Star Sailor: My Life as a NASA Astronaut

"An important and inspiring astronaut memoir." —Kirkus Reviews

Sail the stars with astronaut Charlie Bolden as he recounts his amazing shuttle missions, including deploying the Hubble Space Telescope, training with Sally Ride, and leading the first US space mission that included a Russian cosmonaut as a crew member. Charlie even got to congratulate Star Wars creator George Lucas at the Academy Awards—from space! Follow Charlie’s incredible story, from watching movies as a kid about Flash Gordon flying to Mars—from the balcony where Black people had to sit—all the way to becoming the first Black NASA Administrator. From the thrill of watching lightning storms from the mesosphere to the heartbreak of the Challenger disaster, Charles’s life as a star sailor is full of adventure and discovery, told in his own words along with award-winning author Tonya Bolden. In-depth looks at how astronauts train, work, and live are complemented by diagrams, highlighted vocabulary, scientific sidebars, and incredible personal photographs. Back matter includes an author’s note and timeline.This book tells the story of major events in human spaceflight and critical themes in American history with suspense and humor from a firsthand perspective that no one else on Earth can provide.
—Mike French, vice president for space systems at the Aerospace Industries Association

Star sailing with four-time space shuttle astronaut Major General Charles Bolden is an unforgettable ride. In his new book, Star Sailor, Bolden puts you in the copilot seat, sharing the rigors, twists, and harrowing thrills of space travel. You will learn what it was like to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope, pilot a space shuttle, and gaze down at planet Earth far below, as only he can tell it. Sailing in Bolden’s starship makes you feel like you could touch the stars.
—Carol L. Folt, president of the University of Southern California

An inspirational story about a true American hero, Star Sailor will take readers, both young and old, on an unforgettable cosmic voyage. Charlie Bolden’s masterful storytelling intertwines adventure and self-discovery and will inspire readers to reach for the stars and beyond.
—Chris Lu, former White House Cabinet Secretary

An important and inspiring astronaut memoir.
—Kirkus Reviews

Bolden’s lively narrative is as engaging as the well-captioned color photos that appear throughout the book. A detailed yet very readable introduction to the astronaut program at NASA from a well-informed source.
—Booklist

Very informative and has some great photos and graphics. . . engaging.
—School Library Journal

An accessible, conversational text.
—The Horn Book

Take a ride with the second Black NASA astronaut in his exciting memoir about his space shuttle experiences and later stint as NASA administrator (that’s like CEO.) . . . Space enthusiasts will be well-satisfied by the breadth and depth of this uplifting life story.
—San Francisco ChronicleCharles F. Bolden Jr. became the first Black NASA Administrator in 2009. He logged more than six hundred hours in space over the course of four shuttle missions. During Bolden’s eight-year tenure as NASA Administrator, the agency developed a spacecraft to carry astronauts to asteroids and Mars, landed the Curiosity rover on Mars, and launched spacecraft to Jupiter. Charles F. Bolden Jr. lives outside Washington, DC.

Tonya Bolden has authored, coauthored, or edited more than forty books, including Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow with Henry Louis Gates Jr., No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas, illustrated by Don Tate; and Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man. She is the recipient of a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, an Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, and the Virginia Library Association Jefferson Cup Award, and several of her books have been named School Library Journal Best Books of the Year. She lives in New York City.Chapter 1
Delight at Dawn
We were about fifteen minutes into our launch when I glimpsed what I thought was a giant island.
Then I realized that it wasn’t an island but our world’s second-largest continent, Africa.
Traveling around our planet at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour, we saw a cyclone swirling over the Indian Ocean.
While orbiting Earth every ninety minutes, we lived through sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets every twenty-four hours. Night and day switched back and forth on the surface of Earth every forty-five minutes.
During our six-day mission, I was constantly in awe of the magnificence of our home planet. That was me, Charlie B., in January 1986, aboard a space shuttle with the same name as the South Carolina city where I was born and raised.
Columbia.
And I was its pilot!
Getting up, up, and away into space had been a bit of a nightmare.
Delay after delay.
Countdown after countdown.
On the day we were first scheduled to launch, December 18, 1985, the crew never even boarded Columbia. We were more than ready—mentally, physically, emotionally—for flight, but the technicians had problems getting all their tools and equipment out of a compartment at the tail end of the shuttle. By the time they did, it was too late to launch.
On the next attempt, after we were all strapped in, there was a weird reading from the hydraulic system of our right-hand solid rocket booster. That time the countdown stopped at T-minus fourteen seconds.
But it turned out to be a false alarm. The technicians later discovered that a bit of debris on a computer card had caused the strange reading. Had we launched, we would’ve been A-OK—but that’s not a chance you take when you’re about to ride a rocket.
On another day, the launch was scrubbed because a main engine valve wouldn’t close. Had we launched that time, things would not have been A-OK. If the valve hadn’t closed properly, it could have caused the engine to explode—destroying the vehicle and killing us!
Delay after delay, seven in all, including one caused by a fierce thunderstorm.
But then . . .
On January 12, 1986, at NASA’s main East Coast launch site, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 6:55 a.m. Eastern Standard Time . . .
Liftoff!
A reporter called it “a delight at dawn.”
This was Columbia’s seventh flight.
But it was my very first time star sailing!
What a ride!