Includes index

"In the tradition of Chris Kraft's Flight and Gene Kranz's Failure Is Not an Option, from the longest-serving Flight Director in NASA's history, a revealing look at the high-stakes work of Mission Control that tells the inside story of the Space Shuttle program that has redefined our relationship with space"--,Provided by publisher

Dye, NASA's longest-serving Flight Director, examines the split-second decisions that the directors and astronauts were forced to make in a field where mistakes are unthinkable, and where errors led to the loss of national resources-- and more importantly, one's crew. From the powerful fiery ascent to the majesty of on-orbit operations to the high-speed and critical re-entry and landing of a hundred-ton glider, he provides a compelling look inside the Space Shuttle missions and explores the determined personalities, technological miracles, and eleventh-hour saves that have given us human spaceflight. -- adapted from jacket