- ISBN13: 9780803229792
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
In the Shadow of the Moon tells the story of the most exciting and challenging years in spaceflight, with two superpowers engaged in a titanic struggle to land one of their own people on the moon. Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a… More >>
In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969
Tags: american government, astronauts, government documents, human experience, remarkable story, shadow of the moon, spaceflight, superpowers, titanic struggle, tranquility
#1 by Tahir Rahman on June 29, 2010 - 12:19 pm
French and Burgess have written a wonderful book with lots of vivid details. For example, I was captivated by reading Gene Cernan’s account of the intense pain and difficulty he had during the his Gemini EVA.
The vividness and suspense flows well. The editing is excellent. A must have book for any serious space history buff.
Tahir Rahman, author of We Came in Peace for all Mankind
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by KevMac on June 29, 2010 - 2:17 pm
I’ve been reading space history books since my earliest days, as I grew up in the first decade of the space program – and yet many of these stories are new to me. I’ve read almost every astronaut book that’s come out over the last 35 years and this book, along with “Into That Silent Sea,” tells the manned space flight story like no books before. I love it so much I’m going to go back and read the first one next. I took my time reading “In the Shadow of the Moon”, as the book is like a very fine wine that can’t be hurried through. I needed to take small sips of each chapter and savor the history and never-before-told personal stories. My thanks to the authors for putting this history and these memories to paper and sharing them with the rest of us; I’m glad the subjects shared their time and memories.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Dee O'Hara on June 29, 2010 - 2:39 pm
Another great book on the Golden years of Spaceflight . Francis and Colin really have the “right stuff”. Their insight and facts of the events are spot on and they have made the telling of each flight just as interesting and exciting as the previous one. Not an easy chore. I had forgotten how perilous the EVA’s were and they brought back such vivid memories of them. Both “Into the Silent Sea” and “In The Shadow of the Moon” are terrific reads and a great way to “experience it all”. I owe the authors a debt of gratitude for writing and accurately documenting these historical flights.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Shell in Space on June 29, 2010 - 4:58 pm
I just reviewed the authors’ previous publication, Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965 (Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of S), and I absolutely had to write a review for this one, as well. I am an educator at a major astronomy and space museum, and “In the Shadow of the Moon” and “Into that Silent Sea” are two books that we will be purchasing for our spaceflight docents as resource books. The books are fabulous and you won’t want to put them down. I sure didn’t. When I got to the section about the Apollo 1 tragedy, the tears started flowing. I knew a bit about what happened, but not everything I learned from this book. Absolutely amazing interviewing and writing. Please buy these books if you want first-hand accounts of Russian and U.S. space history. We’re getting farther and farther from that era as the years pass, and the largest tragedy would be that people would forget what happened.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Joseph Guzman on June 29, 2010 - 6:34 pm
This is the book you have been looking for.
This is a fantastic book, accounting the details and nuances of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts and their missions. Mr. Francis French and co-author Colin Burgess has taken just another telling of human space flight and created a new track – infused in it the personal thoughts, sentiments and reflections of ordinary men doing extra-ordinary feats. One does not quickly skim through this document, but instead slowly take in what the astronauts are telling us.
The authors gained the confidence and respect from the astronauts to share with them data, information and personal experiences not found anywhere else. I found myself lost in reading about the never before known aspects of the pioneers of the Mercury and Gemini programs – testing never before used technology and crews sharing their often near disastrous incidents. This is where man learned how to fly in space, with the Gemini capsule being the most maneuverable craft…even by todays standards. Questions we often asked ourselves about conditions in the crew cabin, conflicts with NASA administration or more private (and sometimes embarrassing), events/incidents are answered in this work.
I had the honor to interview Mr. French while he was Chicago, and he brought new insights and narration to the book and companion film. Sharing with me his own experiences in researching, interviewing and documenting forever the words of the astronauts, he demonstrated his love and passion for his work. The authors put on paper for us a priceless treasure of manned space flight, and creates for the reader, a great sense on what it is was like being there, the thoughts running through their heads – sitting on top of a controlled explosion, drifting away on a spacewalk or lost in thought studying the lunar surface. Next best thing to being there.
I do highly recommend this book for anyone who desires the human aspect – the personal insight of space flight without the dry over technical data of machinery specifications, although there is plenty of fulfilling information on that as well, presented as an adjunct to the story without overwhelming it.
Get it now and you’ll be forever enriched.
Joe Guzmán
President
The Chicago Astronomer
http://www.chicagoastronomer.com
Rating: 5 / 5