Fallen Astronauts

A tribute to sixteen space pioneers. Near the end of the Apollo 15 mission, David Scott and fellow moonwalkerJames Irwin conducted a secret ceremony unsanctioned byNASA: they placed on the lunar soil a small tin figurine called "TheFallen Astronaut," along with a plaque bearing a list of names. Byt [...]
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A tribute to sixteen space pioneers. Near the end of the Apollo 15 mission, David Scott and fellow moonwalkerJames Irwin conducted a secret ceremony unsanctioned byNASA: they placed on the lunar soil a small tin figurine called "TheFallen Astronaut," along with a plaque bearing a list of names. Bytelling the stories of those sixteen astronauts and cosmonauts whodied in the quest to reach the moon between 1962 and 1972, thisbook enriches the saga of humankind's greatest scientific undertaking,Project Apollo, and conveys the human cost of the space race. Many people are aware of the first manned Apollo mission, in whichGus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives in a fireduring a ground test, but few know of the other five fallen astronautswhose stories this book tells as well, including Ted Freeman and C. C.Williams, who died in the crashes of their T-38 jets; the "Gemini Twins,"Charlie Bassett and Elliot See, killed when their jet slammed into thebuilding where their Gemini capsule was undergoing final construction;and Ed Givens, whose fatal car crash has until now been obscuredby rumors.Supported by extensive interviews and archival material,the extraordinary lives and accomplishments of these and other fallenastronauts-including eight Russian cosmonauts who lost their livesduring training-unfold here in intimate and compelling detail. Theirstories return us to a stirring time in the history of our nation andremind us of the cost of fulfilling our dreams. This revised editionincludes expanded and revised biographies and additional photographs.