Book- New Moon Rising

Tom

An Old Friend
New Moon Rising by Frank Sietzen & Keith Cowing
A detailed History of the US Civil Space Program for 16 months in 2003/2004
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Here is an excerpt
With a glint of sunlight and pair of sonic booms, the winged ship was to announce its arrival in the skies above the Kennedy Space Center. Now, just before 9 a.m. on the morning of the first of February 2003, the senior leadership of the civil space program was arrayed near its runway, awaiting the descent and touchdown.

A crowd of shuttle crew families and NASA officials made up a large part of the group, but one man in particular was key. That man, the one that many wanted to speak to, was a tall Irishman with receding, prematurely white hair. He was slightly stooped sometimes when he walked, but his mustachioed face betrayed a boyish excitement about all he saw, crinkling into a laugh that came in rapid, short bursts.
On this morning, he had every reason to smile. Since taking over the leadership of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration two years before, he had achieved a major turning point in the agency. By a combination of cuts to some of NASA's most cherished programs, and a bit of budgetary slight of hand, he had staved off financial disaster and ended the agency's chronic annual bouts of cost overruns. His success was noted by the man who appointed him to the task, the 43rd President of the United States. George W. Bush had sent him to NASA with a clear and compellig mandate. The president was blunt. The place, he said, was messed up. Go fix it. He had started doing just that ...

-- from the Prologue
 
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