Cambridge based author Rowland White is a man with a lifelong ambition to go into space.
On 12th April, the 35th anniversary of the maiden flight of space shuttle Columbia, Rowland took a step closer to his childhood dream by launching a copy of his new critically acclaimed book, "Into the Black," the story of the first flight of NASA's revolutionary space shuttle, to the edge of space.
"Into the Black" was a 'labour of love' (The Times), and the culmination of a boyhood obsession. The space shuttle was [i]the[/i] spaceship of Rowland's generation — not even born when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Obsessed with aeroplanes as a boy and on the back of Star Wars, Star Trek, and James Bond's [i]Moonraker,[/i] the shuttle completely captured Rowland's imagination. He even rigged up a cassette recorder in front of the TV to record the BBC's pre-launch commentary.
Rowland comments: "The shuttle was grounded in 2011. But on the 35th anniversary of the first flight, it seemed fitting to return her to space — where she belonged — one last time as a reminder of the incredible achievement she represented. I want to rekindle a bit of the awe and wonder she generated when she first flew. The shuttle was the last great achievement of the Apollo generation."
The launch is particularly timely given Tim Peake's current location. Without the shuttle, it is safe to say there would have been no space station. Taking astronauts to and from a space station was what she was built to do.
As Rowland explains: "To send a book into space while a British astronaut orbits Earth is the icing on the cake. I was in touch with Tim Peake before his launch and I'll be tweeting him about our anniversary "shuttle launch." And telling him that there's a copy of 'Into the Black' waiting for him on his return — delivered by more traditional methods. But here's hoping that Tim will look out of the window and catch sight of this one though!"