Rating: 4 Stars
Test Gods by Nicholas Schmidle is not only about Virgin Galactic and their race to become the first private company to offer space tourism. It is also a story about the test pilots, mainly Mark Stucky, who are working towards making this a reality. Well researched and rich with detail about Virgin, its people and its mission. It made me long to have the financial resources to one day be a space tourist.
The author was embedded with Virgin Galactic for four years and was given unprecedented access to engineers, test pilots and others who were, and continue to be, instrumental in making Richard Branson’s dream of space tourism come true. Therefore, the reader gets an unusually in-depth look at the day-to-day operations of the company. He is frank in reporting both the failures and the triumphs and I appreciate that he did not paint everything in a rosy light.
There is a lot of technical details in this story and as a non-technical person I appreciate that the author did not bore me with too much of it. For me, it was just the right amount of information that I understand (mostly) what the author was trying to explain. However, I get that there are some technical people out there who may feel the explanations were lacking. Let me point out that the intended audience is the general reading populous who is undoubtedly as ignorant about the tech side of space as I am. I just happen to be a reader who is fascinated with all things space and I got just the right amount of story to tech for my tastes. Kudos to the author for that one!
If you enjoyed Michener’s novel Space, then this is a book for you. Filled with lots of first-hand accounts and tidbits that only someone close to the operations would know. I found it fascinating. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.
I love everything about space and astronauts! I think is a book my son would enjoy, as well 🙂 Thanks for sharing it!