Space Ace: A Combat Pilot’s Journey from Vietnam to Space

＂On December 2, 1988, I lifted off aboard the Shuttle Atlantis on a top-secret mission to deploy a classified surveillance satellite. We accomplished the mission on the first day, but on the second, Mission Control informed us they had seen something hit our right wing during launch and ordered us to examine it. We saw a major amount of damage to our heat protection tiles. Given it was a classified mission, the Department of Defense would not allow us to broadcast a television signal back to Earth, but they agreed to let us send it encrypted. Mission Control studied it for a day, then cleared us for reentry. The images on the encrypted video were so poor that they had concluded we were only seeing shadows.

Even though the damage was there, I was reluctant to argue--bad form for an astronaut. We survived reentry, but more than 700 tiles were damaged and one was missing. Only a thick metal plate had saved us which had almost melted through.＂

Written in his own words, Space Ace is the memoir of Astronaut Robert Lee ＂Hoot＂ Gibson, a true master of speed and air. Beginning from his youth growing up in a family of nine and learning to fly from his father, this book chronicles a rich, fascinating, and insightful life, encompassing the full breadth of his storied career while providing leadership lessons along the way. Captain Gibson rose through the ranks from Vietnam combat pilot to Navy Top Gun, from test pilot to NASA Space Shuttle Commander. ＂Hoot＂ shares it all, de-classifying some of the most historic moments in aerospace history, first-hand.

Following his Air Force career in fighter aircraft and the building of national brands for companies like Rockwell Avionics, Disney, and Miller Brewing, Dr. Anthony Paustian created a technology-focused college campus that was named one of the nation’s most innovative organizations. The campus has received national media attention for its groundbreaking initiatives, ranging from advances in educational delivery systems to its inspiring Celebrate Innovation Live! (ciLive!) event. Dr. Paustian has authored four books including A Quarter Million Steps, which won seven international and national literary awards for best book in the areas of leadership, motivation, and success. He’s the managing partner of Bookpress Publishing and Media, a regular contributor for Ad Astra (the magazine of the National Space Society), and serves as the society’s Vice President of Marketing. He recently served as the chair of the International Space Development Conference held in Los Angeles. Dr. Paustian holds graduate degrees in business administration and design management, as well as a doctorate degree in educational psychology.Captain Robert ＂Hoot＂ Gibson entered the United States Navy after college and served as a fighter pilot in the F-4 ＂Phantom＂ and F-14 ＂Tomcat＂ aircraft, flying combat missions in Southeast Asia and making more than 300 carrier landings aboard the aircraft carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Enterprise. After attending the Navy Fighter Weapons School, better known as TOPGUN, and the Navy Test Pilot School, he served as a flight test pilot prior to being selected to become an Astronaut in 1978 in the first Space Shuttle Astronaut selection. In eighteen years as an Astronaut, he flew five space flights, four of them as Mission Commander, aboard the space shuttles Challenger, Columbia, Atlantis, and Endeavour. His final space flight was the first mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir in 1995. In his career with NASA, he held the positions of Deputy Chief of NASA Aircraft Operations, Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations, and Chief Astronaut.