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Rating: 
Summary: History of NASA Taken To New Heights!
Review: Fantastic! Michael Collins really knows how to write! He turns non-fiction material into a real page turner. I learned a lot from this book. It is well organized and includes a U.S. manned spaceflight log at the end. This book not only provides information about NASA from Mercury to the shuttle but also includes information on military research with aircraft predating the space program and how NASA itself was formed. Collins' own expeirience as an astronaut makes the book even more exciting. The first chapter is a detailed firsthand account of the Apollo 11 flight, the first mission to land on the moon, upon which Collins was a crew member. Later in the book he writes a similar type of account about his earlier Gemini 10 flight which involved an EVA (spacewalk). The illustrations are also beautiful. James Dean does a good job capturing the essence of space exploration in his detailed sketches. If you know nothing about NASA and want to learn, it's time to read this book!!! -Roxana Safipour
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully illustrated book
Review: I rarely look at a book for its pictures, but in "LIFTOFF" the illustrations are fabulous! I remember seeing this images reproduced in the exhibit "You Are Here, _Wondering_ Through the Solar System" at the Austin Children's Museum... by far the best part of that exhibit!
Rating: 
Summary: Collins' writing brings machines and spacecrafts to life
Review: If you've ever read Michael Collins' "Carrying the Fire," you owe it to yourself to get a copy of "Liftoff." In "Liftoff," Collins relates the history of NASA's spacecrafts and the people who created them. The best aspect of his story is that it is not a timeline of spacecraft A, spacecraft B, spacecraft C, etc. "Liftoff" is an appreciation of the clunky Mercury capsule, the complex and triumphant Apollo spacecrafts, the grace (or at least relative grace) of the space shuttle, and so many other NASA innovations. Partnered alongside the machines are the early NASA pioneers who envisioned them. Collins lets you in on the aims behind their designs. He also writes about these men as professionals, some of them visionaries, and others just nuts-and-bolts engineers. So "Liftoff" is a great read for what it is and what it is not. It is not a NASA history with the adventure, drama, and action of space flight (although that is often very exciting to read). Instead, it is a technical book for non-technical readers, a NASA history for non-space buffs, and a personal story about machines. After reading Collins' "Carrying the Fire" and "Liftoff," I believe that no other author has ever written as well about NASA. Only Andrew Chaikin has come close with "A Man on the Moon." Collins transcends what an astronaut can say about space travel, and he does it with humor, an almost poetic fluidity, and the perspective of someone who was there.
Rating:
Summary: Collins' writing brings machines and spacecrafts to life
Review: If you've ever read Michael Collins' "Carrying the Fire," you owe it to yourself to get a copy of "Liftoff." In "Liftoff," Collins relates the history of NASA's spacecrafts and the people who created them. The best aspect of his story is that it is not a timeline of spacecraft A, spacecraft B, spacecraft C, etc. "Liftoff" is an appreciation of the clunky Mercury capsule, the complex and triumphant Apollo spacecrafts, the grace (or at least relative grace) of the space shuttle, and so many other NASA innovations. Partnered alongside the machines are the early NASA pioneers who envisioned them. Collins lets you in on the aims behind their designs. He also writes about these men as professionals, some of them visionaries, and others just nuts-and-bolts engineers. So "Liftoff" is a great read for what it is and what it is not. It is not a NASA history with the adventure, drama, and action of space flight (although that is often very exciting to read). Instead, it is a technical book for non-technical readers, a NASA history for non-space buffs, and a personal story about machines. After reading Collins' "Carrying the Fire" and "Liftoff," I believe that no other author has ever written as well about NASA. Only Andrew Chaikin has come close with "A Man on the Moon." Collins transcends what an astronaut can say about space travel, and he does it with humor, an almost poetic fluidity, and the perspective of someone who was there.
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