Hitting the Books: NASA's Class 8 broke color barriers and glass ceilings alike

America's first astronauts from the 1960s were all pulled from the highest ranks of the nation's military. As such, NASA's first few classes tended to conform to a rather specific demographic theme — white, male, flattop haircut you could set a watch too. By the mid-70's however, the space agency had gotten with the times and opened up the spacewalking profession to more than former Air Force and Navy test pilots. In The New Guys, author Meredith Bagby follows the exploits of NASA's Astronaut class of 1978 — "Class 8," America's first women, African Americans, Asian American, and gay person to fly to space — from the team's selection through their mastering of cutting-edge technologies aboard the Space Shuttle and their history-making orbital missions. In the excerpt below, Class 8 receives a brutal introduction to the dangers that await them. Harper Collins PublishingFrom The New Guys by Meredith Bagby. Copyright © 2023 by Meredith Bagby. Reprinted courtesy of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.Johnson Space Center, Houston. July 1978“Hey! We’ve got a fire in the cockpit!” a man screamed, then his voice cut out. Within seconds, another desperate voice cut through the static.“We’ve got a bad fire . . . !” the second man shouted in pain.“We’re burning up . . . !!!” a third howled.Then the transmission faded into nothing but static.In one of the many tiered seats in Mission Control, Ron McNair and his new classmates listened to a recording of the Apollo... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2023-02-12 15:30:30 UTC ]

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HCCB gift book invites the nation to Be More Paddington

HarperCollins Children's Books is releasing How to Be More Paddington: A Book of Kindness, a gift book featuring inspirational quotes from Michael Bond's beloved bear alongside Peggy Fortnum’s original illustrations. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-13 19:21:03 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of July 13, 2020

HarperCollins takes three from an Irish-Australian bestseller; Harper buys a manifesto from Charles M. Blow; and with the U.S. copyright for 'The Great Gatsby' expiring in December, Little, Brown plans a prequel for January. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins defends Walliams over Monroe criticism

HarperCollins has defended David Walliams after food writer Jack Monroe claimed his children's books were “sneering classist fatshaming grim nonsense”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-07 10:29:08 UTC ]
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HarperCollins lands life story of South Africa rugby captain Siya Kolisi

HarperCollins has landed the life story of Siya Kolisi, Springboks captain and star of South Africa’s 2019 World Cup-winning rugby team. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-07 05:01:43 UTC ]
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HarperCollins Children's signs second series from Cleverly

HarperCollins Children’s Books will publish Sophie Cleverly's second middle-grade series, The Violet Veil Mysteries, illustrated by Hannah Peck.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-06 15:45:28 UTC ]
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Publishers cut ties with David Starkey after 'abhorrent' comments

HarperCollins says it will no longer publish books by historian David Starkey and is reviewing his backlist, describing his recent comments on slavery as “abhorrent”. Vintage and Hodder & Stoughton have also said they will not publish further books from him. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-03 13:56:37 UTC ]
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David Starkey dropped by publisher and university positions after racist remarks

HarperCollins will no longer publish books by the historian and is reviewing his backlist after he said ‘slavery was not genocide’HarperCollins has dropped David Starkey as an author, saying that the racist views the bestselling historian expressed in a recent interview were “abhorrent”.On... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-03 11:40:12 UTC ]
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Andy Serkis records audiobook of The Hobbit for HarperCollins

HarperCollins is releasing an unabridged audiobook of J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit, read by Andy Serkis who starred as Gollum in the blockbuster movies. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-01 17:52:05 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of June 29, 2020

A “marginalized people’s history of labor in the U.S.” goes to One Signal for six figures, HarperCollins takes on a book about Prince Harry and Prince William, Willie Nelson and his sister sell a memoir to Random House, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-06-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins wins six-way auction for debut from S&S's Pronovost

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-25 11:27:10 UTC ]
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HarperCollins brings back all furloughed staff

HarperCollins UK has brought back all the staff it placed on furlough at the start of lockdown and will pay all their salaries itself rather than claiming it back from the government, the company has announced. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-22 02:30:13 UTC ]
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HarperCollins acquires two from Gill Sims

HarperCollins has acquired world all-language rights to two more books by Why Mummy Drinks author Gill Sims. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-11 11:16:00 UTC ]
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New roles for Young and Elton at HarperCollins

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 12:12:17 UTC ]
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Publishers start to plan for staffers' return to the office

Publishers are currently exploring what a return to work will look like, with HarperCollins this week allowing staff to come into the office "for essential reasons" and Hachette and Simon & Schuster confirming a provisional return come September. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-09 22:45:56 UTC ]
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Walliams returns with World's Worst Parents

David Walliams and Tony Ross are releasing another collection of stories, The World's Worst Parents, with HarperCollins Children's Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-03 23:12:15 UTC ]
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Joe Wicks moves to HarperCollins in adult and children's book deal

Fitness guru Joe Wicks is leaving Bluebird for HarperCollins, signing a multi-book deal for adult lifestyle and children's titles with the publisher. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-03 00:41:19 UTC ]
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Jover and Surman join HarperCollins UK executive committee

HarperCollins' director of growth and analytics Alvar Jover and its group digital director Joanna Surman have been appointed to join the publisher's UK executive committee. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-02 13:37:31 UTC ]
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Publishers are suing the Internet Archive for scanning and distributing copies of their books.

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Beecroft appointed Collins Learning m.d.

Alex Beecroft, formerly HarperCollins UK’s director of corporate development, has been appointed m.d. of Collins Learning. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-01 04:28:42 UTC ]
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HarperCollins and Pan Mac won't attend Frankfurt's physical book fair

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-28 12:40:55 UTC ]
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