Great Books to Read for the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary
This week is the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing. That has gotten people excited about this adventure that mankind accomplished half a century ago. That made me think it was a good time to share some of my favorite books on the subject.
The first three books I want mention are about the Apollo 11 crew.
First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong is a biography written by James R. Hansen about, as the title implies, Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the Moon. The recent film was adapted from this book. Read this book and you will understand why Neil was chosen to represent all of us.
Carrying the Fire is Michael Collins’ autobiography. Collins is an excellent writer and a man at peace with his accomplishments and the role he played in mankind’s greatest achievement.
Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon is by Buzz Aldrin with Ken Abraham. Its importance lies in its revealing and frank look at the difficulties of continuing with one’s life after being part of something so big. This is actually Buzz’s second book talking about his struggle. The first was called Return to Earth and was written before he had finished falling.
The next three books look at the flight control team, on the ground, in Houston.
Failure is Not an Option is by Gene Kranz. Mr. Kranz is probably the best known member of the ground team, largely due to his portrayal by Ed Harris in the film Apollo 13. He had a long career at the Johnson Space Center, rising from flight director to become the head of the Missions Operations Directorate. He is long retired now, but still a common sight, on-site. He often comes in to give motivational talks to the new hires, especially his tenets of flight control speech that he gave extemporaneously after the Apollo 1 accident and has long since memorized. A local school was recently named after him.
Flight: My Life in Mission Control is by Chris Kraft. Mr. Kraft is called the father of flight control. A few years ago we put his name on outside of building 30, the Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center. He defined the way we do flight control and the structures we use.
Go Flight!: The Unsung Heroes of Mission Control, 1965 — 1992 is by Rick Houston and Milt Heflin. It is a wonderful tribute to some amazing flight controllers such as John Aaron, Steve Bales, Jerry Bostick, and Sy Liebergot. These people were amazing. They give us modern operations people imposter syndrome.
My next three choices give focus to people whose contributions are least well known.
We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program is by Richard Paul and Steven Moss. Most of the key NASA facilities for the space program were built in the Jim Crow South. NASA served as a chisel to crack through the walls of segregation and this book tells the story of ten black engineers and technicians who stood equally with the best of the best and solved the problems that needed to be solved in order to go to the Moon.
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race is by Margot Lee Shetterly and is likely one of the best known of these books, due to the recent film adaptation that told the stories of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, three black, female mathematicians who were essential in the early space program.
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story by Lily Koppel tells the story of the women who provided the family support structure for the early astronauts. Kopell is a journalist and tells this story in an engaging and breezy manner. The book was recently adapted into a television series.
The next three books look at Apollo missions other than Apollo 11.
Apollo 8 is by Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 8 was the first mission enter the sphere of influence of another celestial body. It entered lunar orbit and completed ten orbits of the Moon before returning home. The mission is also famous for the beautiful Christmas speech given by the crew and for the stunning Earthrise picture that the crew took.
Apollo 13 is by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger. It’s orginal title was Lost Moon. The book was renamed to capitalize on the film adaptation starring Tom Hanks. Like the movie, even though you may know the ending, it’s a thrilling experience that showed the team working at their best. The mission has been called a triumphal failure.
The Last Man on the Moon is by Eugene Cernan and Don Davis. It covers more than just a mission, it is the story of Eugene Cernan, the commander of Apollo 17, the last mission to the Moon. It was adapted into a wonderful documentary.
And the last three books I want to mention, today are broader overviews of the early space program.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe became a major film and is about to be re-adapted for television. Wolfe’s interest was in the type of men that would choose to become test pilots and so this book starts with that world and smoothly segues into the Mercury project and the first astronauts, all test-pilots.
Moon Shot is by NBC space reporter Jay Barbree with astronauts Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. Shepard and Slayton were both members of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. Both later were medically grounded and took on leadership roles. Both eventually were cleared and flew again.
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin has long been considered a bible for space enthusiasts. It is a thorough and engrossing book that chronologically discusses the Apollo program. It became a primary source for the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon.
