A Man on the Moon
For the 25th anniversary of the first moon landing, a winning and detailed account of the Apollo astronauts, a dozen of whom were the first human beings to walk on the face of the moon. The strength of the book lies in Chaikin's exhaustive research, including interviews with all 24 Apollo astronauts. Chaikin, an editor of Sky and Telescope, draws on the wealth of material from NASA's files--including recently declassified transcripts from the on-board voice recorders, which give candid glimpses of the astronauts' thoughts not intended for outside ears (not even Mission Control's). As a result, the reader gets an in-depth portrait of the program, which the book sets clearly in its time, with glimpses at the Vietnam War and social unrest at home that were eventually to overshadow its brilliant accomplishments. [Kirkus Review, excerpt]
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- A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
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I liked reading this extensive accunt of all apollo missions and what each accomplished --
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts Andrew Chaikin https://www.amazon.in/Man-Moon-Voyages-Apollo-Astronauts/dp/...
I wish there was an "annotated verison" or enthusiast discussion forum that corss-linked footage like this to the corresponding passages in the book so we can live it more fully
- I highly recommend the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(mi...
And the book on which it's largely based, A Man on the Moon:
- I am a huge fan of space exploration and all the various content that comes with it. I also like fine books. Folio Society's A Man on the Moon The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin (https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/a-man-on-the-moon.html) is an exceptionally fine way to learn more about the technical, budgetary, personal and play bizarre things that went down. The book covers some of the skepticism and the "this is really expensive" objections. If you want to treat yourself, this substantial 2 volume folio is a feast for all your senses.
- A similar concept, it seems, Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon" is a fantastic read.
- I recently finished Rocket Men by Robert Kurson, about Apollo 8. That was great. But the ultimate book on Apollo for me is still Chaikin's 'Man on the Moon' which details all of the Apollo missions from interviews with the astronauts not too long after, as well as some of the pre-Apollo stuff (Gemini and Mercury).
Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff is also great to understand the test pilots from which most of the astronauts were picked.
