Orbit of Discovery: The All-Ohio Space Shuttle Mission

Acknowledgments

xiii Acknowledgments This is a story I wanted to tell for many years and it took me more than a decade to put down on paper. Getting from my draft manuscript to a final book was a monumental effort, which involved nearly another decade of work compressed into about six months. Leading that effort was Mike Bartell, an experienced reporter from the Toledo Blade who enthusiastically covered our STS-70 mission, as well as many other shuttle flights. Without Mike’s ideas, suggestions, comments, and frequent encouragement, this project would never have been completed. His help creating a vision for the book was instrumental and his patience and tireless efforts in helping craft the final manuscript are very appreciated. My thanksas well to Ereck Wheeler for his outstanding technical support during the numerous rewrites and the editing process. My thanks to Tom Bacher from The University of Akron Press for believing in this project and overseeing its publication. Tom was extremely valuable guiding this first-time author through the publishing process. My thanks to Amy Freels at The University of Akron Press for her outstanding work in the design and editing of the book. My appreciation as well to Carol Slatter at The University of Akron Press for her help on the print production of the book. xiv ORBIT OF DISCOVERY My gratitude to Mike Gentry and Jodie Russell at the NASA Johnson Space Center who helped me obtain copies of interviews and photographs that were used in the book. Mike always provided great support to me during my twenty years at NASA and continued to do so during the writing of this book. My thanks to Ted Sobchak in the Space Network Office at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for updates on the TDRS-G satellite. Thanks to Ron Zaleski (NASA GSFC), and Mike Bielucki, Don Shinners, Lynn Vaught, and Steve Gollery, all from the NASA White Sands complex, for sharing their experiences with the TDRS-G satellite. I am grateful to David DeFelice at the NASA Glenn Research Center for his help pulling together information on the Ohio astronauts and for providing photographs from the 2008 Ohio Astronaut Reunion. My thanks as well to many of the other friends and coworkers at NASA Glenn who have supported me over the years and who invited many of my friends and family members, those unable to make it to Florida, to watch my launches from their facility in Cleveland . I am indebted to the incredible team of folks at the NASA Johnson Space Center, from the trainers who prepared me for my missions to the flight controllers in Mission Control and everyone else who was involved in supporting my flights. I was so proud to be part of your team. My thanks to Valerie Neal and Frank McNally from the UdvarHazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum who arranged for me to photograph Discovery in her new home. Special thanks to my friend, Kanji Takeno, who patiently worked with me during the photo shoots. My gratitude to Jimmy Pritchett, a friend and fellow space enthusiast in Houston who provided me with hours of video recordings from the STS-70 mission that I used in the writing of this book. To Malcolm Denemark for his help locating the original negatives from photos he had taken of our crew with Woody Woodpecker xv Acknowledgments after the flight. Thanks to Florida Today and the West Kentucky News for permission to use their photographs in this book. To Charles Atkeison IV and Chuck Morely for sharing their memories, photographs, and videos taken at the Space Day Rally in Cape Canaveral a few weeks after we landed following the STS-70 mission. To Dr. Phil P. Lamarre, a great friend for many decades, who early on helped review my manuscript and provided valuable perspectives, suggestions, and encouragement. To my wife, Simone, and son, Kai, who patiently supported me during my years at NASA and then continued to do so as I endlessly worked on this book. Thanks for enduring the many nights away from home, the birthdays and anniversaries that went on without me, and the times when my mind and attention were focused more on the mission than on you. It was always so great to get back home to you. To all my friends and family members who supported me through the years and attended the launches. I...