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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10 New Historical Fiction Books Hitting the Shelves

Whether you love spy fiction, romances, sprawling sagas, or even horror, there’s a new historical fiction book for you on this list, like In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-12-21 11:36:00 UTC ]
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The Pantone Color of the Year 2023, Book Cover Edition

Pantone's Color of the Year for 2023 is Viva Magenta, and we've got a roundup of books fit for celebrating the new color. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-12-16 11:38:00 UTC ]
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8 Horror Books Coming Out in December That Will Chill You to the Bone

FroHere are eight new horror reads to make you shiver with something other than cold this December, including Mine: An Anthology of Body Autonomy Horror. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-12-06 11:35:00 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: AI is already reshaping air travel, will airports themselves be next?

The holiday travel season is once again upon us! It's the magical time of the year that combines standing in airport security lines with incrementally losing your mind as the hands of your watch perpetually tick closer to a boarding time that magically moved up 45 minutes since you left the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-12-04 15:30:19 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: How Pokemon took over the world

The impact of Japanese RPGs on pop and gaming culture cannot be overstated. From Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star to Chrono Trigger, NieR, and Fire Emblem — JRPGs have spanned console generations, bridged the Japanese and North American markets, spawned entire universes of IP and delivered... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-11-06 15:30:37 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: AI could help shrink America's gender wage gap

Women have faced gender-based discrimination in the workforce throughout history, denied employment in all but a handful of subservient roles, regularly ignored for promotions and pay raises — and rarely ever compensated at the same rates as their male peers. This long and storied socioeconomic... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-30 14:30:31 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: The early EVs that paved the way for GM's Ultium success

General Motors has been in business for more than a century, but in its 112 years, the company has never faced such challenges as it does in today's rapidly electrifying and automating industry. The assembly line jobs from Detroit's heyday have been replaced by legions of automated industrial... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-23 14:30:06 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: The women who made ENIAC more than a weapon

After Mary Sears and her team had revolutionized the field of oceanography, but before Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson helped put John Glenn into orbit, a cadre of women programmers working for the US government faced an impossible task: train ENIAC, the world's first ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-16 14:30:01 UTC ]
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October’s 8 Best SF and Fantasy Books

The hits just keep coming: As autumn descends with blessedly cooler temperatures and falling leaves, so too drop some excellent science fiction and fantasy books. We already sung the praises of Elijah Kinch Spector’s clever debut Kalyna the Soothsayer in August, but that’s moved to October, so... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-03 08:56:32 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: What the wearables of tomorrow might look like

Apple's Watch Ultra, with its 2000-nit digital display and GPS capabilities, is a far cry from its Revolutionary War-era self-winding forebears. What sorts of wondrous body-mounted technologies might we see another hundred years hence? In his new book, The Skeptic's Guide to the Future, Dr.... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-01 14:30:47 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: What if 'Up' but pigeons?

We all have those thoughts, the ones that come to us in the small hours of the night. Who am I? Why are we here? What if my cellphone ran on vacuum tubes instead? Randall Munroe has the answer to, well, only one of those questions, but also the answers to a whole bunch of others collected... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-09-18 15:00:37 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: Newfangled oceanographers helped win WWII using marine science

Lethal Tides tells the story of pioneering oceanic researcher Mary Sears and her leading role in creating one of the most important intelligence gathering operations of World War II. Languishing in academic obscurity and roundly ignored by her male colleagues, Sears is selected for command by... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-09-04 15:00:53 UTC ]
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A Former Nickelodeon Star’s Memoir Has Become the Summer’s Big Hit Book. It’s Very Clear Why.

I’m Glad My Mom Died details the abuse the iCarly actor suffered as a child star. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2022-08-18 20:31:47 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of August 8, 2022

Little, Brown buys a memoir from MacArthur fellow Nicole Fleetwood, Spiegel & Grau takes on a debut novel, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-05 04:00:00 UTC ]
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8 Plays to Read Aloud with Your Book Club

If you're looking to shake up the usual book club format, consider reading these plays as a way to make meet-ups more engaging. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-07-20 10:35:00 UTC ]
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Book Deals in Nonfiction, Lifestyle, and Cooking: July 8, 2022

The best nonfiction book deals in cooking, lifestyle, and more, all hand picked by Book Riot. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-07-08 16:52:56 UTC ]
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‘The Crane Wife’ essay hit a nerve. A new book reminds us why.

C. J. Hauser’s memoir-in-essays is a frank exploration of intimacy and romance that doesn’t always lead to a happily ever after. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-05 13:21:38 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: Summer reading list

More than a million new titles are published annually in the US, far more than even the most bibliophilic secret agent could get through. Even with a weekly publishing schedule, we can only bring you 52 Hitting the Books each year. To help shine a spotlight on all the fantastic stories that... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-06-22 17:30:23 UTC ]
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Frederick Douglass Books, a new imprint, will publish nonfiction by writers of color.

Forefront Books and the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives are teaming up to form Frederick Douglass Books, a publishing imprint meant to “establish a pathway for Black and Brown authors” into the publishing industry, the two organizations announced in a press release last week. The imprint... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-16 13:04:40 UTC ]
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People of Color in Publishing Addresses Book Biz Burnout

In a May 20 panel, four young publishing professionals discussed workloads for lower-level staffers in publishing, a growing dissatisfaction among a new generation of book business workers, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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