"[A] readable introduction to the first years of America's leap into space."—<i>Publishers Weekly</i> "Authors Burgess and French are even-handed and equitable, and have done an excellent job in covering a vast expanse of material. . . . The opportunity to get the true stories from the astronauts themselves is a luxury that will sadly not be available forever, and <i>In the Shadow of the Moon</i> has done an excellent job in gathering and eliciting the stories of these men, not just the 'official reports,' but the personal touches that render them more human. . . . The authors have a touch for weaving revealing and captivating personal narratives amidst the nuts-and-bolts space history."—Michael Patrick Brady, <i>PopMatters.com</i> "French and Burgess present a first-rate, detailed, and very personal account of the space race to the moon . . . . Strongly recommended both as a study of the social interactions among this unique group of people and as a gripping series of anecdotes that describe the exciting, dangerous steps behind the successful moon landing."—<i>CHOICE </i> "This book has everything you ever wanted to know about the astronauts that paved the way for the first Moon landing. Rarely does one get the entire information of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programmes, encased in one book, about the men who entered the dangerous and untried realm of flying off the Earth."—Jeff Green, <i>Liftoff</i>
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgments
1. Gemini Raises the Bar
2. A Rendezvous in Space
3. The Ballet of Weightlessness
4. The Risk Stuff
5. The Astronaut Enigma
6. Starting Over
7. Leaving the Good Earth
8. A Test Pilot's Dream
9. The Highest Mountain
Epilogue
References
Index