Gr 5-7-This utilitarian, drably illustrated examination of the disaster will enhance collections needing an additional source for reports, but much of the information is either fragmentary or easily available elsewhere. After opening with an account of that fateful morning in 1986, Lieurance sets Mission 51-L into historical context: going back for a routine summary of the U.S. space program up to that time; profiling each of the astronauts assigned to the mission; then describing the selection and training of Christa McAuliffe. Occasional boxed passages billed as "Source Documents" present heavily edited sections of official publications, a favorite poem of McAuliffe's, etc. The author closes with a lengthy catalog of memorials and tributes to the Challenger crew, and attempts to place the accident into perspective with general remarks about recent events. Gaps and unimportant details mar the presentation; verbal descriptions of the flawed and ultimately redesigned shuttle booster O-rings lack any explanatory illustration or diagram, for instance, and though readers are well informed about the lawsuits brought by the victims' families, there is nothing here about the recent renascence of the Teacher in Space program, or the progress of its lead candidate, Barbara Morgan, since early 1998. The small, dark black-and-white photographs tend toward formal portraits or bland group scenes. A relatively generous selection of Web sites will lead to more current information. Consider this a necessary purchase for only the deepest subject collections.
John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
