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Rowland White

Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her Hardcover – April 19, 2016

by Rowland White (Author), Richard Truly (Foreword)

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The real-life techno-thriller from a bestselling author and aviation expert that recaptures the historic moments leading up to the launch of the space shuttle Columbia and the exciting story of her daring maiden flight.

Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and recently declassified material, Into the Black pieces together the dramatic untold story of the Columbia mission and the brave people who dedicated themselves to help the United States succeed in the age of space exploration. On April 12, 1981, NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral. It was the most advanced, state-of-the-art flying machine ever built, challenging the minds and imagination of America’s top engineers and pilots. Columbia was the world’s first real spaceship: a winged rocket plane, the size of an airliner, and capable of flying to space and back before preparing to fly again.

On board were moonwalker John Young and test pilot Bob Crippen. Less than an hour after Young and Crippen’s spectacular departure from the Cape, all was not well. Tiles designed to protect the ship from the blowtorch burn of re-entry were missing from the heat shield. If the damage to Columbia was too great, the astronauts wouldn’t be able to return safely to earth. NASA turned to the National Reconnaissance Office, a spy agency hidden deep inside the Pentagon whose very existence was classified. To help the ship, the NRO would attempt something never done before. Success would require skill, perfect timing, and luck.

Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, Into the Black is a thrilling race against time and the incredible true story of the first space shuttle mission that celebrates our passion for spaceflight.

Print length

480 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Atria Books
Publication date

April 19, 2016
Dimensions

6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1501123629
ISBN-13

978-1501123627
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Beautifully researched and written, Into The Black tells the true, complete story of the Space Shuttle better than it’s ever been told before.” (Col. Chris Hadfield, astronaut, author, Space Station commander)

"An absolutely terrific look into the birth of the Space Shuttle! Into the Black expertly captures, as never before, a history that spans decades, Cold War tensions, bureaucratic infighting and a multitude of seemingly impossible engineering challenges.But it’s much more than merely the cold facts of how the nuts and bolts all came together. It’s about the people…the men, women, astronauts, engineers, managers, and contractors who had the vision, faith in themselves and sheer guts to believe the impossible could be done; that a reusable, manned, winged craft could be built to routinely fly to and from earth orbit. There are stories of courage and heart-accelerating fear in these pages that even I, as an astronaut, was unaware of." (R. Mike Mullane, NASA Astronaut (Ret.), USAF Col., (Ret.), author of Riding Rockets)

"An unforgettable book, one destined to become a classic in the emerging field of space history. Moving effortlessly from planning meetings in obscure offices within NASA, the Pentagon, and industry to the unforgiving environment of high-risk flight test and flight into space, this book traces a remarkable journey and, along the way, introduces his readers to a courageous group of far-seeing engineers and astronauts whose bold vision and tenacious work gave humanity its first reusable space transportation system." (Dr. Richard P. Hallion, Senior Adviser for Air and Space Issues at the Pentagon, author of On the Frontier)

“Brilliantly revealed, Into the Black is the finely tuned true story of the first flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Rowland White has magnificently laid bare the unknown dangers and unseen hazards of that first mission. He has also given us an amazing insight into a world of science and engineering, the victories and defeats, for the first time.It’s the perfect tale that educates as it entertains. Once read, not forgotten” (Clive Cussler)

“Into the Black isn’t just spectacularly researched, it’s told like a thriller, unfolding the edge-of-death tale of the Space Shuttle Columbia’s maiden voyage in riveting fashion. Rowland White performs a rare feat here,stitching together comprehensive research—countless interviews, declassified files, flight documents—into a tale of courage and daring as streamlined and elegant as the aircraft herself. Buckle in and hold on tight—this thing's got jet propulsion.” (Gregg Hurwitz, author of Orphan X)

“Rowland White’s account of Columbia’s inaugural flight in 1981,and all the preparations that led up to it, could not be a more timely reminder of what it takes to design, launch and fly a complex manned space vehicle. White’s research is thorough, his writing style is superb, and he has a gripping and fresh story to tell. This is a genuine ‘must-have’ book for anyone fascinated by the sharp end of space flight.”' (Piers Bizony, author of Starman, The Space Shuttle, and The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’)

This remarkable book describes the final (and unpublished) chapter in the 'Race to the Moon'! Between 1961 and 1963, four groups of astronauts were selected by the USA -- three groups were comprised of those pilots who were assigned to NASA and were highly publicized as men who explored the Moon. The fourth group disappeared into the “black” world of the CIA, the NRO, and the Top Secret Air Force“Manned Orbiting Laboratory.” This is the exciting first-told story of these exceptional pilots who only became known publicly during the development and first flights of the Space Shuttle – flights into the real Black of Space. (Dave Scott, Commander, Apollo 15)

“Centuries from now the space shuttle program will beregarded as mankind's first mighty leap into space, not in a rowboat, but in atruly useful spaceship. White tells it as the great, magnificent adventure itwas. A superb book.” (Stephen Coonts)

“An extraordinary, carefully researched, tale of theevolution of America’s space program. White has unearthed a treasure trove offormerly highly classified facts and combined them with an insightful look atthe people who developed and flew America’s early human spacecraft and thefirst Space Shuttle flight.” (Hugh Harris, former Director of Public Affairs for NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Voice of Space Shuttle Launch Control for STS-1)

“Intothe Black told me stuff I never knew before – and I worked at NASA for 30years." (Michael Foale, former Astronaut and International Space Station Commander)

"This account ofAmerica's greatest and, in hindsight, most dangerous manned spaceflight is afantastic read. After I started it, I read it straight through. For more thanspaceflight geeks, this is the story of an astonishing adventure that, despitethe outward confidence of NASA, could have and perhaps should have gonehorribly wrong." (Homer Hickam, author Rocket Boys/October Sky)

About the Author

Rowland White is the author of three critically acclaimed works of aviation history: Vulcan 607, Phoenix Squadron, and Storm Front. All three have been Sunday Times top ten bestsellers. His most recent novel is Into the Black.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria Books (April 19, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501123629
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501123627
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.58 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #629,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #129 in Mars
- #415 in Astronautics & Space Flight
- #745 in History of Engineering & Technology

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Bruce F. Webster

One of the finest books on the US space program; highest recommendation

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

I started following the US space program in 1961, at the ripe old age of 8. That peaked with me working on the Space Shuttle flight simulators at NASA/JSC in 1979-80, followed by a stint next door at the Lunar & Planetary Institute. So when a colleague from that time recommended this book to me last week, I ordered it; once I started reading it, I finished it in short order.

White has done an outstanding job not only of tracing the history that led to the Space Shuttle, but also of the intertwined history of "America's Other Space Program", the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Indeed, the NRO portions of the book are frankly as important and fascinating as the history of the Shuttle itself. White is a great story teller and has lots of technical and personal details from the individuals involved to make the book not just informative but entertaining to read. Some of the details in the book I have long known, but there were vast amounts here that were new to me, that filled in blanks or explained whole new areas of which I was unaware.

My time working on the simulators was typically 1 to 3 am on a weekday night, but I still had a chance to meet some of the astronauts; in particular, I remember Kathy Sullivan, who was always kind and gracious to a somewhat awe-struck 26-year-old computer programmer. And, yes, those of us working on the simulator knew about the 'Return To Launch Site' (RTLS) abort procedure and knew that John Young thought it insanity of the highest order.

While I saw John Young and Bob Crippen around Building 5, I didn't get to meet them until I had moved on to the Lunar & Planetary Institute next door. Some 48 hours after STS-1 had landed, Young & Crippen had their debriefing session with NASA and other personnel at LPI, in the renovated stone barn building that housed LPI's computer center and photo archives -- and also where I happened to have my cubicle. The reason given was that they were trying to avoid the press, which may have been true; a CBS camera crew, led by (IIRC) Roger Mudd, showed up at LPI, looking for the astronauts, and were asked to leave.

In any case, some of us got to talk with Young & Crippen before their debriefing started; Young was still enthusing about the Shuttle. He also talked about all the great photos they had snapped of Soviet territory with a 35 mm camera while flying over it. :-) I have a stock STS-1 pre-mission photo of the two of them, autographed by both, from that visit.

Outstanding book; highest recommendation.

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John Walker

The untold story of the Space Shuttle's first flight

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2019

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On April 12, 1981, coincidentally exactly twenty years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth in Vostok 1, the United States launched one of the most ambitious and risky manned space flights ever attempted. The flight of Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia on its first mission, STS-1, would be the first time a manned spacecraft was launched with a crew on its first flight. (All earlier spacecraft were tested in unmanned flights before putting a crew at risk.) It would also be the first manned spacecraft to be powered by solid rocket boosters which, once lit, could not be shut down but had to be allowed to burn out. In addition, it would be the first flight test of the new Space Shuttle Main Engines, the most advanced and high performance rocket engines ever built, which had a record of exploding when tested on the ground. The shuttle would be the first space vehicle to fly back from space using wings and control surfaces to steer to a pinpoint landing. Instead of a one-shot ablative heat shield, the shuttle was covered by fragile silica tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon composite to protect its aluminium structure from reentry heating which, without thermal protection, would melt it in seconds. When returning to Earth, the shuttle would have to maneuver in a hypersonic flight regime in which no vehicle had ever flown before, then transition to supersonic and finally subsonic flight before landing. The crew would not control the shuttle directly, but fly it through redundant flight control computers which had never been tested in flight. Although the orbiter was equipped with ejection seats for the first four test flights, they could only be used in a small part of the flight envelope: for most of the mission everything simply had to work correctly for the ship and crew to return safely.

Even before the goal of landing on the Moon had been accomplished, it was apparent to NASA management that no national consensus existed to continue funding a manned space program at the level of Apollo. Indeed, in 1966, NASA's budget reached a peak which, as a fraction of the federal budget, has never been equalled. The Saturn V rocket was ideal for lunar landing missions, but expended each mission, was so expensive to build and operate as to be unaffordable for suggested follow-on missions. After building fifteen Saturn V flight vehicles, only thirteen of which ever flew, Saturn V production was curtailed. With the realisation that the “cost is no object” days of Apollo were at an end, NASA turned its priorities to reducing the cost of space flight, and returned to a concept envisioned by Wernher von Braun in the 1950s: a reusable space ship.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist or rocket engineer to appreciate the advantages of reusability. How much would an airline ticket cost if they threw away the airliner at the end of every flight? If space flight could move to an airline model, where after each mission one simply refueled the ship, performed routine maintenance, and flew again, it might be possible to reduce the cost of delivering payload into space by a factor of ten or more. But flying into space is much more difficult than atmospheric flight. With the technologies and fuels available in the 1960s (and today), it appeared next to impossible to build a launcher which could get to orbit with just a single stage (and even if one managed to accomplish it, its payload would be negligible). That meant any practical design would require a large booster stage and a smaller second stage which would go into orbit, perform the mission, then return.

Initial design concepts envisioned a very large (comparable to a Boeing 747) winged booster to which the orbiter would be attached. At launch, the booster would lift itself and the orbiter from the pad and accelerate to a high velocity and altitude where the orbiter would separate and use its own engines and fuel to continue to orbit. After separation, the booster would fire its engines to boost back toward the launch site, where it would glide to a landing on a runway. At the end of its mission, the orbiter would fire its engines to de-orbit, then reenter the atmosphere and glide to a landing. Everything would be reusable. For the next mission, the booster and orbiter would be re-mated, refuelled, and readied for launch.

Such a design had the promise of dramatically reducing costs and increasing flight rate. But it was evident from the start that such a concept would be very expensive to develop. Two separate manned spacecraft would be required, one (the booster) much larger than any built before, and the second (the orbiter) having to operate in space and survive reentry without discarding components. The orbiter's fuel tanks would be bulky, and make it difficult to find room for the payload and, when empty during reentry, hard to reinforce against the stresses they would encounter. Engineers believed all these challenges could be met with an Apollo era budget, but with no prospect of such funds becoming available, a more modest design was the only alternative.

Over a multitude of design iterations, the now-familiar architecture of the space shuttle emerged as the only one which could meet the mission requirements and fit within the schedule and budget constraints. Gone was the flyback booster, and with it full reusability. Two solid rocket boosters would be used instead, jettisoned when they burned out, to parachute into the ocean and be fished out by boats for refurbishment and reuse. The orbiter would not carry the fuel for its main engines. Instead, it was mounted on the side of a large external fuel tank which, upon reaching orbit, would be discarded and burn up in the atmosphere. Only the orbiter, with its crew and payload, would return to Earth for a runway landing. Each mission would require either new or refurbished solid rocket boosters, a new external fuel tank, and the orbiter.

The mission requirements which drove the design were not those NASA would have chosen for the shuttle were the choice theirs alone. The only way NASA could “sell” the shuttle to the president and congress was to present it as a replacement for all existing expendable launch vehicles. That would assure a flight rate sufficient to achieve the economies of scale required to drive down costs and reduce the cost of launch for military and commercial satellite payloads as well as NASA missions. But that meant the shuttle had to accommodate the large and heavy reconnaissance satellites which had been launched on Titan rockets. This required a huge payload bay (15 feet wide by 59 feet long) and a payload to low Earth orbit of 60,000 pounds. Further Air Force requirements dictated a large cross-range (ability to land at destinations far from the orbital ground track), which in turn required a hot and fast reentry very demanding on the thermal protection system.

The shuttle represented, in a way, the unification of NASA with the Air Force's own manned space ambitions. Ever since the start of the space age, the Air Force sought a way to develop its own manned military space capability. Every time it managed to get a program approved: first Dyna-Soar and then the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, budget considerations and Pentagon politics resulted in its cancellation, orphaning a corps of highly-qualified military astronauts with nothing to fly. Many of these pilots would join the NASA astronaut corps in 1969 and become the backbone of the early shuttle program when they finally began to fly more than a decade later.

All seemed well on board. The main engines shut down. The external fuel tank was jettisoned. Columbia was in orbit. Now weightless, commander John Young and pilot Bob Crippen immediately turned to the flight plan, filled with tasks and tests of the orbiter's systems. One of their first jobs was to open the payload bay doors. The shuttle carried no payload on this first flight, but only when the doors were open could the radiators that cooled the shuttle's systems be deployed. Without the radiators, an emergency return to Earth would be required lest electronics be damaged by overheating. The doors and radiators functioned flawlessly, but with the doors open Young and Crippen saw a disturbing sight. Several of the thermal protection tiles on the pods containing the shuttle's maneuvering engines were missing, apparently lost during the ascent to orbit. Those tiles were there for a reason: without them the heat of reentry could melt the aluminium structure they protected, leading to disaster. They reported the missing tiles to mission control, adding that none of the other tiles they could see from windows in the crew compartment appeared to be missing.

The tiles had been a major headache during development of the shuttle. They had to be custom fabricated, carefully applied by hand, and were prone to falling off for no discernible reason. They were extremely fragile, and could even be damaged by raindrops. Over the years, NASA struggled with these problems, patiently finding and testing solutions to each of them. When STS-1 launched, they were confident the tile problems were behind them. What the crew saw when those payload bay doors opened was the last thing NASA wanted to see. A team was set to analysing the consequences of the missing tiles on the engine pods, and quickly reported back that they should pose no problem to a safe return. The pods were protected from the most severe heating during reentry by the belly of the orbiter, and the small number of missing tiles would not affect the aerodynamics of the orbiter in flight.

But if those tiles were missing, mightn't other tiles also have been lost? In particular, what about those tiles on the underside of the orbiter which bore the brunt of the heating? If some of them were missing, the structure of the shuttle might burn through and the vehicle and crew would be lost. There was no way for the crew to inspect the underside of the orbiter. It couldn't be seen from the crew cabin, and there was no way to conduct an EVA to examine it. Might there be other, shall we say, national technical means, of inspecting the shuttle in orbit? Now STS-1 truly ventured into the black, a story never told until many years after the mission and documented thoroughly for a popular audience here for the first time.

In 1981, ground-based surveillance of satellites in orbit was rudimentary. Two Department of Defense facilities, in Hawaii and Florida, normally used to image Soviet and Chinese satellites, were now tasked to try to image Columbia in orbit. This was a daunting task: the shuttle was in a low orbit, which meant waiting until an orbital pass would cause it to pass above one of the telescopes. It would be moving rapidly so there would be only seconds to lock on and track the target. The shuttle would have to be oriented so its belly was aimed toward the telescope. Complicating the problem, the belly tiles were black, so there was little contrast against the black of space. And finally, the weather had to cooperate: without a perfectly clear sky, there was no hope of obtaining a usable image. Several attempts were made, all unsuccessful.

But there were even deeper black assets. The National Reconnaissance Office (whose very existence was a secret at the time) had begun to operate the KH-11 KENNEN digital imaging satellites in the 1970s. Unlike earlier spysats, which exposed film and returned it to the Earth for processing and interpretation, the KH-11 had a digital camera and the ability to transmit imagery to ground stations shortly after it was captured. There were few things so secret in 1981 as the existence and capabilities of the KH-11. Among the people briefed in on this above top secret program were the NASA astronauts who had previously been assigned to the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program which was, in fact, a manned reconnaissance satellite with capabilities comparable to the KH-11.

Dancing around classification, compartmentalisation, bureaucratic silos, need to know, and other barriers, people who understood what was at stake made it happen. The flight plan was rewritten so that Columbia was pointed in the right direction at the right time, the KH-11 was programmed for the extraordinarily difficult task of taking a photo of one satellite from another, when their closing velocities are kilometres per second, relaying the imagery to the ground and getting it to the NASA people who needed it without the months of security clearance that would normally entail. The shuttle was a key national security asset. It was to launch all reconnaissance satellites in the future. Reagan was in the White House. They made it happen. When the time came for Columbia to come home, the very few people who mattered in NASA knew that, however many other things they had to worry about, the tiles on the belly were not among them.

(How different it was in 2003 when the same Columbia suffered a strike on its left wing from foam shed from the external fuel tank. A thoroughly feckless and bureaucratised NASA rejected requests to ask for reconnaissance satellite imagery which, with two decades of technological improvement, would have almost certainly revealed the damage to the leading edge which doomed the orbiter and crew. Their reason: “We can't do anything about it anyway.” This is incorrect. For a fictional account of a rescue, based upon the report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, see Launch on Need .)

This is a masterful telling of a gripping story by one of the most accomplished of aerospace journalists. Rowland White is the author of Vulcan 607 , the definitive account of the Royal Air Force raid on the airport in the Falkland Islands in 1982. Incorporating extensive interviews with people who were there, then, and sources which were classified until long after the completion of the mission, this is a detailed account of one of the most consequential and least appreciated missions in U.S. manned space history which reads like a techno-thriller.

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Pete

The mostly right stuff

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Really enjoyed this. Nicely written, well researched, and I rattled through it quickly.

He covers the development of the Shuttle right from the start during Apollo up to its first flight, with a brief appendix about its subsequent problems as well as a few brief mentions of the Soviet shuttle Buran. This is mainly told through the eyes of its first two astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen, as well as Crippen's other Air Force colleagues, especially Dick Truly. He takes the time to describe the main characters and you end up feeling like you know them, especially Crippen. The Air Force and related secret reconnaissance angle is especially interesting because it explains a lot about the politics and the main design decisions behind the Shuttle's development, without which a lot of it doesn't make sense. I was quite surprised at actually how quickly it was developed once the main design configuration had been sorted out.

I found that towards the end there was a little too much breathless detail about the reconnaissance satellites which helped to allay fears about the heat shield. It's interesting that he's managed to get so much detail on it, but I lost track of the orbits. The same is true of some of the surrounding details of chase planes and infrared cameras following the landing - I didn't really understand why that mattered and it detracted a little from the main story and characters.

Overall, he's surprisingly positive about the Shuttle and the people who designed and built it. One of very few people to be criticised is actually an aside about Buzz Aldrin, which seemed a bit mean (he was quoting John Young), and there are a few gentle criticisms of main designer Max Faget, but there's an argument to be much harsher on some of the basic design flaws - a heat shield too vulnerable during launch, and a lack of crew escape system. It left me wanting to know more about its subsequent development though, which is good, and I suppose it's good to focus on the bravery and ingenuity behind the Shuttle, not just its flaws.

Good stuff.

3 people found this helpful

Mr J Grantham

Compelling reading.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

It is easy to forget just how long ago the Shuttle Orbiter was conceived , designed and built and the technical constraints faced by the engineers and Pilots. Fly by wire was in its infancy and computer memory measured in tens of kilobytes. That it worked at all was a miracle. That it worked so well, stunning. The loss of Challenger and Columbia tends to overshadow the history of its achievements but Roland White does an excellent job in redressing the balance, pointing out that the Orbiter itself never failed, the loss of both being attributed to failures in the boosters and external fuel tank. The author has set the Orbiter story in the context of the wider space efforts of that time, skillfully weaving in the human elements to produce a comprehensive and very readable account. I did wonder whether such a technical subject would be a bit heavy going but I needn't have worried. The story unfolded with a pace and style that kept me reading into the small hours of the morning.

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I love the way Rowland White writes and being able to ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is an extremely informative account leading up to and through the first mission of the space shuttle. I love the way Rowland White writes and being able to produce a fact based but almost conversational narrative to the technical depths he achieves is outstanding. It is clear that he dedicated much time and thought to this book.
I noticed how some reviewers have criticised White for darting around between different subjects and characters with little introduction or warning. I can understand these opinions but feel one must remember that this is not a work of fiction. I read the first 5 (all be it very short) chapters twice to try to get a better grounding of who these Astronauts are. Unsurprisingly, almost all had very similar backgrounds (and it turns out similar names!) - therefore if you aren't instantly familiar with who John G, John Y, Bob, Joe, Dick, Rick, Fred or Ted are the second time their name appears then a few seconds spent checking might make the book flow smoothly, as it soon did for me.

White has written a factual account of a highly technical subject in a manner that is as accessible for as many people as possible. It is a very difficult line to tread and the balance will undoubtedly upset some. However, for me, it was spot on.

I would be surprised if anyone could read this account without learning fascinating information but you might just also get swept up in the passion so many had for the Shuttle and perhaps gain a new level of appreciation for what was achieved and what we now no longer have. I do not think it would be possible to obtain this information in a more enjoyable or easily accessible account than this book. I thank Rowland for researching and writing it, and I for one shall miss reading it!

11 people found this helpful

G. Lord

Excellent - the early shuttle story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

I have read many books about space and aviation in general and this one I rate really highly. It essentially shows the shuttle programme as it was seen by the NASA astronaut office and by a few astronauts in particular. It also gives and interesting view of the MOL project and the relationship between the USAF and NASA. This relationship was very important in creating the requirements for the shuttle. Throughly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

Alan, Scotland

Excellent book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2019

Verified Purchase

Excellent book. The poor strapline about “the electrifying story....” put me off buying it for some time. It is not just about the first flight of the shuttle, it is a fascinating insight into bits of the history of the American space programme that have been overlooked. The relationship between the shuttle, the MOL and American spy satellites was all new to me. Definitely well worth reading if you are interested in the space programme. Well written and very readable.

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