In the process of writing the Jessie Cole series I immersed myself in extensive research. I grew up on Florida’s Space Coast and I wanted this series to capture what amazing and inspiring story lie behind the headlines. If you are interested in space exploration, this is a list of books I enjoyed reading while writing the series. I hope you enjoy them too.
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
Loved this book! So often great minds are misunderstood in their own time, it’s not until years later that history looks back and sees their brilliance. This book gives me hope that this great mind may find appreciation before he has passed away.
Gemini: A Personal Account of Man’s Venture into Space by Virgil “Gus” Grissom
I admit, I have a bit of a crush on Grissom, so finding a copy of this book became a quest for me. I’ve read it two or three times now and learn something new each time.
We Seven by the Astronauts Themselves
Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield
Probably my favorite contemporary astronaut biography. It is funny and so conversational I felt like we were sitting around his kitchen table.
Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the SpaceRace From Sputnik to Today by Jay Barberre
Another book that I truly loved from a reporter who was on site for every single launch. I had the honor of doing a joint book signing with him in 2014 and listening to his stories was a once in a lifetime experience.
Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight by Jay Barbree
Having known Armstrong for 50 years, Barbree has a unique perspective on the life and achievements of this pioneer. Written in a style that makes the reader feel they are hearing an account from a close friend, this is an excellent read.
Before Liftoff: The Making of a Space Shuttle Crew by Henry S.F. Cooper Jr
This book helped me get the lay of the land at JSC as well as what the day-to-day training for a mission looked like. I was glad I had read it before meeting Astronaut Jon McBride so I had some specific questions that weren’t answered in the book. An invaluable tool for understanding how astronauts trained and getting a lay of the land out at Johnson Space Center.
The Space Shuttle Operator’s Manual
I picked this up on eBay. My dad had one but he tossed it when he moved.This is an interesting guide that’s only available as a used book. If you want to know specifics about the layout of the Space Shuttle, procedures during launch, how to put on a spacesuit for extravehicular activity and more, this is a good starting place.
The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan and Don Davis
I was in Houston researching Destiny’s Call at the time this legend passed away. As with most other astronaut memoirs, you see the portrait of a driven individual but you also get a glimpse at his family and what they sacrified, as all military families do, to support Cernan’s dream.
A classic tale of one man’s dream of space and how he made it to the astronaut corps. His descriptions of spacewalks and time on the International Space Station provided interesting insight.
Report to the President by the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian by Andy Weir: While this is a fictional novel, I think it’s a great read for anyone who loves space exploration. I felt the book was much better than the movie, because the interior monologue is just laugh-out-loud funny and that doesn’t come through as well in the movie.
How We’ll Live on Mars by Stephen Petranek
This is a high-level look at what it will take to get humanity to a colony on Mars. It’s a great springboard for thinking about the challenges that lie ahead and how we can overcome them.
How to Make a Spaceship by Julian Guthrie
From the days of Charles Lindbergh to the first successful launch of SpaceShipOne and the many attempts in between, this is a detailed account of teams around the world striving to achieve private launch success. I loved learning about the many teams that competed for the Prize, awarded in 2004, and the enduring desire to explore space.
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
From the title one would think this is about getting to Mars, but it’s more about the history of the program, and is rather disjointed at that. There are some funny stories and she strips away a lot of the glamour associated with astronauts.For research purposes, I found this book invaluable int providing details about jobs astronauts do when they aren’t training for an assigned flight, training simulators, food on orbit, and other every-day details.
Sky Walking by Tom Jones
For research purposes, I found this book invaluable in providing details about jobs astronauts do when they aren’t training for an assigned flight, training simulators, food on orbit, and other every-day details.
Endurance: My Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly
This book has great detail about life aboard the Space Station, training with the Russians, and launching from Russia aboard a Soyuz compared to a Space Shuttle launch.
Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean
This is an account not just of the final three Space Shuttle launches, but how each impacted the author and the personal loss those who worked on the program felt as it came to an end.
The Silence and the Salvage by Lamar Russell
I picked up a copy of this at the US Space Walk of Fame Museum and I’m glad I did. This is an insider’s account of searching for the remains of Columbia and the months of work that went into reconstruction to help understand what went wrong. My dad was on the reconstruction crew at Kennedy Space Center, one of the workers intimately familiar with the pieces, specifically of the crew cabin. Reading these stories of the pieces being recovered and shipped to Florida helped me grasp the emotional toll that reconstruction work took on my dad and everyone else involved.
Bringing Columbia Home by Michael Leinbach and Jonathan Ward
This book, along with Silence and Salvage, helped me come to terms with my own anger toward NASA for the tragic loss of Columbia. It is gut wrenching at times to read about the amount of debris that was found, both large and small pieces. This book was pivotal in helping me provide a very high-level look at the recovery effort in Legacy, the final book of the Jessie Cole Trilogy.
Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration by Buzz Aldrin
As one of the few men to walk on the moon, it must be baffling to Aldrin how humanity hasn’t progressed further in space exploration. This book lays out how he believes trips to Mars could be accomplished. Dreams like Aldrin are what drove our initial success in space and are our only hope for moving beyond low earth orbit.
The Case for Mars- The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must by Robert Zubrin
From propellant and trajectories to how we can create fuel for return launches from Mars, Zubrin covers it all. There are a lot of technical details that I don’t completely comprehend but sound logical to me. In some ways Zubrin is a controversial figure, but I have to wonder if that isn’t partly because he pushes against the boundaries of the establishment and dares to dream big. There has been a great deal of stagnation in exploration and his frustration with that comes through in this book.
Undaunted and Destiny’s Call are available on Amazon as well as most online retailers.
Legacies are woven that bind fate or ignite dreams.
Jessie Cole worked hard to rise from humble beginnings to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut. He didn’t think he’d face a more difficult challenge until he became a father. Now, he must weigh his decisions and endeavor to raise his children with the values of faith, perseverance, and love that shaped his own life.
Mariana Cole has gazed up at the heavens with wonder since infancy. Tales of her father’s trips to space feed her curiosity and drive her to understand why humanity hasn’t traveled beyond our own moon. Will she follow her father’s path or blaze her own trail to change the trajectory of space exploration?
