America’s first astronauts from the Sixties have been all pulled from the best ranks of the nation’s army. As such, NASA’s first few lessons tended to adapt to a somewhat particular demographic theme — white, male, flattop haircut you might set a watch too. By the mid-70’s nonetheless, the house company had gotten with the instances and opened up the spacewalking career to greater than former Air Power and Navy take a look at pilots. 

In The New Guys, creator Meredith Bagby follows the exploits of NASA’s Astronaut class of 1978 — “Class 8,” America’s first girls, African Individuals, Asian American, and homosexual individual to fly to house — from the group’s choice by way of their mastering of cutting-edge applied sciences aboard the Area Shuttle and their history-making orbital missions. Within the excerpt beneath, Class 8 receives a brutal introduction to the hazards that await them. 

From The New Guys by Meredith Bagby. Copyright © 2023 by Meredith Bagby. Reprinted courtesy of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Johnson Area Heart, Houston. July 1978

“Hey! We’ve bought a hearth within the cockpit!” a person screamed, then his voice minimize out. Inside seconds, one other determined voice minimize by way of the static.

“We’ve bought a nasty fireplace . . . !” the second man shouted in ache.

“We’re burning up . . . !!!” a 3rd howled.

Then the transmission light into nothing however static.

In one of many many tiered seats in Mission Management, Ron McNair and his new classmates listened to a recording of the Apollo 1 fireplace. Throughout a preflight take a look at on January 27, 1967, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee had burned alive. Despite the fact that over a decade had handed for the reason that accident, the ache and worry of the astronauts who perished was palpable to the room of latest recruits.

The teacher surveyed the faces of the astronaut candidates. Are you certain you’re prepared for this? The audio was a wake-up name, particularly for these like Ron who had not served within the army and had by no means had a job with life-and-death penalties. If this actuality was an excessive amount of for any of them to just accept, the trainer urged, now was the time to go. Nobody budged.

A couple of weeks earlier, as Ron moved his household throughout the nation from left-leaning Malibu, California, to the Lone Star State, the summer season sizzled. Disco hits from the Bee Gees’, “Night time Fever” and “Stayin’ Alive,” blared from the radio. Billboards marketed the brand new Hollywood blockbuster Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Within the nation’s capital, nearly 100 thousand demonstrators marched in help of the Equal Rights Modification—on the time, the biggest march for ladies’s rights in US historical past. Muhammad Ali was on the verge of constructing historical past on the Louisiana Superdome, changing into the primary man to win the World Heavyweight title thrice in a row.

When Ron and his spouse, Cheryl, arrived in Houston, they discovered just a little starter condominium earlier than transferring to Clear Lake together with the Onizukas and the Gregorys. Everybody that had children—or deliberate to—needed a garden for soccer and a cul-de-sac for bike driving. The neighborhood’s proximity to the center and excessive faculties made it the apparent alternative for households. Single astronauts like Sally Journey, Kathy Sullivan, and Steve Hawley settled into flats proper exterior Johnson’s again gate with a brief commute, volleyball court docket, and communal barbecue pit.

On the Monday after the July 4th vacation, Ron drove by way of the gates of Johnson Area Heart for his first day of labor. Trying up from his baffling acronym-filled schedule, Ron noticed a number of of his classmates and adopted them to Constructing 4, the house of Johnson’s Flight Crew Operations. Everybody was dashing to the Monday morning all-hands assembly, a staple of the Astronaut Workplace for the reason that Mercury days.

Standing watch from their workplace doorways, Sylvia Salinas, Mary Lopez, and Estella Hernandez Gillette, all of their twenties, took within the pleasure as the brand new astronauts stormed the hallways. The Hispanic American administrative employees — working in and across the Astronaut Workplace — got here to be generally known as the Mexican Mafia. Because the liaisons for George Abbey and John Younger, Sylvia and Mary, and later Estella, ran the present behind scenes, ensuring issues went easily within the Astronaut Workplace. Up till then, the astronauts they labored for have been army males, older in age and extra typical in fashion; they didn’t fraternize with help employees. Now, “children like them” have been rolling in. The arrival of Astronaut Class 8 was like a breath of recent air.

A big convention desk surrounded by two rings of chairs dominated Room 3025, the locus of the Monday assembly. Assuming the primary ring was reserved for directors and senior astronauts, Ron took a seat within the again row, as did the remainder of his class. Everybody, that’s, besides the blond, mustachioed Rick Hauck, a US Navy commander who by army requirements was probably the most senior-ranking pilot of their class. Hauck took a seat on the desk. Some within the room gasped. Others eyed him with suspicion. Wow, he should both be a idiot or probably the most assured bastard amongst us. Perhaps each. Both manner he made an impression.

Like Hauck, the fifteen fighter pilots in Ron’s class had loads of swagger and bravado, and combined simply with the veteran astronauts. The previous guys, twenty-eight in all, together with moonwalkers John Younger and Alan Bean, whom Ron met throughout interview week, crammed the interior circle. Amongst them have been astronauts nonetheless itching for his or her first journey to house, like Bob “Crip” Crippen, the newborn of the group at forty years previous, and Richard “Dick” Really, each profession army pilots who had flown for each the Navy and Air Power. These yet-to-fly guys have been caught between applications, too late for Apollo and—to this point—too early for the shuttle. Crippen and Really have been a part of Astronaut Group 7, who had been transferred to NASA after the cancellation of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), a categorized Chilly Struggle army venture developed to amass surveillance photographs from house. After a decade on the company, the previous MOL astronauts had solely ever flown a desk.

Everybody right here needed a ticket to house, however the ten attention-grabbing folks can be setting historic precedent, breaking limitations that previously restricted folks like them from house journey. Of the six girls within the room, one can be the primary American lady in house. Whereas the Soviets had flown the primary feminine astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova—being the primary American lady in house would earn a outstanding place within the annals of historical past. In 1978, no Black individual had flown to house. Ron, together with Man Bluford, and Fred Gregory would compete to be the primary, whereas Ellison Onizuka would nearly definitely be the primary Asian American to fly. Man and Fred, each Vietnam vets, and El, an Air Power take a look at pilot, all spoke the army language of the previous guys. Ron was an outsider even amongst outsiders.

John Younger, chief of the Astronaut Workplace, started the assembly, mumbling “a number of forgettable phrases of welcome” whereas gazing his sneakers. Although he had braved the depths of house 4 instances, on each Apollo and Gemini, Younger had not conquered public talking. Compact, with a jockey’s construct, Younger was a good-looking Navy satan with massive ears and an aw-shucks demeanor that belied how actually meticulous he was. He most well-liked fixing thorny engineering issues, to coping with administration points, and but right here he was as head of the Astronaut Workplace. He defined to the brand new class that they weren’t but astronauts; they have been nonetheless astronaut candidates, or “AsCans” for brief. Solely after two years of coaching would they earn the title astronaut and a silver pin to mark the achievement.

Impressed by Navy and Air Power aviator badges, the pin depicted a trio of rays merged atop a shining star and encircled by a halo denoting orbital flight. The silver pin meant you have been flight-ready, however the gold pin meant you had flown to house. That’s once you make it. Younger then left the group with a little bit of sage recommendation: “Don’t discuss nothing you understand nothing about.” Acquired it. So principally, hold our mouths shut.

Because the previous guys left the room, they once-overed the brand new guys. Fairly merely, the previous guys have been a special technology. They have been veterans, take a look at pilots, and guys who had by no means labored with girls or civilian graduate college students. Beneath their pique was additionally maybe a tinge of worry. The road to journey the fowl simply bought a complete lot longer; possibly they’d miss their likelihood altogether.

Who’re these guys anyway? Hell, half of them are civilians, moist behind the ears, recent off their mom’s teat. They traded in excessive grades and accolades, not in life-or-death. The previous guys shook their heads. These Fucking New Guys. “The Fucking New Man,” a army time period for the latest grunt within the unit, appeared to swimsuit Astronaut Class 8 completely. So was born the official class nickname: TFNG. In well mannered firm, the TFNGs referred to themselves as “Thirty-5 New Guys,” however everybody knew what the time period actually meant.

After the assembly, secretary Sylvia Salinas handed the New Guys their official NASA portraits and requested them to create signatures for the auto-pen machine. The company would print hundreds of autographed images. Do hundreds of individuals need our autograph? Ron questioned. It’s astronaut insurance coverage, a veteran astronaut quipped. In the event you die, your loved ones can have one thing to promote. The joke didn’t get any laughs.