Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program Paperback – March 1, 2009

The author brings the space program to life! This book is riveting and not heavy on the technical. But does not shy away from facts. I’ve been huge into space since I was little. And I still learned so much by reading/listening to it! Fantastic writing and a treat to enjoy.

Very well written. Both highly readable and well documented.

Absolutely great book all the way around!

Good book by author whose news reports I had listened to and even recorded off the radio as I followed the shuttle program.

Pat Duggins is one of the most respected journalists currently covering NASA's human spaceflight program, offering insightful analysis of the subject for National Public Radio from his base at WMFE-FM in Orlando, Florida. "Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program" is a combined valentine/criticism of the Space Shuttle program that has operated from the Kennedy Space Center since 1981. It takes as its entrée the decision made in the aftermath of the Columbia accident on February 1, 2003, to retire the fleet by 2010 and to develop a new human spaceflight vehicle, the Orion capsule powered to orbit by the Ares I booster, to replace it.While Duggins's concerns are very present tense, concentrating on the demise of the Space Shuttle program and its replacement, he also travels back in time to relate the history of the shuttle from its approval in the aftermath of NASA's hugely successful Apollo Moon landing program. He takes a highly anecdotal approach to relating this story, relating in journalistic fashion episodes in the history of the shuttle--some uncovered in his reporting on the program over the years--that illuminate its evolution. Mostly this is a straightforward narrative, told in an engaging style, with lavish personal tales to punctuate it. While entertaining, there is little in this book the members of the aerospace community will not already be at least somewhat cognizant.As Duggins reports, the Space Shuttle was intended to make spaceflight routine, safe, and relatively inexpensive. Although NASA considered a variety of configurations, some of them quite exotic, it settled on a stage-and-one-half partially reusable vehicle with an approved development price tag of $5.15 billion. On January 5, 1972, President Nixon announced the decision to build a Space Shuttle. He did so for both political reasons and for national prestige purposes. Politically, it would help a lagging aerospace industry in key states he wanted to carry in the 1972 election, especially California, Texas, and Florida. But building the shuttle would also reaffirm the U.S.'s superpower status and help restore confidence in the nation's technological genius. After a decade of development, on April 12, 1981, Columbia took off for the first orbital test mission. It was successful and after only the fourth flight in 1982, President Ronald Reagan declared the system "operational." It would henceforth carry all U.S. government payloads; military, scientific, and even commercial satellites could all be deployed from its payload bay. In the end, Duggins notes, the shuttle program was an engagingly ambitious effort that developed an exceptionally sophisticated vehicle, one that no other nation on Earth could have built at the time. As such it had been enormously successful. At the same time, the shuttle was essentially a continuation of space spectaculars, à la Apollo, and its much-touted capabilities were not fully realized. Despite its efforts in constructing the International Space Station, it made far fewer flights and conducted far fewer scientific experiments than NASA had publicly predicted. This is a story well told in many venues, but Duggins relates it with a journalistic eye toward entertaining the reader while also informing.Sometimes, Duggins offers interesting insights unknown to all but the most diligent of students. For example, he highlights the supreme place of the U.S. human spaceflight program that resulted from the presence of the Space Shuttle. As Duggins observed, much to the chagrin of rivals in space exploration "The years of the space shuttle were relatively comfortable ones for NASA and the American public, where its place in the world of space exploration was concerned....With the exception of the Russians, anyone who wanted to go into orbit had to come to NASA 'hat in hand' and ask for a seat on the shuttle" (p. 27). NASA used that superiority, as did other U.S. officials, as a foreign policy tool during both the cold war and since. Likewise, Duggins's discussion of the Challenger accident in 1986 was quite excellent, offering a short, inclusive, and incisive account of the accident, its causes, and its ramifications (pp. 74-95).For all if its strengths as a well-written, engaging work of history about a topic that can become endlessly technical and difficult to follow, "Final Countdown" is really "once over lightly" as a sophisticated historical account of the shuttle program. As an introductory work it is outstanding. For more detailed discussions there are also several other works on the history of the program that readers will want to pursue. The most important of these is Dennis R. Jenkins's masterful "Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System, the First 100 Missions" (North Branch, MN: Speciality Press, 2001, 3rd Edition), a new edition of which is in preparation and intended to appear at the end of the shuttle program. As it is, Pat Duggins is to be commended for writing a useful, breezy history of the program, one useful as an introduction for students.

This book appeared to me to be about the changes that will take place around Nasa once the shuttles are used cars. However it seemed to drift from that subject to more on what is to come at NASA, which is good, but not how the book was described.

Nice book, nice price

You don't have to be a space junkie or nerd to enjoy this book. It's a great blend of the technical side of the Space Shuttle and the people behind the scenes making it happen. The history of how the Shuttle came about, the design choices, capabilities and limitations are all told here. The biggest challenge faced by NASA was finding a mission for the Shuttle that would capture the imagination & interest of Americans. In a twist of irony, the Shuttle's routine launches led to complacency with Americans. Indeed, as one Apollo astronaut observed, NASA was surprised when Apollo worked and Americans were surprised when the Shuttle did not.Before the Apollo manned missions to moon ended, work began on designing a reusable space craft. This book does not attempt to cover every single mission, but does hit the special ones and of course, the tragedies of the Challenger and Columbia. Author Pat Duggins is not a scientist, but a news analyst for a public broadcast station in FL, so he can relay these stories in an easy, accessible way that is very enjoyable. He presents an honest appraisal of NASA, the problems and successes they've had over the years.Final Countdown is more than just the history of the Shuttle. It is also about what happens next in the space program- perhaps more importantly, what is not happening now. Budget cuts are bad enough, but lack of a mission to generate public support is the real problem. I've always been interested in the Apollo Program; I was nine when we landed on the moon. This book catches the reader up on what happened in the 1980's and 90's, since many, like myself, did not pay attention. I'd recommend this to anyone who has interest in the Shuttle, NASA, and space exploration.

Brilliant

After visiting the Kennedy Space Centre I wanted more information on the end of the Space shuttle program. This book walks the reader through why the program was never a total success and why NASA failed to deal with some internal issues that affected the program. A great read for anyone who looks to the stars and wonders about those who have ventured to space.