Within the first few sentences of Riding Rockets: the Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut by Mike Mullane, I knew I wasn’t reading another autobiography showcasing astronauts as infallible heroes or proverbial bronze gods. Mullane instead begins with his story of disregarding enema warning labels and instructions so he could get a flawless procto-prep after hearing of a civilian candidate failing his examination. His doctor even mentions that he had never seen a colon so well prepared, which made the price of not having a bowel movement for two weeks all worth it.
Mullane takes the reader from his first sights of Sputnik blinking across the New Mexican night sky, through three orbital missions, and finally to his emotionally-charged retirement over a decade later. The whole while Mullane never loses his characteristic quick-witted humor, even in times of crippling fear and devastating loss. His personality shines through in his writing, making the tales all the more believable, even in situations that seem all too surreal.
Riding Rockets brings to light the attitude of all prospective astronauts competing for a spot on the first space shuttle missions. Mullane doesn’t sugarcoat the high levels of competitiveness (“I wasn’t going to let a little thing like a felony get in the way,”) nor does he ignore the immaturity running rampant among the astronauts, describing the many “will you grow up” looks from spouses that he and his fellow astronauts received.
Mullane describes his first launch into space with a volatile mixture of tension and awe. While waiting for the shuttle to launch he prays, “[God] if you’re going to kill me, please do it above 50 miles altitude.” If he died below 50 miles he would die as an astronaut in name only. It was the attitude of all rookie astronauts: even while staring death in the face they wanted nothing more than to be astronauts. Once in orbit Mullane beautifully describes the wonderment of seeing Earth from above, combined with the childhood giddiness at finally being an astronaut.
Riding Rockets soon delved into the politics of NASA at the time of the space shuttle program’s “Golden Age.” Mullane disapproved of the shuttles’ ride-along programs that brought politicians and foreign nationals into space before his friends and coworkers ever got a chance (although some astronauts felt he was too rough, Mullane doesn’t hold back the feelings he had at the time). He explains all his criticisms well, but sadly became real when describing how NASA ignored warnings that would have pushed the date back for a major public relations stunt—the first teacher in space. He describes how the Challenger disaster embodied the NASA politics of the time: PR came before the astronauts.
Mullane would fly two more missions before retirement. Since the missions are still classified Department of Defense operations, Mullane took the opportunity to tell the astronaut’s spouses’ story. The stress of saying goodbye—which became all too real after the Challenger disaster—and then having to deal with seemingly endless aborts before the shuttle finally lifted off bore down on the spouses for days. Mullane effectively brings the stress and tension of everyone involved with NASA missions into his writing.
Mullane manages to create an experience filled with honesty, humor, grief, and fear that kept me turning the pages. Some sections were tough to get through, but only because of the emotional intensity displayed in the pages. He ultimately left NASA because of fear, as many other astronauts did. He was able to flip the image of the god-like astronaut that he grew up with into something much more human, but not any less heroic. Luckily for us, Mullane found another calling after retirement which allowed him to share his story with the world. Mike Mullane has also written a novel, Red Sky, and a collection of answers to surprising questions about space travel, entitled Do Your Ears Pop In Space?
