A Couple of Recommended Reads.

[Noseypixie]

I've recently read a couple of really good "space" books that I thought people may be interested reading.

Firstly, there's "Moondust" by Andrew Smith, in which the author sets off in search of the surviving astronauts who set foot on the Moon, and ends up looking for the lost hope and optimism of the age. Reading this book I realised that I'll probably never witness an endeavour of such brilliance in my lifetime; unless that is, there's another space race, but I can't really see that happening. The author explores, not only the Apollo missions, but the space race itself, politics, technology, and the influence that the Moon landings have had on popular culture for the past 40 years. A must read for any budding space-bore.

Today I finished reading "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe, which tells the story of the early American space pioneers from the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager in 1947, to the final Project Mercury flight in 1963. But not only is this about the pilots who had an over-abundance of the so called "right stuff", this is a book also about their wives and families, who needed their own kind of "right stuff". It's a book full of adventure and anecdote, and is often quite humorous, for example, the story of John Glenn's wife being more terrified of facing the press than the prospect of a rocket blowing her husband to smithereens, because she had a stammer, made me smile. The writing style is as cool and hip as the pilots themselves. Very highly recommended.

[Katen]

I'm partway through moondust, really enjoying it. The other astro related book I have on the go at the moment is Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Kranz. Both absolutly cracking insightful reads. Reading failure is not an option makes me realise just how close to the wind the early space flight were.

[mikey32shaw]

Thanks for this was looking for a good read as i am coming to the end of Bill Bryson A Short History Of Nearly Everything

[KenG]

"The Right Stuff" is fatally flawed in that it makes out that Gus Grissom was lacking the right stuff - which he most certainly was not - an unfortunate case of the author's predujices over-riding the facts. If you want a good book about space-flight, you can't get better than Michael Collins "Carrying the Fire".

[Noseypixie]

Yeah, poor Gus does get a bad press in "The Right Stuff", but rather than it being authorial opinion, I think Tom Wolfe is merely saying that this was the opinion of NASA's administrators after they lost the capsule in the sea following his Mercury flight. In saying that, Tom Wolfe is a novelist more than a historian, and he probably does use some poetic licence to add drama to the story. Michael Collins' "Carrying the Fire" is on my shopping list. I may also give Gene Krantz's book a try.