Disaster Strikes! by Jeffrey Kluger

A non-fiction book subtitled "The Most Dangerous Space Missions of All Time".  This book tells 12 short stories about U.S. and Russian space missions, separately and jointly, that had - or almost had - devastating results. Starting with the U.S. Liberty Bell 7 in 1961 and ending with the International Space Station in 2013, Kluger quickly, simply, but with a riveting writing style, describes the things that happened during these 12 space journeys that got lost between the more publicized successes. Some of these brief stories are truly heartbreaking, no matter what country of origin the pilots and crew are from. I can't say I'm anything more than a casual space exploration fan, but after finishing each of these stories I was torn between starting the next one immediately or giving my heart a break as I processed what happened in the just-finished tale. No matter what you might think about reading non-fiction, and/or reading stories about space exploration, you will not be able to read just one of these stories without reading the others, and you won't be able to forget the people and situations described within these pages.

Kluger is an award-winning writer, but not necessarily a master story teller, sometimes oversimplifying some of the details of the science behind flying.  But he knows what he is writing about, and he knows how to engage your emotions for every one of these events. This book will be hard to forget. 4 paws!