The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon

In my reading, I occasionally come across great books that I simply have no desire to finish, for one reason or another. In this case, I have less against the writing or the story—both of which were great!—and more against the sheer volume of information that was coming at me from all sides.

This book was selected for my Siblings’ Book Club in 2019, and I was excited to learn more about Apollo 8 mission and the men who trained and sacrificed to make it a reality. But while anticipating the book, I watched the film and then saw another documentary on, oh I forget, maybe the History Channel. Add that James Michener’s Space which I had not long ago finished, and by the time this book rolled around for us, my interest was less piqued and more drained.

I began to read it, and I really enjoyed the back-and-forth of character sketches and mission preparations, but I just couldn’t stick with it for the long haul. It may be that I’ll one day return to this book in order to remind myself of the context I’ll inevitably forget, but for now, I simply can’t see myself continuing. The film (which was amazing) ruined the book for me.

As I write this, America is slowly shutting down and bracing itself for the further spread of COVID-19. Kurson’s earlier paragraph describing President Kennedy’s declaration that America would put men on the moon, I think, rings clear still today of American ingenuity and commitment. I’ll close this shortest of reviews with that paragraph, hoping that at some point soon the pundits and haters will shut up about how much of a lying dope President Trump is and simply stand up together to attempt the impossible:

If NASA could meet Kennedy’s deadline, it would be a statement—to the American people, the Soviets, and the world—that there was nothing the United States could not do if pushed hard enough, that even after losing round after round in the Space Race, falling behind in missiles and bombs, and suffering a humiliation like the Bay of Pigs, the United States could rise in a way no other nation could rise and pull off a miracle. And that’s what Congress seemed to hear as Kennedy kept talking and their applause began to build: that landing a man on the Moon and bringing him back safely might be the single greatest scientific and technological challenge mankind had ever faced, but doing it by the end of the decade was impossible, and it was only by attempting something impossible that a nation could truly know who it was. (23)

©2020 E.T.