Deschutes Public Library

Rocket men, the daring odyssey of Apollo 8 and the astronauts who made man's first journey to the Moon, Robert Kurson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 531-538) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Rocket men

bibliography

993998002

Robert Kurson

the daring odyssey of Apollo 8 and the astronauts who made man's first journey to the Moon

In early 1968, the Apollo program was on shaky footing. President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline to put a man on the Moon was in jeopardy, and the Soviets were threatening to pull ahead in the space race. By August 1968, with its back against the wall, NASA decided to scrap its usual methodical approach and shoot for the heavens. With just four months to prepare, a fraction of the normal time, the agency would send the first men in history to the Moon. In a year of historic violence and discord, the Tet offensive, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, the Chicago DNC riots, the Apollo 8 mission was the boldest test of what America could do. With a focus on astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, and their wives and children, this is a vivid, gripping, narrative that shows anew the epic danger involved, and the singular bravery it took, for man to leave Earth for the first time, and to arrive at a new world

Prologue: Countdown -- Do you want to go to the moon? -- The space race -- A secret plan -- Are you out of your mind? -- Frank Borman -- Just four months -- Jim Lovell -- Pushed to superhuman speeds -- Bill Anders -- How's fifty-fifty? -- My God, we are really doing this -- Leaving home -- A deeply troubled year -- A critical test -- An astronaut in trouble -- Equigravisphere -- Racing the moon -- Our most ancient companion -- Earthrise -- The heaven and the earth -- Aiming for home -- Please be informed--there is a Santa Claus -- Help from an old friend -- the men who saved 1968