Ebook: Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut

Meet the astronauts leading the way to a new world of space travel.


'An instant classic.' Scott Kelly, astronaut and author of Endurance

When Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004, the goal was simple: to offer civilian space travel by the end of the decade. Fifteen years, a dozen delays and one catastrophic rocket crash later, we are on the verge of space tourism becoming a reality.

New Yorker journalist Nicholas Schmidle has witnessed the fall and rise of Virgin Galactic first-hand. Over the last five years, he has spent thousands of hours at Virgin's 'spaceport' in the Mojave desert, befriending the pilots who are risking their lives to make space tourism a reality.

Now, Schmidle offers the definitive inside story of the individuals building this new world of commercial space travel. At the heart of the story is Mark Stucky, Virgin's showboating chief pilot who will stop at nothing to take Virgin to space. Along the way, we encounter Branson, who emerges as an excitable if overoptimistic evangelist for commercial space travel; Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic's grounded, unflappable president; and Mike Alsbury, the pilot who, as a result of a momentary miscalculation, crashes his plane into the California desert - becoming the first casualty of the new space race.

The result is a compelling examination of the inner lives of a new generation of astronauts. Theirs is a world where the line between lunacy and genius is blurred, and where no sacrifice is too great in pursuit of the dream of space flight.

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'If you want to know what being a test pilot truly looks and feels and even smells like, read this riveting book. Schmidle has done something remarkable, capturing all the visceral grit we experience inside the cockpit, in addition to all the tragedies and triumphs that we encounter along the way. This is the book about the new space race you've been waiting to read.' Scott Kelly, astronaut and author of
Endurance


'Unique, fascinating, compulsively readable, brilliantly reported with unprecedented access, a kick-ass adventure story of the last of the great swashbucklers addicted to speed and altitude. It is a journey unlike any I have ever read . . . Strap yourself in and get ready for one helluva ride.' Buzz Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights