Shuttle, Houston - Paul Dye

Offering a compelling look inside the Space Shuttle missions that helped lay the groundwork for the Space Age from the perspective of those tasked with making them happen, Shuttle, Houston explores the determined personalities, technological miracles, and eleventh-hour saves that have made human spaceflight possible.Relaying stories of missions (and their grueling training) in vivid detail, Paul Dye, NASA's longest-serving Flight Director, examines some of the highest-stakes split-second decisions that the directors and astronauts were forced to make in a field where mistakes are unthinkable, where errors lead to the loss of national resources -- and more importantly one's crew. Dye's stories from inside Mission Control explain the mysteries of flying the Shuttle -- 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.The Space Shuttles flew 135 missions -- surviving initial test flights and the early days of deploying satellites as well as enabling the assembly and servicing of the International Space Station. Astronauts conducted space walks, captured satellites, and docked with the Mir Space Station, bringing space into our everyday life, from GPS to satellite TV. Putting readers in the shoes of Mission Control, the hub that made humanity's leap into a new frontier possible, Dye gives readers his own front-row seat on the missions that changed our world.

Paul Dye is a former Flight Director for NASA. He has over forty years of aviation experience as an engineer, builder, and pilot. He earned his degree in Aeronautical Engineering with a specialization in aircraft design and flight testing from the University of Minnesota in 1982. He retired from NASA in 2013 as the longest-serving Flight Director in U.S. history, having been involved in thirty-nine missions as a Flight Director, nine of those as the lead Flight Director. He has received a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, a NASA Exceptional Service Medal (three times), and a Presidential Medal. Dye is now a leadership consultant and speaker available to corporations and groups who wish to better their organizations and people, as well as the former Editor-in-Chief at (currently Editor-at-Large) of Kitplanes magazine.