Space, NASA, Astronauts, Cosmonauts

[18blue78]

I’m in the middle of reading Andrew Smith’s Moondust and was wondering if any other space/NASA nuts have read it and what your thoughts on it are?

 

Personally I’m finding it a very interesting, well written and enjoyable journey through the Apollo missions and an insight into the social history of the US in the 60’s & 70’s.

Although I must say it doesn’t paint autograph collectors in a positive light and it all but condemns what may have been an early SM event in Northampton as quote; “fearsomely depressing autograph show”.

Anyway, I’m half way through the book and I’m wishing that I had the authors opportunity to travel around the US meeting some of the most important people of the 20th century.

[Count Fooku]

Well I guess as a starter having been to a few, including one of the Northampton shows, I've never found Autographica to be anywhere close to 'fearsomely depressing' so I guess you have to question hs judgement there!

 

I do have a copy of the book you are talking about but I've never actually read it. To be honest he's not always impressed me with some of the other work he has done. He hosted a Q&A with Buzz Aldrin a few years back at the Royal Festival Hall when Buzz was promoting his latest biography, that night he came over as slightly sycophantic, I know that's easily done for a lot of us but you'd like to think a professional writer would be able to raise the stakes a little bit fora job like that.

 

He also did a documentary about Neil Armstrong a couple of years ago. I can't say he did himself too many favours with that either. There was one bit where he tracked down the barber who had cut Armstrong's hair then sold the hair on to collectors (why anyone would want something like that is beyond me but there we go). Rather than condemning the barber for what he'd done, he sat there laughing with him about it. Might not sound a lot but given he was Armstrong's regular barber and anyone like that should have known the level of importance he attached to his privacy it seemed very inappropriate for Smith to be treating it so flippantly.

 

Personally if you wanted to read a better book on a similar theme I would recommend A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin or Into That Silent Sea and In the Shadow of the Moon by Colin Burgess and Francis French ( ironically those books feature photos from the so called 'fearsomely depressing' autograph show in Northampton!). The good thing about the French/Burgess books is they also include a lot of information about the Soviet space programme as well.

[18blue78]

Thanks Count, I’ll defiantly be giving those books a look at in the near future.

 

I don’t know about Smith’s other work but in this book I have found his storytelling to be both entertaining and none judgemental. He allows the drama and history around the Apollo program to speak for its self without having to sensationalise. He also dose a good job in letting the astronauts tell their own story and allows them to show a little of their personality, even if some of them are a little guarded. The part with Ed Mitchell is a bit out-there but Smith lets Ed explain where his theories come from without be patronising, and who knows, Ed could very well be right.

I also like the way he speaks to those who were directly and indirectly involved with the program. It’s insightful to get the view from the astronaut’s wives, the astronaut’s children and those who are just fans (but defiantly no barbers).

 

All-in-all not a bad read, even with his comment on page 87 (and yes, I did look back through the book to see where he had written it).