商品簡介
Very few jerks have ever been to space, says veteran astronaut Michael Massimino. Why and how this is, it could be argued, is the subject of his remarkable memoir. As a man who clung to a childhood dream, despite countless rejections along the way that threatened to keep him from joining NASA, Massiminio made it into one of the most elite clubs in the world--those who have left the planet and lived to tell about it. Massimino's story is a classic, his voice that of a natural raconteur, and his insight into the space program singular. All this from a six-foot-three kid from Long Island who is afraid of heights.
With humor, humility and intelligence, Massimino takes us through his childhood obsession with space, his reconnection with his astronaut ambitions thanks to the movieThe Right Stuff, and his multiple attempts to gain admission to NASA. Once he finally becomes an astronaut, the plot only thickens as he travels to the Hubble Space Telescope and spacewalks for the first time. We see him deal with the loss of his fellow astronauts in the Columbia disaster, and also make the tough decision not to return to space so that he can be with his family. Along the way, we learn about the many men and woman who make NASA the hotbed of innovation and exploration - and characters - that it is, and get to hear Mike's impassioned argument for why we must never, ever give up the dream of space travel.
作者簡介
Mike Massimino served as an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1996 to 2014. He is the veteran of two NASA space flights, STS-109 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in March 2002 and STS-125 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in May 2009. Both missions were to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Mike has costarred in the film Hubble IMAX 3D; hosted specials on PBS, the Discovery Channel, and the National Geographic Channel; played himself on six episodes of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory; appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson; and made various appearances as a guest expert on CNN and FOX News. A graduate of Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mike currently lives with his wife Carola in New York City.
