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Dragonfly: An Epic Adventure of Survival in Outer Space
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.12492
EAN: 9780060932695
ISBN: 0060932694
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 544
Publication Date: March 01, 2000
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: February 16, 2000
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Editorial Review:
Bryan Burrough, coauthor of the bestselling Barbarians at the Gate, has a talent for reworking factual accounts so they read like first-rate thrillers. Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis Aboard Mir is overwhelming in its scope and breadth of detail, culled from one-on-one interviews and transcripts of recorded conversations between the astronauts and cosmonauts on Mir and Russian Mission Control. Burrough delves deeply into the personal and professional lives of the 11 people who lived aboard Mir from 1995 to 1998. What we soon discover is simultaneously disheartening and fascinating: the men and women who would be astronauts must run a gauntlet of hazings, are judged professionally on their personal lives, and win flight assignments through serendipity as often as through hard work. NASA is controlled by cliques and cults of personality: "People don't speak out, because George makes short work of you if you do.... If you get on his bad side, you won't get a flight assignment...." There are "issues dealing with training and the selection of crews that you don't dare speak up about." The down-to-the-last-bolt descriptions of life aboard the station, from what the air smells like to an explanation of "penguin suits" to the distance between the dinner table and the original, now seldom-used toilet--2 feet--will thrill space enthusiasts. Space may not be "where no man has gone before" anymore, but it nevertheless provides endless dream fodder for those of us left behind on Earth. --Jhana Bach
In this riveting account of the ill-fated American missions to MIR, bestselling author Bryan Burrough tells the incredible true story of how a joint Russian-American crew narrowly survived almost every trauma an astronaut could imagine: fire, power blackouts, chemical leaks, docking failures, nail-biting spacewalks and constant mechanical breakdowns, all climaxing in a dramatic midspace collision that left everyone on board scrambling for their lives. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with the cosmonauts, astronauts, Russian and American ground controllers, psychologists, and scientists involved, Drangonfly is the saga of a mission as fraught with political and bureaucraticintrigues as any Washington potboiler.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A winner, in the opinon of this lifelong space program junkie
In the 1990s, the pride of Russia's space program was its aging space station, Mir. So much had changed as the Soviet Union broke apart, with nothing more apt to bring the changes home than the launch facilities' being located, now, in a separate and independent country. Yet that space program's culture remained the same, and the American astronauts who volunteered to serve tours of duty aboard Mir found it alien not just to U.S. culture - but, far more tellingly, to that of NASA. Especially to NASA ... Read More
Rating:  - Thrilling Look at the NASA - MIR Program
This book is an excellent look at life on board an aging space station. The author does an amazing job conveying all the problems on board including the relationship between the cosmonauts as well as the problems with TSUp (the Russian "mission control"). What also makes the book even more exciting are the transcripts of the communication between the cosmonauts and the ground team in Russia. We really get a sense of actually being in the station and going through the chaos along with the cosmonauts. ... Read More
Rating: - Realistic portrayal of NASA? Please say it ain't so!
NASA these days is nothing like what I expected. I thought an astronaut had to have balls. You know, as in courageous. Apparently that is no longer the case. NASA is now just another bureaucratic monstrosity that is more about paperwork and kissing butt than exploring outer space. I read in despair about how everyone must act like a little girl if they want to fly into space. That is, they must be cute, pretty, obedient little cyphers. They must have a half dozen college degrees and have a clean ... Read More
Rating: - Author did his homework
This is a very well written and very well researched book. I was very much drawn into the story from the beginning of the book until the last page. Burrough did in depth interviews with about everyone associated with the program and conveys his interviews into a cohesive, interesting and very intriguing story . . . it was hard to put down!
Rating: - One of my favorite space books!
This is a great book, very entertaining! You'll feel like you are really there, floating around in the space station.The book goes into a lot of behind-the-scenes personality clashes between astronauts/cosmonauts. Tells the story of the Mir and International space stations.
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