Challenger, Adam Higginbotham

A home run of a book that reads like a thriller. A fascinating, in-depth report on the Challenger disaster of 1986 and the history of the cover-up and lack of leadership that caused this tragedy which could have easily been avoided. The ups and downs of the space program from Apollo 1 onward, with extensive coverage on the shuttle explosion of ’86. The debacle with the tiles on the shuttle; the President’s support and non-support for NASA. Carter saw no real need to keep sending astronauts into orbit while Reagan thought it was a good promotional tool for USA; the fact that the first Challenger mission in 1981 had less than 50/50 chance of actually working; the near-catastrophic previous shuttle missions (1983 mission as an example) that were extremely close (seconds away) of having the same fate as Challenger; the cover-up of the O-rings debacle where Engineers at Thiokel, who made the boosters, were silenced after the suggestion not to launch; the hierarchy that turned a blind eye to it all before the launch and heeded warnings; NASA and other officials making decisions that they had no experience to make; cost-cutting, political cynicism, bravado, ingenuity, and ambition; inside the lives of the 7 astronauts who died, their families, and what occurred after the disaster. A truly riveting true drama that was a fascinating read with absorbing science done in a way that will cause you to do your research follow-up on everything that occurred that fateful morning in January of 1986.