Star Bound

Emily Carney is a former nuclear technician for the U.S. Navy and an accomplished space journalist. She is the manager of public engagement and social media for the Space 3.0 Foundation, founder of the popular spaceflight group Space Hipsters, and cohost of the Space and Things podcast. Bruce McCandless III is a novelist, an attorney, and the son of a shuttle astronaut. He is the author of Wonders All Around: The Incredible True Story of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II and the First Untethered Flight in Space.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsA Few Dates to RememberNASA’s Crewed Spaceflights (So Far)1. First Principles2. The Wizard of Worcester3. Rocketry and Death4. The SS Major and the Suicide SquadThe All-Time Greatest Space Exploration Playlist5. A Starting Gun Called Sputnik6. Shadows in the Sky7. Project MercuryEleven Boffo Space Books to Launch at Your Brain8. Gemini’s Forgotten Flights9. The Rise and Fall of the American AstronautThe Best Space Stuff You Can Watch10. Apollo and the First Man on the Moon11. Skylab and the Renaissance of American ScienceNASA’s Eleven Coolest Astronauts12. Probes, Rovers, and the Golden Record13. The Butterfly and the BulletNASA’s Eleven Greatest Missions14. Sleeping with the Russians15. False Starts, Missteps, and the Promise of ArtemisAmerica’s Eleven Biggest Space Losses16. The New Space Race17. The Commercialization of SpaceEleven Everyday Benefits of the American Space Program18. Curse You, Gene Roddenberry!The Eleven Most Persistent Rumors, Riddles, and Conspiracy Theories about the American Space Program19. Looking OutwardEleven Fearless Space Predictions20. Why It’s Worth ItSources

"An outstanding overview of American space exploration. . . . The trivia fascinates . . . and the authors ground their narrative in colorful character portraits. . . . This soars."—Publishers Weekly, starred review "[Star Bound] digs impressively deep to place the growth of America's space program in context. . . . [Carney and McCandless are] a writing marriage made in heaven's starry skies."—Rebecca Coffey, Forbes "With Carney and McCandless's breezy style, this enthusiastic and accessible history will engage the curiosity of both general readers and seasoned space enthusiasts alike."—Library Journal, starred review "The authors should be commended for concisely charting a path through dozens of topics and telling interesting stories."—Mary Damon, Quest "There are so many topics that Carney and McCandless explore that I suspect any reader will still learn a sizeable amount—and their wit and unabashed geekiness over all things space make for a delightful read and may remind you why you fell in love with spaceflight."—Jaime Herndon, Mercury Magazine “Two of the world’s foremost space history chroniclers have joined forces to tell the tale of how spaceflight developed and nurtured our existence over the last century or more. They fly us through the decades with their characteristic wry humor, making Star Bound both an entertaining and an informative read.”—Francis French, coauthor of Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965 “A sweeping, comprehensive, and detailed spaceflight history and primer, Star Bound is not just informative, it’s engaging and fun—less an academic text than a lively conversation with that one cool friend who’s funny, snarky, and oh-so-smart.”—David Hitt, author of Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story