conspiracies Waistcoats & Weaponry Manners & Mutiny


See You In Orbit? Our Dream Of Spaceflight

See You In Orbit? Our Dream Of Spaceflight

Author: Alan Ladwig

Publisher:

Published: 2019-10-09

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 9781733265706

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For centuries, a journey to space has been a shared dream of millions around the world. We have patiently, and impatiently, anticipated Sunday afternoon drives down celestial freeways. Yet, since 1961 when human space travel began, fewer than 560 professional astronauts, cosmonauts, taikonauts and a-half dozen millionaires have seen Earth from a vantage point in space. Given so few orbiting travelers, what made so many ordinary people think they had the slightest chance to fulfill their dream? Because for decades, visionaries, government officials, space companies, and the media told us our ticket to ride was just a rocket away. All we had to do was "keep the dream alive." With so much optimism, shouldn't we all be there by now? See You In Orbit? Our Dream of Spaceflight will be the first non-fiction book to take a historical, personal, irreverent, and often-humorous look at the promises, expectations, principal personalities, and milestones regarding the goal and dream we have to fly in space.