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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kurson, Robert, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Project Apollo (U.S.).

Apollo 8 (Spacecraft).

Space flight to the Moon.

Space flight to the moon.

HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.

SCIENCE / Space Science.

HISTORY / Expeditions & Discoveries.

Local Subjects:

HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.

SCIENCE / Space Science.

HISTORY / Expeditions & Discoveries.

Physical Description:

x, 372 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Edition:

First Edition.

Other Title:

Rocket men : the daring odyssey of Apollo eight

Place of Publication:

New York : Random House, [2018]

Summary:

Shares the inside story of the dangerous Apollo 8 mission, focusing on the lives of astronaut heroes Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, while illuminating the political factors that prompted the decision to risk lives to save the Apollo program and define the space race.

"By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the Moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline, and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the Moon--in just four months. And it would all happen at Christmas. In a year of historic violence and discord--the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago--the Apollo 8 mission would be the boldest, riskiest test of America's greatness under pressure. In this gripping insider account, Robert Kurson puts the focus on the three astronauts and their families: the commander, Frank Borman, a conflicted man on his final mission; idealistic Jim Lovell, who'd dreamed since boyhood of riding a rocket to the Moon; and Bill Anders, a young nuclear engineer and hotshot fighter pilot making his first space flight. Drawn from hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews with the astronauts, their loved ones, NASA personnel, and myriad experts, and filled with vivid and unforgettable detail, Rocket Men is the definitive account of one of America's finest hours. In this real-life thriller, Kurson reveals the epic dangers involved, and the singular bravery it took, for mankind to leave Earth for the first time--and arrive at a new world."--Dust jacket.

Contents:

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

Diagram of Apollo 8.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [351]-356) and index.

ISBN:

9780812988703

0812988701

OCLC:

974796189