Man on the Moon: a day in the life of Bob

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Andrew Chaikin does an exceptional job of recounting the Apollo missions, ensuring that it is not all about Neil, Buzz and "What's-his-name?" (Michael Collins, for anyone who's interested). It never ceases to amaze me that true life figures are so impressive when their stories are told -- whether they are really impressive or not. Is this all just spin? Is it the grandeur of their accomplishments? Whatever. I love hearing tales of Crazy Horse and Custer, of Henry V or Julius Caesar or Cleopatra. But right now I most love to hear the stories of the Astronauts and Cosmonauts.

There is also the story of Alan Shepard,who managed to get the command of Apollo 14,at the ripe age of 47,much to the dismay of the others,who had been waiting in line.Chaikin's narrative focuses, primarily, on the men/missions who went to the moon (versus the holistic Apollo program), with a particular relish for the "skipper" missions—the ones that are usually skipped over during the Apollo summaries (i.e., 12, 14, 15, 16). I mostly appreciated it, since I, too, have fallen into the trap of not really considering the latter Apollo flights as anything exciting—but they were, and are: they introduced new equipment and tested new boundaries around life on the moon. Each mission had minor things adjusted or added to it or expanded within it, which makes the evolution of Apollo that much more obvious and interesting. My audiobook was 23 hours long, and I don’t recommend it. The narrator, actor Bronson Pinchot, has won several Audie Awards, one of them for this book. I find this a little surprising. For me it was an extremely dull experience to listen to him. The only time I remember hearing some excitement in his voice was when the matter of urinating in space came up. Incidentally a thing I got excited about as well. I guess observed from afar those kinds of experiences are just too damn funny.

How are characters’ lives and perspectives interrelated and interdependent? How are these interconnections shown in text and image? The crew of Apollo 15,was involved in a "stamps" scandal,as they tried to make money from their voyage.John Young,commanded Apollo 16,and along with Jim Lovell,was the most travelled of all the astronauts. The author loves this subject and it shows. The story of the Apollo astronauts is far more interesting that you might think. They weren’t just a bunch of cookie-cutter flyboys. They were all, to a man, dedicated to the mission and its success, but their many divergent personalities make for a fascinating story.If you were to ask me before I read this book "who is Frank Borman?" I would not have been able to tell you. Commander of Apollo 8, they were the first crew to complete trans-lunar injection and travel the quarter of a billion miles to reach lunar orbit. The first crew to ever orbit the moon. There were numerous times during this book where I had to stop reading and fully comprehend the importance and synergistic meaning behind each Apollo mission. As I already pointed out, I’ve been captivated by the space program since I was a kid. I knew I didn’t have the right stuff, so I never dreamed of being an astronaut myself. At that age, I dreamed of moving to the woods and living in a log cabin, like Grizzly Adams, and having adventures in the wilderness, but that’s a different story. My point is, I may be biased in favor of this subject, or maybe I’m in a good position to know that this book hits the right notes. Chaikin collaborated with moonwalker-turned-artist Alan Bean to write Apollo: An Eyewitness Account, published in 1998 by the Greenwich Workshop Press. He also co-edited The New Solar System, a compendium of writings by planetary scientists, now in its fourth edition. His essays include the chapter on human spaceflight in The National Geographic Encyclopedia of Space, published in 2004, and Live from the Moon: The Societal Impact of Apollo for NASA’s 2007 book The Societal Impact of Spaceflight. It is clearly meant to be a patriotic book meant to convey that the US won the space race.But it conveniently forgets to mention that the Soviets won a number of earlier space battles.That prompted President Kennedy to launch the outrageously expensive Apollo programme.It was a battle of the Cold War.

Finally,Gene Cernan who commanded Apollo 17,became the last man to stop on the moon.The last three moon missions,Apollo 18,19 and 20 were scrapped,given their enormous cost.

Tuesday Phonics

Apollo 10,commanded by Tom Stafford went all the way to the moon,without landing,as a dress rehearsal for the mission of Apollo 11. The first sentence of this book effectively ignites a child's curiosity. Astronauts Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first humans to land on the moon when some claimed it “could not be done.” Using a powerful mixture of text and illustrations, ‘Man on the Moon’ follows the Apollo 11’s journey into space, the astronauts’ first steps, items they collected, and the patriotic symbol left behind.