Women Astronauts: Apogee Books Space Series 25 (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

" . . . warmly welcomed and recommended and with the CD-ROM it is excellent value." -- Spaceflight - British Interplanetary Society - Apr ‘03

". . .a valuable addition to any exploration library, and should be especially important to girls and young women . . ." -- SB&F (Science Books & Films) – Mar / Apr ‘03

Product Description

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be an astronaut? To blast-off into space and float above the Earth? "Women Astronauts" is a must for any girl or young woman who wants learn about women astronauts,what they do, and how they got to where they are today.

How did other women become astronauts? Read about every woman who has ever flown into space. This book is packed with exciting stories and interviews with many past and current women astronauts. Read about their childhood, training, everyday lives, and of course, their actual missions into space!

How can I become an astronaut? Is your future in space? Find out what it takes to become an astronaut, about the selection process, training, and what it's like to live and work as an astronaut in space, and here on Earth.

How can I feel like an astronaut now? Find out where you can train like an astronaut, learn about space, and get a taste of Astronaut ice cream. A guide to books, web sites, space stuff, and space places You can visit.

What's the history of Women Astronauts? In 1963, Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space. But few people know that several American women also tried to get into space in the early 1960's but never became NASA astronauts. Read their story and how attitudes towards women in space changed with the 1978 selection of six women astronauts, including Sally Ride, and Biochemist Shannon Lucid.

Pop the CD-ROM into your computer and watch America's first woman astronaut Sally Ride rocket into space, Shannon Lucid float on the Mir Space Station, and Susan Helms work on the International Space Station. Fly through the ISS. Watch interviews with several women astronauts.

"Women Astronauts" by Laura S. Woodmansee is a fun, inspirational book for girls and young women and anyone interested in space exploration and what it’s like to be an astronaut.

INCLUDES: CD-ROM Featuring: Exclusive Interviews with Bonnie Dunbar; Assistant Administrator Johnson Space Center, Ellen Ochoa, Kalpana Chawla, Anna Fisher, Ellen Baker, Linda Godwin, Heidi Piper and Eileen Collins

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Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Collector's Guide Publishing, Inc. (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1896522874
• ISBN-13: 978-1896522876
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,285,722 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 25 in The Apogee Books Space Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Missing Some Important Material About Being An Astronaut, October 26, 2002

By	John R. Keller (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the past four years, Apogee Books has compiled a variety NASA documents, press kits, crew interviews and the like, which recount the early days of the space race, focusing primarily on the race to be the first country to land a man on the moon. For the latest installment in the Apogee Space series, the author examines a facet of space exploration that was missing during the Apollo era. That is, women astronauts. One important thing to note, as stated by the author on the back cover, this book is geared towards girls and young women and as such the book is a bit light on technical details.

The book opens with a nice overview of a typical space shuttle mission and living on orbit and covers such things as sleeping, eating, clothes, working, etc. The book then covers an early woman in space program called FLATS - First Lady Astronaut Trainee, which was a program to examine the possibility of putting women into space in the 1960's. Here, the book, unlike some other texts on the subject, accurately presents the FLATS program as only a medical study of several female subjects undergoing the same medical tests that the NASA astronauts did and not a parallel program to the all-male Mercury program. It is important to note that the FLATS could have lead to women in space, however, the program was killed by the Johnson Administration. Next, the book presents, a chronological history of women in space and all their achievements. The book then presents one to two page biographies on all the women astronauts (Russian, NASA and other countries) that have flown and all the candidate astronauts. The section encompasses approximately 60% of the book. The book then concludes with an extremely interesting section on space medicine related to women and what it takes to be an astronaut.

While I feel that this book is a worthy additional to the series, I also feel that the author left out several important aspects of these astronaut's careers as well as what they do at NASA when they are not flying in space. One of the first things that struck right was the lack of information describing the military careers of these astronauts. For example, many of these women have had impressive military careers such as test pilots and have achieved a high military rank. Even though flying in space is the most visible and probably most exciting part of an astronaut's job, their duties consist of much much more. For example, astronauts are involved in spacecraft design, training, spacesuit design, biological experiments and the list goes on and on. A description of this aspect of their job is not presented.

As is typical of the books in the Apogee Space Series, it contains a Compact Disc that includes approximately eight hours of interviews with several women astronauts. Interviewed astronauts are: Ellen Baker, Kalpana Chalwa Eileen Collins, Bonnie Dunbar, Anna Fisher, Linda Godwin, Ellen Ochoa, Heidi Stefanyshyn-Piper.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Budding Female Astronauts, August 24, 2002

By	G. R. S. Godwin "GRSGodwin" (Naperville, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm one of the team who published this book and worked closely with Laura. We decided that it was very important to try to get young women interested in Space again, after all if Space is going to be a boys club it is doomed to failure.

We interviewed many of the women who have already flown in space, some on video on the CD Rom which is included in the book. We had wonderful help from Bonnie Dunbar in the making of this book.

One of the key elements was that we wanted to make the astronaut more easily understood for a young woman. (Not just what her PhD was) So we asked them about their childhoods: what was their favorite book, toy, movie, etc., as well as what sports they played, what other activities they enjoyed, and how they first became interested in space. The answers were amazing and we all learned much about what makes these amazing women tick.

They truly are a beacon for our children to emulate. This book is designed to help any young girl to follow her dreams especially if those dreams involve being involved in our species future in space.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, April 25, 2006

By	Katie Berryhill (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is unfortunate that someone finds it necessary to disparage a book which, by their own admission, they only browsed and did not read, yet called "incomplete." This book is not intended to be the Space Shuttle Operator's Manual, that book already exists. The book should be judged based on what it is, not on what it isn't. What it is, is an engaging look at the women who have, through exceptional skill, hard work, and dedication, broken into the previously all-male bastion of the U.S. Astronaut Corps. In no way does it imply that women aren't as good as men, nor that they did less to get into the program. I, too, have always been interested in science (an interest that led to several degrees). A book very much like this one when I was in high school (I don't recall the name) inspired me to enter the Air Force, and it didn't have the "technical" information, either. I hope this sets the record straight. If you are, or are close to, a girl or young woman who shows any interest in space, this book will be a valuable read.