Product Description
This well-researched and clearly-written book tells the story of the complications involved in NASA's selection of astronauts. The Real Stuff is the history of NASA's astronaut recruitment and selection process from 1959-1984. The authors consider the various criteria applied in selecting astronauts from among military test pilots, scientists, and mission specialists, and demonstrate the scientific and social concerns which led to the policy changes that brought scientific specalists, women, and minorities into the space program. Included are such topics as: the Eisenhower space policy; the influence of Sputnik, and other competition with the USSR; NASA's political sensitivity; and the actions taken to encourage minority and women applicants. ... Read more

Product Description
Alan Bartlett „Al" Shepard, Jr. (* 18. November 1923 in East Derry, New Hampshire, Vereinigte Staaten; † 21. Juli 1998 in Monterey, Kalifornien, USA) war der erste Astronaut der Vereinigten Staaten und der fünfte Mensch auf dem Mond. Shepard war ein hervorragender Schüler. Fasziniert von Flugzeugen radelte er an Wochenenden oft zum nächsten Flugplatz, wo er Gelegenheitsarbeiten übernahm, um ab und zu in Flugzeugen mitgenommen zu werden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Historical account by the astronauts themselves. Everything was new and untested
I've read almost all the astronaut books. When I was a small boy the original 7 Mercury astronauts were my heroes.

This book is of great historical significance. Written in 1962 with stories by the actual astronauts themselves. Remember everything known about manned space was new then. Many scientists a decade before did not believe man could survive in space. Many believed the astronauts eyes would pull out or blindness would occur because of high Gs. Many believed the astronauts blood would boil because of changes in pressure or radiation would cook their insides. It was a time of great unknowns. These were the first Americans to go into space. Remember that many of the earlier Redstone andAtlas boosters exploded. These men were basically strapped in on top of a possible exploding bomb. They were ex test pilots and knew the risks. Such courage.

The new NASA handpicked these 7 men from many military test pilots. Due to spacecraft size restrictions the seven could be no taller than 5 ft 11 inches and weigh less than 180 pounds. Many difficult, strenuousand demeaning physical and mental tests were given to select the best of the best. NASA wanted level headed, courageous test pilots with engineering or equivalent college backgrounds for direct input on spacecraft features/design as well as the best possible pilots with lots of flying experience and being level headed in case of emergencies.

All 7 men... M Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, John H. Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Donald Slayton were all very competitive and wanted to be the first American in space. Alan Shepard was the first American in space. While "Deke" Donald Slayton was the last of the seven to go into space. They realized that no one man could learn all the different aspects of spaceflight and the equipment needed so areas of specialties were given to each of them. All trained and gave the knowledge learned to the other members. All had different personalities.All were type As. All wanted to be the best and the first American in space and competed heavily but realized they must help one another.

Each of the astronauts tell about themselves and their families and some of their military careers. Each gives stories about what they did in their specialties to help the Mercury missions ( space suits, Atlas boosters, communications and navigation, spacecraft sea recovery,flight station control panels,special survival knives and quick spacecraft escape and safety features and other specialties. Also Alan Shepard's, Gus Grissom's, John Glenn's, and Scott Carpenter's Mercury flights are highlighted by the astronauts themselves.

There are a few better astronaut books ( see my reviews) but We Seven is special because of its historical significance of almost everythinglearned in the Mercury years being new and unknown. There are a good number of interesting black and white pictures of the astronauts,their families , astronaut training shots, the Mercury spacecraft and the impressive liftoff shots. All the Mercury astronauts were courageous heroes that deserve ourutmost respect. Sadly only 2 are alive today. Scott Carpenter and John Glenn. A great book 5 stars plus

There will never be another like it...
In the short time span of less than ten years, these seven American heros helped to invent and then use the spacecraft and systems they signed on to fly. This book will inspire and will make you remember (or realize) that if done with hard work, common sense, and teamwork, anything aspired to -is possible.

Looking at everything that goes on in today's world, I feel that we will never see this type of dedication, teamwork, and support in future projects. Let's lose the laziness and "me me" crowd, roll up our sleeves and GET 'ER DONE!

Band of Brothers
Published as Project Mercury was thrilling the Free World at the height of the cold war, WE SEVEN was written by the original seven astronauts (and edited by LIFE magazine's John Dille). For researchers and space enthusiasts, the chapters offer valuable contemporaneous, first-person accounts of Project Mercury--from the men, to the machines, to the systems.

Particularly valuable are the accounts of the historic 1959 selection process (and selection medicine) at Lovelace Clinic and Wright-Patterson A.F.B. There arepainstakingly technical accounts of the engineering and design work on the hardware in addition to first-person accounts of spaceflight itself, from the days when astronauts flew alone and then only briefly--for a lifetime of fame.

First military tests pilots and then engineers, the Mercury astronauts were notprofessional writers. The editor does a brilliant job of preserving the distinctive voices of the individual astronauts, while showcasing the highly technical subjects the men describe in WE SEVEN, a bestseller when it was first published in 1962.

A must for any spaceflight history library.

we seven
We Seven-
The book We Seven is about the original seven astronauts of the Mercury program. The book starts off with the astronauts telling of their lives before they were chosen for the space program at NASA. Most of them had the same squeaky clean military records being test pilots and having combat experience. All of the pilots were either in the air force, navy or the marine corps. After that the astronauts describe the various tests they had to go through to see if they had what it took for the job.
After the seven astronauts where picked they had to go through even more testing on trainers for g forces and zero g's that they would face in space and upon re-entry. This was very repetitive and kind of boring because of the elaborate detail the authors wrote about even the simplest of things.
The book wasn't very good it took the fascinating topic of aviation and made it into an extremely boring task of reading. The authors of the book describe everything in an extreme detail probably due to their polished military background. This seems to be a habit for people in the military known from personal experience having a father who used to be a pilot.
Wrapped up this book would not appeal to someone who is not interested in either the filed of aviation or space because of its detail about all of the in and outs of the job.

Its an inspiring familiy tradition
I got this book from my dad, and he got it when it was first edited (the German version) in 1962. It was standing a long time untouched on my bookshelf but one day I took it out and started reading it. From the first moment I was fascinated. I think its the way the book is set up: Every different chapter is written by another astronaut of the mercury program. It gives a very good description of the mercury program, free worlds first manned step into space. But there is more: The astronauts not only describe the program, there is also a lot of information about the in-betweens, the personal relationships and characters of the seven. When you read the book you realy can feel the spirit and the atmosphere of that time. When I had the chance to visit the National Air and Space Museum I stayed there a whole day and at least 3 hours I used to inspect the two shown Mercury-capsules in the entrance. It was one of the most fascinating moments because when I looked at the space vehicles I always remembered things from the book.
This book has become a family heritage for me and when I will have children of my own one day I will of course give the book to them - to let them smell the spirit of these seven pioneers.
... Read more

Product Description
The pioneer astronauts who took America into space tell their personal stories about the challenges they faced -- their fears, joys, friendships, and successes.

Chosen from hundreds of crackerjack pilots for their fitness, intelligence, and courage, the original Mercury Seven astronauts risked their lives to cross the space frontier. In We Seven, they take readers behind the scenes to show them their training, technology, and teamwork, and to share personal stories, including the lighter moments of their mission. They bring readers inside the Mercury program -- even into the space capsules themselves. We Seven straps you in with the astronauts and rockets you along for the ride.

Share Alan Shepard's exhilaration as he breaks through the earth's atmosphere. Endure moments of panic with Gus Grissom when his hatch blows, stranding him in the open sea. Race with John Glenn as he makes split-second life-or-death maneuvers during reentry, and feel his relief when he emerges safe but drenched with sweat.

Despite such heroism, Project Mercury was more than the story of individual missions. It defined the manned space flight program to come, from Gemini through Apollo. In We Seven, America's original astronauts tell us firsthand -- as only they can -- about the space program they pioneered, and share with us the hopes and dreams of the U.S. at the dawn of a new era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The last solo space heroes
`We Seven' is a period piece. It was first published in 1962 and has been relatively hard to find for several years except as a used book. My one and only complaint about this reissue is that there is no new introduction - it is presented simply as it was published, which for some might be confusing; i.e. writing about the seven astronauts as if they were all still alive. There is an introduction by 'Life' and some black and white photographs and a detailed index.
What it does show is all the hope and naiveté of the time and the men involved, the mind set of the military and NASA then and all the hope and pride that went with it. It is indeed interesting to read again or for the first time. There is much emphasis on John Glenn, he seems to give longer and more detailed interviews. That is also what is fascinating about this account, it is the astronaut's words themselves; although one should be aware if you cannot tell that these are the public interviews. There is none of the gossip of private lives or complaints of operational conditions. Even the stories of failures, Gus Grissom's loss of his space capsule is dealt with as a disappointing accident as it was presented at the time: "at least we did not hide information like the Russians did concerning their space program".
Each of the seven tell of how they were chosen, how they worked together and were a team that brought America into space. These men, both the astronauts themselves and the NASA technicians that launched them are passing out of our lives. Only two of the original seven are left John Glenn and Scott Carpenter.

There are many books on the astronauts, many wrote their own individual stories, but this stands out as a singularity, one that was written in the pride of a moment, before Gemini, before Apollo; before the tragic fire that took Gus Grissom, Chaffe and White's life and before the destruction of two space shuttles that made many question NASA and the space program. The stories of the last solo space heroes' time of triumph still deserves to be heard and read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

We Seven
After recently seeing a few documentary's on the history of NASA, anything written or filmed in the astronauts own words is absolutly incredible!! I enjoyed this book very much. I have also ordered Buzz Aldren's new book.

Must read for space aficianados
I was unaware of this book until a friend told me about it.Very interesting read and quite insightful look at the Mercury program!A must have for any "child of the sixties" space race fans.

We Seven by the Astronauts Themselves
The first seven astronauts tell their own story of being in the Project Mercury program.They were a complex group of men, that called themselves "guinea pigs."This book helps the reader understand why we call them "hero's." ... Read more

Product Description
First- person accounts from the astronauts who trained to walk upon the moon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

After forty years, the accounts of the early space program can still thrill you
As an avid follower of the American space program, I devoured this book when I was young. The seven original Mercury astronauts:

*) Alan Shepard Jr.
*) Walter Schirra Jr.
*) Donald Slayton
*) M. Scott Carpenter
*) John Glenn Jr.
*) Virgil Grissom
*) L. Gordon Cooper Jr.

were all heroes, both nationally and to me. Given the authors and the times, this book is a much-sanitized version of the actual events, yet it describes their lives and how hard they trained for their missions. See the movie "The Right Stuff" for a more realistic description of how things were.
It is split into sections, where each astronaut individually wrote the section and the level of detail will turn off those seeking pure adventure stories. The space program was extremely technical and it is impossible to create an accurate description of the training regimen and mission without using some technical detail. Even after over 40 years have passed, this is still a book that will thrill space enthusiasts.
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Product Description
This digital document is an article from Airpower, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1674 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: NASA X-15 pilots in space! Were they America's first true civilian astronauts?(Navy Cdr. Alan B. Shepard and Marine Col. John Glenn )(Cover Story)
Author: Mike Machat
Publication: Airpower (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 35Issue: 11Page: 30(14)

Article Type: Cover Story

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Perhaps the most important book in the history of aviation, this volume contains research that originally appeared in The Railroad and Engineering Journal between 1891 and 1893. In it, the distinguished French-born aviation pioneer Octave Chanute analyzed virtually every flight experiment up to that time, explained their flaws and focused attention on the principles that showed most promise. His data on flight control and equilibrium was crucial to the early designs of the Wright Brothers. New Introduction. 90 illustrations.
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Customer Reviews (2)

The Most Important Book in the History of Aviation?
I think it could be argued that without the contributions of the Wright Brothers, it would have taken years longer before the first practical airplanes were built, but without Octave Chanute it would have taken decades longer.

Chanute was born in Paris but lived his whole life in America.Until he retired at the age of 57, he was one of America's leading railroad engineers, so successful that a town in Kansas was named after him. He laid out new railway lines, was the designer of the Chicago Stockyards, designed many significant bridges, and was involved in designing the "El" (elevated railroad) in New York City.

After his retirement, he took up a new hobby: heavier-than-air flight.Instead of just setting out to build an airplane in his barn, he began to research and document everything that had previously tried from antiquity to the modern day, getting all the details he could about each craft and how it had performed.He published all this information, initially in a railroad engineering journal, and later as this book.He started corresponding with most everyone who was working in flight, trading ideas and offering suggestions and encouragement.He pretty much single-handedly converted aviation from the pursuit of lone madmen into a respectable science where people could build on the experience of others.So this book is not only a fascinating survey of flight before flight, but the real beginning of aviation science.

After publishing this book, Chanute designed a few gliders of his own, hiring younger men to build and test them.One was quite successful, introducing some key innovations, most notably the idea of building a strong, light wing with substantial lifting area by stacking two wings on top of each other and bracing them with struts and wires.Chanute got the inspiration for this from the design of box truss railroad bridges, and if you look at the Wright's plane, and most later biplanes, you'll see Chanute's basic wing design used.

The Wrights were the first to solve many difficult problems, including designing a workable control system and building a light-enough, strong-enough engine, but thanks to Chanute they didn't have to invent the entire airplane from scratch.They could build on the work of others.

So the content of this book, with pictures and descriptions of many early planes up through the Lillenthal gliders, is interesting on it's own merits, but the book's place in the history of engineering adds substantial additional interest.

Chanute and the Wrights later fell out over the question of sharing new ideas to encourage the advance of science (Chanute) versus patenting them to allow innovators to profit from their discoveries (the Wrights).So this book has a place in that old story too.Someone should name an open source software project after Chanute.

This book got the Wright Brothers and many others started
This book gives an historical review of the effects and experiments of inventors to accomplish flight with apparatus, which by reason of its rapid movement will be supported by the air as birds are. The author has gathered all the records of such experiments which were accessible, and has endeavored to show the reasons for their failure and to explain the principles which govern flight, and to satisfy himself and his readers,whether we may reasonably hope eventually to fly through the air. His conclusion is that this question may now be answered in the affirmative. A full account is given of the recent experiments of scientists like Maxim, Lilienthal, Hargraves and Langley, which have so greatly added to our knowledge on this subject. The book contains over 300 pages and is illustrated by nearly 100 engravings. It is written in a style which will be read with as much interest by the general as by the non-technical reader. Advertisement taken from "Aeronautics,&qu! ot; published in the fall of 1894. ... Read more