Riding Rockets
The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
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Narrated by:
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Joel Richards
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By:
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Mike Mullane
About this listen
In 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts was introduced to the world - 29 men and six women who would carry NASA through the most tumultuous years of the space shuttle program. Among them was USAF Colonel Mike Mullane, who, in his memoir Riding Rockets, strips the heroic veneer from the astronaut corps and paints them as they are - human.
Mullane's tales of arrested development among military flyboys working with feminist pioneers and post-doc scientists are sometimes bawdy, often comical, and always entertaining. He vividly portrays every aspect of the astronaut experience, from telling a female technician which urine-collection condom size is a fit to hearing "Taps" played over a friend's grave. He is also brutally honest in his criticism of a NASA leadership whose bungling would precipitate the Challenger disaster - killing four members of his group. A hilarious, heartfelt story of life in all its fateful uncertainty, Riding Rockets will resonate long after the call of "Wheel stop".
©2006 Mike Mullane (P)2017 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Book seems written by an amateur writer.
- By Kelly on 04-18-18
By: Lawrence Colby
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First Man
- The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
- By: James R. Hansen
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over 50 hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this "magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon.
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Not really 'unabridged'
- By A Reader on 06-06-18
By: James R. Hansen
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Moon Shot
- The Inside Story of Man's Greatest Adventure
- By: Dan Parry
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
‘It didn’t matter that they were now three miles beyond their target site, that communications were dropping out and that they were running low on fuel. All that mattered to Neil as he searched for a safe spot to land was that boulders littered the surface below. “Thirty seconds,” called mission control. In truth, the flight controllers were now no more than spectators, just like everybody else. No more needed to be said. It was down to Armstrong
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Wow.
- By Shellbin on 02-04-12
By: Dan Parry
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Why Planes Crash
- An Accident Investigator's Fight for Safe Skies
- By: David Soucie, Ozzie Cheek
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Boarding an airplane strikes at least a small sense of fear into most people. Even though we all have heard that the odds of being struck by lightning are greater than the odds of perishing in a plane crash, it still doesn't feel that way. Airplane crashes might be rare, but they do happen, and they’re usually fatal. David Soucie insists that most of these deaths could be prevented. He’s worked as a pilot, a mechanic, an FAA inspector, and an aviation executive. He’s seen death up close and personal - deaths of colleagues and friends that might have been prevented if he had approved certain safety measures in the aircrafts they were handling.
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Me, Me, Me
- By WakeNCAgent on 09-13-19
By: David Soucie, and others
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The Wrong Stuff
- The Adventures and Misadventures of an 8th Air Force Aviator
- By: Truman Smith
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Between April and July 1944, Truman Smith flew 35 bombing missions over France and Germany. He was only 20 years old. Although barely adults, Smith and his peers worried about cramming a lifetime's worth of experience into every free night, each knowing he probably would not survive the next bombing mission. Written with blunt honesty, wry humor, and insight, The Wrong Stuff is Smith's gripping memoir of that time.
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Why I got it...and glad I did.
- By Marie on 11-27-14
By: Truman Smith
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Come Up and Get Me
- An Autobiography of Colonel Joe Kittinger
- By: Joe Kittinger, Craig Ryan
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....
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A rewarding read
- By Andrew Braddick on 03-25-13
By: Joe Kittinger, and others
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Independence Day: Resurgence
- The Official Movie Novelization
- By: Alex Irvine
- Narrated by: William Hope
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Hybrid fighters merging human and alien technology. Massive cannon emplacements on the moon and Mars. A planetary defense force with the finest military personnel ever trained. For two decades we've known the enemy would return. The nations of Earth have collaborated on a unified defense program designed to defend the planet.
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Excellent audiobook.
- By Jackson C. Frazier on 06-06-16
By: Alex Irvine
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Mission
- Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe
- By: Robert Matzen, Leonard Maltin - foreward
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In March 1941 Jimmy Stewart, America's boy next door and recent Academy Award winner, left fame and fortune behind and joined the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his family mission and serve his country. He rose from private to colonel and participated in 20 often-brutal World War II combat missions over Germany and France. In mere months the war took away his boyish looks as he faced near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future.
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SKIP THIS ONE
- By G-Man on 05-13-18
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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A Race to Freedom
- The Mira Slovak Story
- By: David Williams
- Narrated by: Brian Callanan
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Mira Slovak was born in Czechoslovakia and endured both the Nazi occupation and the brutal Russian liberation. He joined the Czech Air Force, rising to captain by the age of 21. When he could no longer tolerate life under the Communists, he hijacked an airliner and flew across the Iron Curtain to freedom. He outlasted communism, and when it collapsed in 1990, he returned to his home, only to realize his true home was and always would be the US.
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Free to live as an American.
- By cosmitron on 06-08-18
By: David Williams
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Bogeys and Bandits
- The Making of a Fighter Pilot
- By: Robert Gandt
- Narrated by: Thomas Block
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Americans are fascinated by the undeniable mystique of the elite world of Navy fighter pilots. In Bogeys and Bandits, Robert Gandt takes listeners on a thrilling ride in the FA-18 Hornet, one of the fastest, sleekest, and deadliest aircraft in the world. Gandt lived and worked with several pilots learning to fly the Hornet: the identical twins from Middle America; the computer nerd with a penchant for speed; the grandson of a Tuskegee Airman, trying to live up to a proud legacy; and two women dealing with the post-Tailhook world of the Navy.
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Great book but the narrator...
- By AshliDF on 08-03-17
By: Robert Gandt
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Rise of the Rocket Girls
- The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars
- By: Nathalia Holt
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the 1940s and '50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible.
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Struggles In Space Exploration
- By Sara on 06-11-16
By: Nathalia Holt
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Man Plus
- By: Frederik Pohl
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris, Robert J. Sawyer
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Roger Torraway watched in horror as the monster lurched, toppled over and died. Project Man Plus had gone suddenly and drastically wrong. The race to colonize Mars was too important, too costly, and America was already too committed, for plans to be scrapped. They would have to make a new Martian. And Roger Torraway was it, candidate for the endless surgery, operation after painful operation, that would enable him to survive on that faraway planet.
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More timely now than ever
- By Sandy R on 06-28-10
By: Frederik Pohl
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Leland Melvin is the only person in human history to catch a pass in the National Football League and in space. Though his path from the gridiron to the heavens was riddled with setbacks and injury, Leland persevered to reach the stars. While training with NASA, Melvin suffered a severe injury that left him deaf. Leland was relegated to earthbound assignments but chose to remain and support his astronaut family. His loyalty paid off. Recovering partial hearing, he earned his eligibility for space travel.
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A Must Listen to for any Space Enthusiast!
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Speaking with key leaders of the latest space programs and innovations, Rod Pyle shares the excitement and promise of this new era of exploration and economic development. From NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, to emerging leaders in the private sector, Space 2.0 examines the new partnerships that are revolutionizing spaceflight and changing the way we reach for the stars.
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Basically a really long Wikipedia entry
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In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
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What listeners say about Riding Rockets
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- R:)
- 07-27-21
Couldn’t put it down!
For anyone who is interested in space and the golden age of the space shuttle program you cannot skip out on this one. I only wish It was longer! I just got done listening to it and I immediately want to start it over again. Thanks Mike Mullane for sharing this gem with us.
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- James
- 11-15-22
Incredible book
I absolutely loved this book. I will read it again. Highly recommend it to every space nut out there!
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- LizP
- 12-06-18
Fantastic!
One of my favorites. Humorous and real life perspective from one of Americas beloved heroes!
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- jgutz20
- 12-07-21
excellent story and details l
I've been binge listening to astronaut books. this one had a lot of interesting details of some of the drama within nasa management. criticisms were effective and showing how not everything at nasa was not always a pale of kittens while keeping it tasteful and respectful. I enjoyed this different look into everyday life.
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- AmandaPanda
- 09-15-23
Fantastic read
What a story! It’s incredible to listen to the path of Mike’s life and role he played in the NASA space program. He had a great sense of humor and unless enthusiasm in telling his life story. Highly Recommend.
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- Joseph
- 01-31-22
Outstanding!
5 stars all around! Mike Mullane tells his story in a very unassuming and entertaining way. As an F4 WSO, from planet AD (Arrested Development) as Mike describes it, he has the funniest stories. I laughed my way through the book. That is until it got serious. And then he was back to his planet AD self describing how Barbara Bush grabbed his @$$!
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- J. Ritt
- 01-10-18
Best "Astronauts of the 80s" Memoir"
I read "Riding Rockets" as an ebook several months ago, having given up on it coming out on Audible. Thus I was *thrilled* when, by chance, I found it available after Christmas, and bought it immediately. It's well-written, informative, interesting, infuriating, heart-breaking, and hilarious. I had tears in my eyes several times, both from sorrow and from laughing so hard I was literally crying. I love, love, love this book!
Almost any fan of NASA and space history will enjoy this book. One caveat: I would rate this book as PG-13. Mike was a military pilot from "Planet AD" (Arrested Development). His sense of humour is rather gutter-bound. I liked it, but my sense of humour is pretty base as well. He also recognises that this was decades ago and what was okay then is not so now. In any case, the book is probably not suitable for most kids under ~14 or anyone with...delicate...sensibilities. If dick jokes offend you, I'd strongly advise skipping this book and picking up Clayton Anderson's "Ordinary Spaceman".
(I'd also strongly recommend reading "Spaceman" by Mike Massimino. It is an amazing, wonderful, informative, interesting, and brilliant book. I can't come up with enough superlatives to describe his book. I can say that every person I've recommended, or given, it to - at least twenty - has loved it, and that reading it will make you want to be a better person.)
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- Jason
- 05-27-24
Amazing stories the other astronauts never tell 
This book was quite different from the other astronauts books he tells stories that none of the other astronauts date to tell. So I learned a lot that I didn’t learn from the other books. 
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- Dottie Newman
- 10-13-20
Amazing!!
I love this book!! A must read for anyone who has dreamt of being an astronaut.
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- Sharon
- 10-28-20
Candid and Descriptive
There are moments in this book where it feels like you’re strapping in with Col. Mullane. He’s a great storyteller and delights in sharing his experiences, but never taking himself too seriously.
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