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Voices from the Moon
What it was like, in the astronauts’ own words. Excerpts from a new book by Andrew Chaikin.
By Andrew Chaikin with Victoria Kohl
airspacemag.com, May 20, 2009
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Published four decades after the first lunar landing, Voices from the Moon, by Andrew Chaikin with Victoria Kohl, opens with a quote by Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott, now 76 years old: "I cannot count the number of times somebody has said to me, 'What does it feel like to be on the moon?' I'm tired of that, Andy. I don't want to try and figure that out anymore. I've done my best."
Fortunately, Chaikin has spared him the trouble. This volume, composed entirely of quotes from the Apollo astronauts alongside artful arrangements of their photographs, may be the best single source for getting a vivid sense of the lunar landings as experienced by the astronauts.
Chaikin, author of the landmark 1994 history A Man on the Moon, went back to the interviews he conducted for that book nearly 20 years ago to bring out these gems, and the wait was worth it. See the gallery at right for photos and excerpts from the book.
Reprinted by permission from Voices from the Moon, published by Viking Studio, 2009.
Photo: Gene Cernan, the last man on the moon, Apollo 17.
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Comments
Another excellent book on this is Rocket Men by Craig Nelson. What I found fascinating about this book was the way Nelson deftly wove together the Apollo story with ongoing global events. The likes of Werner Von Brown, Walt Disney, Khrushchev, the Cold War, all come together in such a way as to shed a new light on an often told story.
Posted by Dave on July 18,2009 | 05:59AM