posted 02-22-2022 12:23 PM               

The never-before-told story of NASA's barrier-breaking Astronaut Class of 1978, which for the first time ever, included women, Blacks, and people of color — with exclusive cooperation of five astronauts. They rode NASA's cutting-edge shuttle, through its triumphs and tragedies (Challenger, Columbia), never losing sight of their conviction – space is for everyone.

In 1978, NASA changed the rules and hired its first class of civilian astronauts for its new Space Shuttle program. For the first time ever, the astronaut ranks were open to candidates beyond white male fighter pilots. In that historic class were the first American woman, the first African American, the first Jewish person, the first Asian, the first gay person, and the first mother.

The New Guys, the nickname their military predecessors gave them, tells their stories, for the first time ever, with exclusive access to three of the first American women in space, Kathy Sullivan, Anna Fisher, and Rhea Seddon, as well as the first African Americans, Guy Bluford and Fred Gregory.

Running in parallel to their story is the extraordinary four-decade-long history of the Shuttle itself. Conceived in the 1960s, the Space Shuttle was an ambitious new vehicle that would launch like a rocket, haul like a truck, and land like a plane. It would be NASA's most ambitious technical achievement. The New Guys pioneered the Shuttle program, which defined a generation of space travel, and helped build a dream of a new American century in space that brings all of the human race along.

• Hardcover: ‎320 pages
  
• William Morrow (October 11, 2022)
  
• ISBN-10: ‎0063141973
  
• ISBN-13: ‎978-0063141971

posted 02-22-2022 04:09 PM               

In 2020 our book, "NASA's First Space Shuttle Astronaut Selection: Redefining the Right Stuff" was published by Springer Books, and was a totally complete history of the selection of the Group 8 astronauts — the TFNG (I note the F word was removed from their title) — their backgrounds, recruitment, training, assignments and all their flights covered in great detail, and with the personal assistance of literally dozens of Group 8 astronauts and other NASA personnel. We even interviewed several of the unsuccessful candidates for Group 8 who did not make the final cut in order to get their stories as well. It is a very comprehensive and authoritative study of this amazing group of people and their achievements.

posted 02-23-2022 11:46 AM               

For the first time ever, the astronaut ranks were open to candidates beyond white male fighter pilots.

posted 02-18-2023 09:47 PM               

• Elizabeth Howell for Space.com
  
• Alexandra Witze for Nature
  
• David Chudwin on Space Hipsters (Facebook)