Table of Contents
Foreword vii
Prologue: "Go" or "No-Go" 1
Part I A Flying Career
1 From Cartersville to Georgia Tech 9
2 Gunnery Officer to Naval Aviator 23
3 Fighter Pilot to Test Pilot 32
4 Pax River 42
Part II Into Orbit
5 The New Nine and Project Gemini 57
6 Countdown 71
7 Three Orbits 79
8 Dual Rendezvous 86
Part III Lunar Journeys
9 From a Fire to the Moon 111
10 Call Sign Charlie Brown 125
11 From Tranquility to a Lost Moon 140
12 To the Descartes Highlands 152
13 In the Briar Patch 172
14 The End of Moon Landings 191
Part IV The Shuttle Era
15 Enterprise 213
16 "The Boldest Test Flight in History" 223
17 Advent of the "Operational" Shuttle 240
18 A Steep Spiral Staircase 254
19 The Challenger Disaster 272
20 A Mountain of Memos 295
21 "The Next Logical Step" 320
22 On a Wing and a Prayer 332
Epilogue: When Worlds Collide 356
Abbreviations 375
Notes 379
Index 403