A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo AstronautsOn the night of July 20, 1969, our world changed forever: two Americans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, walked on the moon. After the horror of the Kennedy and King assassinations, amid the deepening quagmire of Vietnam, the moon landing brought the sixties to a triumphant end. But the upheavals of that decade have somehow eclipsed this "one giant leap" and the even bolder explorations that followed. Now Andrew Chaikin tells the story of the Apollo missions as never before: through the eyes of the astronauts who made those heroic voyages. A decade in the making, A Man on the Moon is based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with each of the twenty-four moon voyagers, as well as those who contributed unprecendented brain power, training, and teamwork on earth. With breathtaking immediacy, Chaikin conveys every aspect of the Apollo missions, from the rush of liftoff atop a Saturn V rocket to the heart-stopping touchdown on the moon, to the final hurdle of reentry. He tells of the intense competition for a seat on a moon flight, and of the resurrection of Alan Shepard, at age forty-seven, from grounded pilot to moon voyager. We see the Apollo missions unfold from their tragic beginning - the spacecraft fire that killed three astronauts - to their spectacular conclusion high on the slopes of lunar mountains, where the astronauts searched for clues to the origin of the solar system. Here are the stories of a unique handful of men who have been to the farthest edge of human experience. For the first time, we learn what the men inside the space suits truly felt. Through them we can look back and understand the achievement that began on that almost mythic July night when, as Chaikinwrites in his preface, "we touched the face of another world and became a people without limits". |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
air force Anders Apollo 13 Armstrong and Aldrin Astronaut Office backup Bean Borman's crew boulders cabin called camera Capcom Cernan checklist command module crater crewmates Dave Scott Deke Slayton descent Dick Gordon dust Eagle engine exploration feet felt fire flying Frank Borman Fred Haise fuel Gemini Gene Cernan geologists geology going Grissom Hadley Haise hatch heard Houston inside Jack Schmitt Jack Swigert Jim Lovell Ken Mattingly knew Kranz later launch LM's looked lunar landing lunar module lunar orbit Mattingly McDivitt Mike Collins miles minutes Mission Elapsed mission control module's moon moon's moonwalk NASA NASA's Neil Armstrong never oxygen Pete Conrad radio rendezvous rocket rocks Roosa Rover samples Saturn scientists Scott and Irwin side Silver simulator space suit spacecraft spaceflight Stafford surface Swigert talk test pilot thing thought told turned voice volcanic waiting walk wanted Young and Duke