Books with author Doug Cooney

Today’s burgeoning space technology ramps into the future to the Aquila Mission, sending a crew to deep space to study asteroid Bennu and comet 125P. The international mission is billed to pave the path to landing a crew on Mars. Aquila takes years to design, build, and to train the crew of two men and two women.Launch date 2023.The mission unfolds with the realism of nonfiction but with fictional characters to bring it to life. The crew members are veterans of long duration ISS missions. Commander Coby Brewster has influence in the selection of a crew with key abilities. Pilot Vik Ivanov is a renowned aeronautical engineer. Abby Denton is a flight surgeon. Ellie Accardi is an astrogeologist. Backup Commander Robert Trask secretly carries a deadly resentment. The Aquila crew faces certain disaster on this thirteen-month voyage. They find their true strength in their ties to one another. Their discoveries open a new page in the history of human space flight......After a forty-four year hiatus since the landing of Apollo 17, we have now developed the technology to send a crew to deep space beyond the Earth-Moon system, to boldly go where only robots have gone before. We have not sent a crew beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo. We do have significant technology dedicated to crew habitat systems and long duration life support on the International Space Station (ISS). Technology today enables crewed deep space missions but we need vision and commitment to fund such a mission. We will look at heavy lift vehicles, crew modules, and mission costs. Science objectives are important to justify any deep space mission. The main purpose of this book is to propose the Aquila Mission, a crewed asteroid and comet rendezvous mission. Such a mission could be the first to send a crew to a heavenly body beyond the Earth-Moon system. This mission would serve as a necessary intermediate step to landing a crew on Mars.On September 12, 1962 President John F. Kennedy gave the “We choose to go to the moon” speech. When? By the end of the 1960s! That gave America eight years to accomplish the goal. We had not yet developed the technology and had not even sent John Glenn to orbit the Earth! Apollo crew missions to the Moon were accomplished on schedule and were perhaps the greatest achievement of humankind to date.The Apollo 8 mission preceded the Apollo 11 crew landing but was arguably the single most daring and aggressive crew mission in space history. Apollo 8 had the first crew to launch on a Saturn V booster. Apollo 8 had the first crew to leave Earth orbit. Apollo 8 had the first crew to enter orbit around another body in the solar system. Apollo 8 had the first crew to restart the Command/Service Module main engine to leave lunar orbit for return to Earth. Apollo 8 had the first crew to navigate back to Earth and reenter the thin blue line of Earth’s atmosphere at over 40,000 km per hour.The proposed Aquila Mission crew will endure greater risks and set a bold new series of mission firsts beyond the Earth-Moon system......The Altair is in a hypervelocity Earth approach vector... It sounds so easy, all they had to do was aerobrake on one pass, loop around the Moon, then come back to Earth slower so they could use the heat shield reentry to get them home as designed.“AMP-15 command set. Trim burn in three, two, one… Atmosphere skip corridor countdown 2:28… 2:27… We can see the California coast. The blue Pacific looks real inviting… We’ll leave some fireworks for the recovery task force… 1:59… See you guys in a few days on the next time around… 1:24… I can taste a cheeseburger and a cold beer… twelve, eleven, ten… Some shaking now… We see fireworks all around us…”Commander Brewster reports, “Computer malfunction… I’ve got red lights! Negative AMP-15!”“Houston, we’re too steep! Shield temperature is redlined at 3750 and climbing! Alarm 5! Alarm 5! S***! We’re cooked!”“Altair, Houston. End simulation.”

Ernie Castellano, fast-talking wheeler-dealer kid, has come up with his greatest idea yet: pet funerals! With his pals Dusty (an artist in coffins) and Swimming Pool (one of the world's great criers, an asset to any funeral she attends) Ernie creates a thriving business-and manages to land himself in more hot water than he has ever dreamed of. High-spirited, hilarious, and unexpectedly touching, The Beloved Dearly is a sparkling debut for a major new voice in books for young readers. An actor and performance artist himself, Doug Cooney is uniquely suited to narrate this hilarious novel version of his own highly acclaimed play, which was first performed at Lincoln Center. Doug's recent work includes a screenplay for an animated version of the classic Dr. Seuss film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Unabridged, multi-voiced recording. Ernie Castellano, fast-talking wheeler-dealer kid, has come up with his greatest idea yet: pet funerals! With his pals Dusty (an artist in coffins) and Swimming Pool (one of the world's great criers, an asset to any funeral she attends) Ernie creates a thriving business—and manages to land himself in more hot water than he has ever dreamed of. High-spirited, hilarious, and unexpectedly touching, The Beloved Dearly is a sparkling debut for a major new voice in books for young readers.

It is 2023. Finally, the Altair is ready for launch; man is destined to walk on Mars. Commander Coby Brewster, Dr. Abby Denton, Pilot Vik Ivanov, and Dr. Ellie Accardi have been specially selected to enter deep space and study the asteroid Bennu and the comet 125P in preparation for mankind’s first voyage to the red planet. The crew face thirteen long months in space, and Brewster wants things done by the book.But in the face of the unknown, even the best-laid plans count for little. When an electrical discharge almost kills Vik on Bennu, a leaking sample core tube threatens to infect the crew, and the telltale signs of sabotage appear, fear begins to fester. Each astronaut—an expert in his or her field—starts to wonder whether they’ll ever make it back to Earth. Their only hope is to trust in, rely on, and love one another. The Aquila Mission is both a thrilling story of man’s first journey beyond the Earth-Moon system and a carefully researched proposal for such a mission in the real world. Rigorously scientific and emotionally stirring all at once, The Aquila Mission is sure to appeal to fans of hard science and adventure alike. ---------------------------------------------------Comments from readers: Rick Zucker, VP Explore Mars …well written…story line is very entertaining… I had more and more trouble putting it down. I kept wanting to read more…When are you going to negotiate the movie rights? I'm serious. I feel it's that good. Is there a sequel in the works? Matt Russell, President Colorado Springs Astronomical Society …really liked it! …attention to detail and specs were mind blowing…I felt like I was actually there on-board with the crew…Can’t wait to read the next one. Charles Kiskiras, Excelis/ITT/NASA Great Book! …the last chapter was amazing. Jack Fox, Director NASA Swamp Works (ret), CTO Humanity Innovation Labs I just finished your book all in one sitting. I really enjoyed it. You did a super job technically on the likely hardware, programmatics, training, operations, space science, and of course, the NASA jargon. You also did a super job on the storyline with plausible conflicts, love interests, back stories, and mission problems…I expect to see this as a movie someday! I look forward to your next book. --------------------------------------------------The proposed Aquila Mission crew will endure greater risks and set a bold new series of mission firsts beyond the Earth-Moon system.Our robotic exploration of the solar system has exponentially increased our knowledge of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. A robotic mission gathers data but can only partially fulfill humankind’s nature to explore in person. A human’s senses and ability to reason with the unexpected cannot be replaced by a robotic mission operating remotely with long two-way communications delay with Earth. A crewed deep space mission will truly feed the human spirit and our nature to explore the unknown.