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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: If you like space you will like this book. Period. Reading some of the negative reviews I wonder what they expected. Yeah the author cracked out a book after the tragic event happened. That's exploitation?!? Well if it didn't happen we wouldn't have a subject for a book?!? Hey I BOUGHT the book. Does that make me bad too?!? As for the TV commentator errors...by and large TV talking heads reading the news are morons that don't know a comet from a colon. They read badly written material created by people that failed natural science and math. Then they make stupid comments about things they don't understand. I love the space program, private, American, Russian, Japanese, whatever and I really really wish the pinheads on TV would try a little harder to get it right. Thanks Mark Cantrell for mentioning this. As for the patriotism, rationalism etc. in it. Hey what's "rational" about strapping yourself onto a huge pile of TNT and lighting it off so you can go into space. You do it for lots of reasons. "Rational" is we stay at home and count beans. Screw rational. I've been watching space shots since Apollo and I still get choked up when those babies take off. And yeah I cheer for the good old USA whenever it's one of ours and for the next guy when it's one of theirs. We DO lead the world in space. I can pick nits with NASA and their out-dated shuttle all day. But old and worn out as the fleet may be, it's still a huge jump ahead of the rest of the planet. Great Book. Covers all the details of the event. Moreover, Mr Cantrell reached the right conclusion as to the reason before NASA released it to the public. Pretty smart.
Rating: 
Summary: CHEAP EXPLOITATION OF A TRAGEDY
Review: Nothing new to be learned from this book. It reads like something the author rushed out shortly after the tragedy to capitalize on the grief of the nation.
Rating: 
Summary: A Human & Patriotic Account of the Columbia Tragedy
Review: Sixteen Minutes from Home is a tribute to the crew members who lost their lives in the Columbia disaster and a sympathetic look at how the tragedy affected the families of the crew and the American public. It includes a brief history of NASA and the tragedies of the past (i.e. Challenger). For those who already know the basic information regarding the main events in America's program, there is nothing new in this book.It begins with a description of the disaster and the media & public reaction. One interesting note is that, after the tragedy, Saddam Hussein said it was "God's way of punishing the United States for its aggressive action" (pg. 35). Less than a year later, he got his comeuppance. The authors describe the good and bad of public reaction (putting flowers on memorials to putting fallen debris on online auctions) and includes petty inaccuracies of the press that really have no business in the book (some t.v. anchor once called Buzz Aldrin "Buzz Armstrong," so what?). Following this chapter, the authors look at the cause of the accident (chapter 2), include brief bios of each of the Columbia STS-107 crew members (chapter 3), and a day-by-day account of the experiments conducted on the shuttle (chapter 4). The final chapters of the book are a history of American space exploration and a look at the accidents and near-misses of Apollo 1, Apollo 13, Challenger, John Glenn in Friendship 7, Neil Armstrong in Gemini 8, and Soyuz 1 in the Soviet Union. The most valuable part of the book was the authors' excellent description of the heat absorbent tiles, the best I have read on the subject (pp. 143-46). It ends with a patriotic plea for Americans to continue their historical need to explore by moving forward to greater ventures (i.e. Mars). The book is very sympathetic and patriotic and often does not give rational consideration to the topic. It is a Frederick Jackson Turner look at space as the new frontier that we, as Americans, have an insatiable, yet honorable, need to explore. Yes, but there are other things to consider besides our "go west, young man" roots. The book includes such lines as "America's tradition of exploration goes all the way back to its first inhabitants, who roamed the prairies in search for food and discovering new hunting lands" (pg. 210). I guess such traits are unique to Americans. There is nothing wrong with including optimistic, patriotic remarks in a book such as this; however, such gushing Americanism cause this book to wobble the fine line between a touching tribute to exploitation. Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't there but the book is reasonably priced so, if you are interested in it, give it a try and judge for yourself. The book is 235 pages with a list of NASA-related websites, a space program timeline, the names on the wall of remembrance, and a section of photos of all the crew members, the shuttle, and aftermath.
Rating:
Summary: The Sad Day In Febuary is explained in this book
Review: The Shuttle Columbia ( STS-107) was on its way back to florida when it exploded over texas. It killed its 7 astronauts. The are: 1.Michael Anderson
2.Kalpana Chawla
3.Laurel Clark
4.David Brown
5.Rick Husband
6.Ilan Ramon
7.Willaim Macool This book expalins all about the disaster. It was caused by a foam that hit the left wing on launch. The foam came from the External Fuel Tannk.
Rating:
Summary: A Reallllllll Page turner
Review: Wonderful insightful book , that is very hard toput down a must have for the nasa collector!
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