About this item
One of the most elusive and controversial figures in NASA's history, George W. S. Abbey was said to be secretive, despotic, a Space Age Machiavelli. Yet Abbey had more influence on human spaceflight than almost anyone in history. His story has never been told - until now. The Astronaut Maker takes readers inside NASA to learn the real story of how Abbey rose to power, from young pilot and wannabe astronaut to engineer, bureaucrat, and finally director of the Johnson Space Center. During a thirty-seven-year career, mostly out of the spotlight, he oversaw the selection of every astronaut class from 1978 to 1987, deciding who got to fly and when. He was with the Apollo 1 astronauts the night before the fatal fire in January 1967. He was in mission control the night of the Apollo 13 accident and organized the recovery effort.
About the Author
Michael Cassutt has published fiction (eight novels, forty short stories) and non-fiction (six books, all in the field of human spaceflight, and over two hundred articles) . He is also an accomplished television writer and producer, with credits on such series as THE TWILIGHT ZONE, EERIE, INDIANA, THE DEAD ZONE and most recently, SyFy's Z NATION.
