Rocket Men

The daring odyssey of Apollo 8 and the astronauts who made man’s first journey to the moon

By Robert Kurson

Published by Scribe
RRP $35.00 in paperback • ISBN 9781925322880

In terms of space flight, fame and recognition belongs almost exclusively to the later Apollo 11 mission but the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968 laid much of the groundwork for the success of the first moon landing the following year.

As Kurson writes, by NASA’s analysis, all mission objectives had been attained and a lot of the unknown factors of space travel were now better understood. But this is no dry technical story.

It is a story of man’s ingenuity and determination.

Kurson takes us into the flight module right alongside the astronauts so we can understand exactly what they did during the flight, how they coped with the unexpected and, back on earth, we share the anxiety and stress of their families who could only watch on and pray.

Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders are not household names in the way of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin but the story of this first space flight to the moon is an intriguing one. This was history in the making and fifty years on their achievements deserve to be better known and applauded. This is a good read that will find a keen audience among those who are fascinated by space travel.