Space Ace: A Combat Pilot's Journey from Vietnam to Space

"On December 2, 1988, I lifted off aboard the Shuttle Atlantis on a top-secret mission to deploy a classified surveillance satellite. We accomplished the mission on the first day, but on the second, Mission Control informed us they had seen something hit our right wing during launch and ordered us to examine it. We saw a major amount of damage to our heat protection tiles. Given it was a classified mission, the Department of Defense would not allow us to broadcast a television signal back to Earth, but they agreed to let us send it encrypted. Mission Control studied it for a day, then cleared us for reentry. The images on the encrypted video were so poor that they had concluded we were only seeing shadows.

Even though the damage was there, I was reluctant to argue--bad form for an astronaut. We survived reentry, but more than 700 tiles were damaged and one was missing. Only a thick metal plate had saved us which had almost melted through."

Written in his own words, Space Ace is the memoir of Astronaut Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson, a true master of speed and air. Beginning from his youth growing up in a family of nine and learning to fly from his father, this book chronicles a rich, fascinating, and insightful life, encompassing the full breadth of his storied career while providing leadership lessons along the way. Gibson rose through the ranks from Vietnam combat pilot to Navy Top Gun, from test pilot to NASA Space Shuttle Commander. "Hoot" shares it all, de-classifying some of the most historic moments in aerospace history, first-hand.