I know this guy!

He's the middle guy in the front row.




Well, not exactly--but I did exchange e-mails from him when I was writing a biographical article about him for my book.

This was a long time ago. 2000 or 2001, to be not quite exact. He was one of the astronauts assigned to me, and I couldn't find out much information about him, except the potted NASA biography. Then someone who knew someone who knew his mother gave me her phone number, and I called her. She was very gracious and proud of her son, and I found her a gold mine of information.

She gave me Bolden's e-mail address and I e-mailed him. He responded shortly thereafter, and gave me lots of information about his boyhood and early life, real human interest stuff. He was actually one of my favorite subjects, because he revealed so much about himself that I felt I knew him personally. And he was a general!

Lots of the astronauts and aviators we wrote about were still living. They were mostly very approachable. Bolden has had an exciting career, which I am sure will be all over the New York Times, so I'm not going to go into it. He seems like a competent guy and a good pick to head NASA.

Read my book to find out what he did as a kid.