Orbit of Discovery
Subtitle: the all-Ohio space shuttle mission
By: Don Thomas with Mike Bartell
Contributors: Bartell, Mike
Publisher: Don Thomas
Published: 2014
Place of publication: United States]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 406
ISBN-13: 9781513608679
Subjects: Travel; Manned space flight; Space shuttles; Exploration; Astronauts; Biography; Discovery (Spacecraft)
Description: "During Memorial Day weekend in 1995, a little more than a week before the scheduled launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-70 mission, a single woodpecker made 205 holes in the soft foam insulation covering the huge external fuel tank of the Shuttle. The resulting damage led to one of the more unusual delays in the thirty year history of the Space Shuttle Program as NASA wrestled with what had happened, how to fix the damage, and how to prevent additional woodpecker attacks on its Space Shuttles in the future. Forever nicknamed 'The Woodpecker Shuttle Flight' the mission was also unique in that 4 of the 5 crewmembers assigned to the flight were from Ohio. After the governor of Ohio issued a proclamation making the fifth crewmember an 'Honorary Ohioan' this flight also became known as 'The All-Ohio Space Shuttle Mission.' Orbit of Discovery is an engaging first-person account of Discovery's STS-70 mission that shares the excitement, passion, adventure, accomplishments, and ... fun of the Space Shuttle Program as told by four-time veteran astronaut Don Thomas."--Author's website.
Notes: Appendix presents brief biographies of "the twenty-six Ohio astronauts."

Includes bibliographical references (page 396) and index.
Table of contents: title: Foreword / by John Glenn; title: Acknowledgments; title: Introduction / by George Voinovich; title: Discovery attacked!; title: In the footsteps of Glenn and Armstrong; title: The all-Ohio shuttle crew; title: Discovery to orbit; title: Open season on woodpeckers; title: Scientific discovery; title: Columbus was right; title: Close encounter with space junk; title: Fireball to Earth; title: Hail, hail, rock 'n' roll; title: Onward and upward; title: Those clang jangin' woodpeckers; title: Appendix.