Star Sailor: My Life as a NASA Astronaut
by Charles F. Bolden Jr. and Tonya Bolden
Middle School    Candlewick    112 pp.
10/24    9781536216325    $19.99

Charles Bolden credits Ron McNair, NASA’s second Black astronaut, with encouraging him to apply to be an astronaut. Despite having been a Marine pilot and holding a master’s degree in a STEM subject, Bolden did not think NASA would consider a five-foot-seven Black man—but to his surprise he was accepted into the astronaut program. An accessible, conversational text, written with veteran nonfiction author Tonya Bolden (no relation), covers the subject’s training, his first mission (to deploy a communication satellite), and his appointment as head of the Johnson Space Safety Division after the Challenger flight explosion. Three years after that tragedy, Bolden and his crew went back into space to deploy the Hubble telescope. Color photos from his four missions support the text and reinforce the scientific information. An author’s note provides more detail about Bolden’s life before and after his NASA career, along with a timeline and personal photos.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.