In the Shadow of the Moon : A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969

by French, Francis

• ISBN13: 9780803211285
• ISBN10: 0803211287
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

In the Shadow of the Moon tells the story of the most exciting and challenging years in spaceflight, with two superpowers engaged in a titanic struggle to land one of their own people on the moon. While describing awe-inspiring technical achievements, the authors go beyond the missions and the competition of the space race to focus on the people who made it all possible. Their book explores the inspirations, ambitions, personalities, and experiences of the select few whose driving ambition was to fly to the moon.Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure. From the Gemini flights to the Soyuz space program to the earliest Apollo missions, including the legendary first moon landing, their book draws a richly detailed picture of the space race as an endeavour equally endowed with personal meaning and political significance.

Author Biography

Francis French is the director of events for Sally Ride Science in San Diego. Colin Burgess is a former flight service director with Qantas Airlines and the author of many books on spaceflight, including Fallen Astronauts: Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon, available in a Bison Books edition. He is the coauthor with Francis French of Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961–1965 (Nebraska 2007). A NASA astronaut from 1963 to 1971, Walter Cunningham was a crew member on the first manned Apollo flight.

Table of Contents

Gemini raises the bar	p. 1
A rendezvous in space	p. 56
The ballet of weightlessness	p. 90
The risk stuff	p. 140
The astronaut enigma	p. 184
Starting over	p. 247
Leaving the good earth	p. 285
A test pilot's dream	p. 328
The highest mountain	p. 367
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.