Bound To Stay Bound

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Booklist - 03/01/2019 It’s one thing when disaster strikes. It’s quite another when disasters involve astronauts and cosmonauts during their missions. The events reported here begin with Gus Grissom almost drowning when his Liberty Bell 7 space capsule opened too soon after splashdown in 1961. Other dramatic incidents include the Soyuz 1 landing malfunction, which took the life of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov in 1967; the 1986 explosion of the Challenger space shuttle shortly after takeoff; and the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, which failed to achieve its original purpose but succeeded in bringing the astronauts home. Telling 12 real-life stories of dangerous and sometimes disastrous space missions, this volume is based on episodes of Countdown, a podcast that Kluger wrote and narrated for Time magazine, where he works as a senior editor specializing in science. Illustrated with 12 photos (not seen), the straightforward text highlights events while giving a sense of the personalities of those involved. This well-researched book offers a series of compelling, real-life stories for kids intrigued by the history, the dangers, and the thrill of space exploration. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 05/01/2019 Gr 4–8—From the near-drowning of Gus Grissom and the loss of Liberty Bell 7's Mercury capsule on splashdown in 1961, to the emergency termination of a spacewalk for Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano on the International Space Station in 2013, human space travel has always been a risky, sometimes deadly endeavor. Kluger outlines 12 such disasters, including the tragic cockpit fire that killed three Apollo 1 astronauts in 1967, the now infamous Apollo 13 mission, and several less well-remembered incidents. The chapters offer varying points of view: for example, the chapter about the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion takes the perspective of schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe's students in New Hampshire and her family watching in horror from the viewing stand at Cape Canaveral. This makes the text versatile, efficiently functioning as a collection of short reads or a balanced, book-length narrative. Along the way, Kluger intertwines his narrative with fascinating details from history, in addition to the physics and health science of space travel. The author does not provide specific source notes or a bibliography, but in a closing author's note, he credits the online Johnson Space Center History Office, a source of much of the recorded dialogue between astronauts and ground control, as well as the New York Times' archive and a number of memoirs by astronauts. VERDICT Always fascinating, at times unsettling, and highly recommended for elementary and middle school collections.—Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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