by Jay Barbree
First published 2011
Alan Shepard stands ready to become the first American in space, while his colleague Deke Slayton faces the crushing news that his irregular heartbeat will keep him grounded. These two astronauts anchor the story of seven test pilots chosen to lead America's desperate attempt to catch the Soviet Union after Sputnik's 1957 launch. Shepard rockets into space first, but Slayton must wait until 1975 for his chance. Together they witnessed the entire arc of the 1960s space program from the inside. Working with NBC space reporter Jay Barbree, they reveal what it felt like to risk everything in the effort to put humans on another world. Their account follows the journey from Shepard's initial flight through the moment when twelve Americans had walked on lunar soil. The book captures the tension, danger, and triumph of the era when beating the Russians to the moon became a national obsession.
Genres: history, space, 20th-century, adventure, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: against-the-odds, underdog
Setting: United States, Soviet Union
Period: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s
396 pages · Hardcover · Open Road Media