Colin Burgess has 7 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 5 narrators. The most-rated is The Diggers of Colditz.
Teacher in Space
Summary
On January 28, 1986, NASA space shuttle orbiter Challenger lifted off into the clear blue skies over Florida on mission STS-51L, carrying a crew of seven, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. Just 73 seconds into the launch, a massive explosion tore Challenger apart. This newly revised edition of Teacher in Space tells the story of how McAuliffe graduated from her role as a much-loved high schoolteacher to occupying a seat on the veteran orbiter’s 10th and last flight into space. McAuliffe’s dream was to carry out science projects while in orbit around the Earth that were to be telecast live to school students across the United States. Her dream came to a sudden and tragic end that terrible day. Nevertheless, that ambition to educate from space remained an inspiration to many and, in her name and those of the Challenger crew, manifested itself in the establishment of hundreds of youth education programs and institutes of learning across America and around the world. Teacher in Space is a remarkable story of renewed faith, cooperation, and hope for the future and of a dedicated and much-loved teacher who came to symbolize the best of human achievement. The book is published by University of Nebraska Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks. "Colin Burgess revisits the terrible events of January 1986 in his masterful book.” (Col. Alfred M. Worden, USAF (Ret.), command module pilot, Apollo 15) “An insightful reflection on...that tragic day in 1986.” (Col. Pamela Melroy, USAF (Ret.), NASA space shuttle pilot and commander) “This book touchingly portrays the human story of a very ordinary individual embroiled in a national tragedy.” (Francis French, author of Apollo Pilot)
©2020 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2020 Redwood Audiobooks
Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965
Summary
It was a time of bold new technology, historic moments, and international jousting on the final frontier. But it was also a time of human drama, of moments less public but no less dramatic in the lives of those who made the golden age of space flight happen. These are the moments and the lives that Into That Silent Sea captures, a book that tells the intimate stories of the men and women, American and Russian, who made the space race their own and gave the era its compelling character. These minutes chronicle a varied and riveting cavalcade of human stories, including a look at Yuri Gagarin's harrowing childhood in war-ravaged Russia and Alan Shepard's firm purchase on the American dream. It also examines the controversial career of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, and the remarkable struggle and ultimate disappointment of her American counterparts. It tries to uncover the truth behind the allegations that shadowed Gus Grissom and Scott Carpenter and then allows the listener to share the heart-stopping suspense of Alexei Leonov's near-fatal first spacewalk. Through dozens of interviews and access to Russian and American official documents and family records, the authors bring to life the experiences that shaped the lives of the first astronauts and cosmonauts and forever changed their world and ours. The book is published by University of Nebraska Press.
©2007 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks
Australia's Dambusters
Summary
A truly comprehensive account of 617 Squadron RAF, who carried out one of the most dangerous and audacious aerial bombing raids of World War II. It was the evening of 16 May 1943, as 19 modified Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron RAF, under the command of youthful Wing Commander Guy Gibson, roared into the night sky from their Lincolnshire base. They were on a top-secret Bomber Command mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, now regarded as one of the most dangerous and audacious bombing raids of World War II - an attack on the formidable, well-defended dams of Germany’s Ruhr Valley. Slung beneath the belly of each aircraft was one of the war’s greatest secrets - a bouncing bomb. Against the odds, and flying straight and level into the teeth of terrifying enemy fire, they succeeded in breaching the two principal dams. Many of the 133 airmen involved that fateful night hailed from Australia, and several would be counted among the 56 who would not return to base next morning. The Dams Raid led to the men of this gallant company - often referred to as a suicide squadron - taking on even more hazardous operations in the final two years of the war. Under valorous leadership, and now armed with massive Tallboy and Grand Slam "earthquake" bombs, they obliterated vital Nazi installations, destroying such defiant targets as the heavily-defended Kembs Barrage and the German battleship, Tirpitz, often at a terrible cost in lives. First published in 2003, this deeply researched, revised and updated edition of Australia’s Dambusters offers a truly comprehensive account of the most famous bombing raid of the war through the words and stories of the courageous Australian airmen and others who flew on this and later perilous missions, remembered and forever immortalized as The Dambusters.
©2021 Colin Burgess (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio
In the Shadow of the Moon
Summary
In the Shadow of the Moon tells the story of the most exciting and challenging years in spaceflight, with two superpowers engaged in a titanic struggle to land one of their own people on the moon. Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure. From the Gemini flights to the Soyuz space program to the earliest Apollo missions, including the legendary first moon landing, their book draws a richly detailed picture of the space race as an endeavor equally endowed with personal meaning and political significance.
©2007 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks
Footprints in the Dust
Summary
Following the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11, as NASA prepares to return astronauts to the moon, Footprints in the Dust offers a thorough, engrossing, and multifaceted account of the Apollo missions. The flight of Apollo 11 was a triumph of human endeavor, persistence, and technology, one of the greatest achievements in human history. This book begins with the mission that sent Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin to the moon, then follows American spaceflight through the harrowing rescue of Apollo 13 before moving on to the successful joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with key figures in the space program, the authors convey the human drama and chart the technological marvels that went into the Apollo missions. They also put the accomplishments of American spaceflight into historical context, examining the competitive space race with the Soviet Union, the roles of politics and personality in launching the mission, and the consequences, practical and profound, of this giant leap for mankind.
©2010 the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks
Fallen Astronauts
Summary
Near the end of the Apollo 15 mission, David Scott and fellow moonwalker James Irwin conducted a secret ceremony unsanctioned by NASA: they placed on the lunar soil a small tin figurine called The Fallen Astronaut, along with a plaque bearing a list of names. By telling the stories of those sixteen astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the quest to reach the moon between 1962 and 1972, this book enriches the saga of humankind's greatest scientific undertaking, Project Apollo, and conveys the human cost of the space race. Many people are aware of the first manned Apollo mission, in which Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives in a fire during a ground test, but few know of the other five fallen astronauts whose stories this book tells as well, including Ted Freeman and C.C. Williams, who died in the crashes of their T-38 jets, the "Gemini Twins," Charlie Bassett and Elliot See, killed when their jet slammed into the building where their Gemini capsule was undergoing final construction, and Ed Givens, whose fatal car crash has until now been obscured by rumors. Supported by extensive interviews and archival material, the extraordinary lives and accomplishments of these and other fallen astronauts - including eight Russian cosmonauts who lost their lives during training - unfold here in intimate and compelling detail. Their stories return us to a stirring time in the history of our nation and remind us of the cost of fulfilling our dreams.
©2016 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks
The Diggers of Colditz
Summary
Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany’s infamous "escape-proof" wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from the massive floodlit stronghold, by any means necessary.
In this riveting account - by turns humorous, heartfelt, and tragic - historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tell the story of the 20 Australians who made this castle their "home", and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible - escape!
"A stirring testimony of mateship.... We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage." (Australian Book Review)
©1985, 1997, 2019 Jack Champ and Colin Burgess (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Australia. All rights reserved.