His stories bounce between bawdy military-flyboy antics, interactions with feminist pioneers and post-doc scientists, and the unforgiving bureaucracy of NASA leadership. Mullane pulls no punches: from drinking games at mission briefings to the embarrassing logistics of urinary-collection devices, no detail is too small or too irreverent.

He recounts the emotional highs of launch and the sublime beauty of orbit, and the heartbreak of losing four crewmates in the Challenger disaster. His tough critique of NASA's culture--especially its sexist undercurrents and managerial ineptitude--makes this more than a spaceflight chronicle; it's a cultural memoir of human spaceflight.

With uproarious humor, brutal honesty, and emotional depth, Riding Rockets offers an unforgettable look into the life of an astronaut: the risks, the camaraderie, the mistakes, and the moments of awe that define a generation of space explorers.