A. Scott Crossfield (1921–2006)

This memoir is pretty long at just over 400 pages, and is extremely detailed, so you may not be super interested if you aren't really into experimental research flight, aviation, or the X-15.

To put this book into context, it wraps up in early 1960. That's about a year before Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space, and consequently a year before the Mercury program starts its first piloted flights. Dwight Eisenhower is still president. North American thinks the B-70 won't be cancelled. NASA has only been NASA for just about two years. (And the author, Scott Crossfield, is still ~65 years away from killing himself by failing to flying out of a thunderstorm.)

So it's still really early in the space business. In some ways things are both prescient and also naive. Aerodynamic space vehicles are being explored, even though they ultimately won't be used to travel to space until the STS program kicks off in 1977, and then will be virtually abandoned again after the program ends in 2011. Lots of aerospace firms are alive and kicking with buckets of defense or NASA funding before merging or shutting down in the 80s and 90s after the cold war ends and the federal government decides not to give NASA money for cool projects anymore. There is a little discussion about the nascent (at the time) conflict between piloted flight and autonomous missiles.

In that context, the book is pretty fascinating. Where did one of the top test pilots and engineers see the future of aviation and space research? It also highlights years that are often not covered that much in many other books about space, who usually just gloss over the 1950s to get right to the Mercury program.

That said, the book was REALLY LONG and started out REALLY SLOW. I felt like it took 100 pages for me to feel good and interested. I've been zipping through books lately, and this one took me quite a while to get through. So it's not amazing, but it was solidly good.

If you've read The Right Stuff and you kind of want to know more, especially about the aviators who didn't become astronauts, this book is for you.

One more note. This book was written in 1960. This means that every pilot, engineer, and human worth writing about (according to this book) is a man. (Except for the exceptional single "lady engineer.") The author uses exclusively male pronouns. The author annoyingly says "space man" instead of astronaut. I found it to be grating, jarring, and obnoxious. I know the book is a product of its time, but I wish people could have been a little less awfully sexist a little earlier in our history.… (más)

This pocket-sized book explores the American space program, including such topics as Your Stake in America’s Race Into Space, Satellites and Weather Forecasting, Traveling Five Times the Speed of Sound, NASA and America’s Space Exploits, Space Pioneers [the original seven astronauts], America’s First Manned Space Vehicle, Initial Try to Orbit an American, Kitchenware from Nose Cone Research, Radiation is an Unknown Danger, Gemini to Apollo, Sending Men to the Moon, What We Will Learn from Exploring the Moon, Reaching for the Stars, Shape of Future Space Ships, How Space Technology Affects Earth, and Introduction of Nine Newest [as the book went to press in 1963] astronauts.

Although dated in terms of the larger picture of space exploration, this little volume offers readers a great deal of information related to the beginning of America’s space program, the bonus of spin-offs from space technology to materials for everyday use, and what the future of space exploration may look like.

Filled with colorful pictures and diagrams and an introduction by X-15 pilot A. Scott Crossfield, this is perfect for background information for any space enthusiast.

Recommended.… (más)

As a child, Scott Crossfield secretly learned to fly. Told he would never be physically strong enough to fly, due to serious bouts of pneumonia and rheumatic fever, he found he could not let go of the dream of flight and ultimately earned for himself a place as a renowned and dedicated test pilot for the X-1 and Skyrocket rocket planes.

Told with candor, this is the story of a man dedicated to flight, the man who was the first to fly at twice the speed of sound. It is also the story of the X-15, the rocket plane that flew its brave and daring pilots into journeys into the unknown.

Told in Scott Crossfield’s own words, this account of a life of flight reveals a pilot who had faith in the future of man in space, a pilot who believed that the experimental plane had a place in that quest. In these pages, readers will meet the legendary pilot who flew a miracle and set man on his path toward the stars.

Highly recommended.… (más)