Schirra's Space (Bluejacket Books) - Historical Space Exploration Book for Aviation Enthusiasts & Collectors - Perfect for Reading, Gifts & Space Memorabilia Displays

As much as I was a fan of Wally Schirra during his days in the space program, or perhaps because of that, I was mildly disappointed in his autobiography. This work strikes me as typical of a number of astronaut biographies and autobiographies rushed into print over the past generation or so, rather unremarkable in literary style and adding little to the historiography of this critical era of space travel.Perhaps this should not be surprising. The author identifies himself as a technical man who throughout his military career kept his nose to the grind of precision flying and admits to little connectedness to the culture outside. No one should take up this work and expect to find Astronaut Schirra's opinion of "My Fair Lady." To the day of its publication the author through his book exudes continued pride in his association with other pilots of exceptional competence, and conversely, an avoidance of those who in his view are or were more form than substance. [Chuck Yeager, for example, will probably never grace the Schirra Thanksgiving table.] If Schirra is infected with hubris, it comes honorably.Schirra is the antithesis of the joker and clown he was sometimes depicted as in, say, "The Right Stuff." It is within the world of test flying and space exploration that the reader will best connect with Schirra: learning, for example, that Schirra had little use for the extensive battery of medical tests to which all the early astronaut candidates were subjected. He was highly critical of the early conceptualization of Project Mercury. He was among those who considered early spaceflight "Spam in a Can" and lobbied extensively for pilot control in all of the various programs in which he served. His blunt talk, however, made sense as events would prove.One can probably argue with credibility that Schirra was one of the half-dozen most competent pilots of the entire Mercury-Apollo era. His Sigma 7 flight in October, 1962, was a quantum leap for Mercury in terms of both distance and fuel economy. But his greatest contribution to the space program may have come in December, 1965, when in a four day period the author not only averted a major space catastrophe but achieved a technical breakthrough of major importance for reaching the moon.Gemini 6 was a star-crossed flight from opening day. Scheduled for October, 1965, its mission objective was rendezvous with an unmanned Agena rocket launched hours earlier. The Agena inexplicably blew up before Schirra's and Tom Stafford's craft was launched, and the mission went into temporary limbo. However, after much discussion about feasibility, Gemini 6 was rescheduled for a December launch, with its new rendezvous target being nothing less than Gemini 7, the 14-day endurance epic of Frank Borman and Jim Lovell.Gemini 7 was launched successfully early in December, and after a mere nine day turnaround of the Gemini launch pad--itself a record of sorts--the author and Stafford were ready to launch Gemini 6 in pursuit of Borman and Lovell. But in what has to be one of the more hair-raising moments of the space program, Gemini 6's launch rocket shut down a millisecond before lifting off the ground. The various disastrous scenarios were as numerous as the imagination permitted. In his own printed words Schirra is quite matter of fact about this dilemma and his now-famous choice against capsule ejection--which, incidentally, saved the rendezvous mission itself, as matters would transpire. For the historical record, Schirra sees his decision as the vindication of human pilots over computer guidance, and he seems proudest of this maneuver and the mission that followed.He is right to be proud. If Schirra's instincts served him well atop Gemini 6 on the ground, his piloting skills three days later would set the space program ahead by leaps and bounds. Gemini 6 found its target in minimum time and milked the maximum possible navigational experience from the rendezvous. Gemini 6 established that with a skilled pilot a space vehicle could pretty much go wherever needed, an indispensable technical advance for moon landing technology.Gemini 6 may have been Schirra's finest hour in the space program. It would be different after that. The fiery death of his old Mercury sidekick Gus Grissom in 1967 left Schirra as the only active member of the original seven astronauts and raised doubts in his mind about the Apollo Program in general. Apollo was exponentially more complicated than the Mercury Program for which he was chosen. Schirra has plenty to say about Apollo management, but there is a hint in his reflections that the Mercury crew [which included, at least hypothetically, Cooper, Slayton, Shepard and himself] might have been "over the hill" when Apollo took center stage. [182]Schirra's comportment before and during Apollo 7, the first of the Apollo manned flights, has been the subject of considerable conjecture. This reader's impression is that Schirra had reservations about the vehicle, but more so with the management team behind it. The author complains that he was misled about guidelines for acceptable launch time wind velocities, and once in flight, pressured to perform tasks that interfered with basic shake-down procedures. The author's head cold while in space would later take on humorous proportions in his award winning Actifed TV commercials, but at the time his general health and its impact upon flight procedure became major ground to space confrontations. But in rare candor for an astronaut, Schirra admitted the unthinkable--Apollo 7 was boring him out of his mind by mid-flight. [203]Schirra had announced his retirement before Apollo 7, and if Deke Slayton is to be believed, the author would never again have to worry about space boredom, as his crewmates Eisele and Cunningham ruefully discovered. The happy ending to this tale is Schirra's personal pride and contentment at his career's body of work and the ongoing respect he enjoyed from the top professionals in his field at the time of his book`s publication in 1988..I liked Schirra's Space. Its only 227 pages with good pictures. A quick easy read. Read it in 1 day.We see Wally Schirra graduating Annapolis Naval Academy and becoming a naval aviator and getting his wings. He flies in the Korea War and cross trains with the Air Force and flies jets and shoots down 2 MiGs.He is highly decorated and eventually gets assigned to PAX the Navy's jet testing facility as a test pilot. He flies many fast jets and finds many faults. He almost gets killed a few times. He becomes an Aviation Intelligence officer on a ship. The captain of his ship does not want to let him transfer but the CNO says let him transfer... the nation needs him. He has confidential orders to report to the newly developing NASA. He goes through the selection process and becomes one of the Mercury 7.He trains and trains and goes up in a Mercury, Gemini, and an Apollo spacecraft. President Kennedy invites him to the White House and asks him if he is interested in politics. Wally says no, that he is interested in space and its science. He goes on a big tour for president LBJ.He loved his wife Jo and family. Together they have a long strong marriage.They live near some of the other astronauts and become best friends. He retires from the Navy as a Captain and retires from NASA having a brilliant career. A national hero.Wally had a big ego, loved fast cars and was not afraid to tell management when they were wrong and many times refused their strong requests... like no coffee in space, and many safety issues. He also was instrumental in adding improvements to some of the spacecraft. The original Mercury 7 were allowed much lee way in bottom up type management. Many of their suggestions were actively sought.Later he becomes an executive in an oil development fund but bails when he learns the CEO is a crook. He also becomes CEO of an environmental cleanup company .The company goes through a merger and he sells his interest. He also works with Walter Cronkite describing the space missions. He gets a bad cold on his Apollo mission and becomes a commercial figurehead selling Actifed cold medicine.He is friends with many of the astronauts and families and is saddened by their passing and untimely deaths. He tells us he thinks NASA should go back more to the old days with more input from the astronaut helping NASA rather than just being passengers on a shuttle. He really wants a super space station and take small steps to go to Mars.He sees the value of learning as we go and that we can't rush into distant manned space exploration. He wants vastly more funding and a long term vision of where and what NASA is going to do.Wally had a sense of humor and played many Gotcha jokes on the other astronauts and support members of NASA.He tells us in the beginning of the book he isn't going to sugar coat the book but give his feelings. We learn he is very competitive with a big ego but is able to work with others for the success of NASA. The book has a lot of me me me but that's OK. That's why I bought the book. Wally Schirra a true hero. Sadly Wally Shirra has passed away.An easy read from one of the original group of NASA astronauts, the only one to fly in all three of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes. Throughout this first-person autobiography, Wally Schirra projects good humour: practical jokes among the astronauts, car racing, people falling asleep when they really shouldn't, the irony of actually being bored half-way through a space flight...We learn of Schirra's navy aviation career, and the skills he developed show through in his clever descriptions of some of the complexities of space flight. He is quick to tell us of his pride in his membership of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Indeed, many a reader will be pleased that this book is firmly about Schirra's experiences of flying and being an astronaut, with few of the family stories which fill out many an astronaut biography.The moon race buff will be interested to read Schirra's assertion that his Gemini mission, rather than his Mercury or Apollo flights, was his greatest accomplishment. It is telling, and accurate, that he titles the Gemini section of the book "Bridge to the Moon", affording due respect to that critical but much underrated part of the NASA lunar programme.He praises others - fellow Mercury astronauts, pad leader Guenter Wendt, etc. - and limits criticism to situations and events, rather than individuals, viz his version of what happened with Mission Control during Apollo 7. In Schirra's comments on the disaster of Apollo 1, we perceive how he dealt with the death of colleagues: never thinking about it, despite the risks, but when it happens, mourning and then moving on.The book carries a good selection of 36 black-and-white photos, including some rare ones, though they're not particularly well reproduced in this paperback edition.Bought this for my husband who is a really keen space & flight fan and knows a lot about the era.Many of the early pioneers have written biographies about their time in the programme and they would all, naturally, focus on aspects important to the individual writer. He felt that a lot was missing from this account, namely background to some of the controversial decisions Schirra made on the Apollo flight.This was a bit of a plod instead of an avid read.Great service all the way from America. Product exactly as described and expected would easily recommend this supplierFantastic book. Schirra showed remarkable ability and dedication to be the only of the Mercury Seven to flyGemini and Apollo as well. This shows how he moved with the times and left no stone unturned as a commander. Book reads well. One of the better astronaut reads.