Saturday Diversion: Five Books on Space Exploration

Curious about America's space program? Here's where to start!

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/saturday-diversion-five-books-on



One Small Step…

Welcome to the first edition of TLP’s Saturday Diversion! If you’ve read us for a while now, you’ve probably noticed that space exploration is one of my personal enthusiasms. Just this week, NASA released a lamentably flat budget request and welcomed astronauts from the SpaceX Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station back to Earth. The Europa Clipper robotic mission to Jupiter’s icy moon remains on track for launch later this year, and of course the Hubble and Webb space telescopes regularly beam down spectacular images of the cosmos. Here are five of my favorite books on the subject (plus some honorable mentions) as well as some music from various space-themed movies and shows. Enjoy!

Carrying The Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys: Michael Collins, command module pilot on Apollo 11, wrote what’s still hands-down the best astronaut memoir. In clear, lucid prose, he explains the complex technical challenges involved in human spaceflight and traveling to the Moon with impressive ease. Most of all, though, Collins brings a more philosophical perspective to his own voyages as well as what Apollo meant—and still means—to all of us back here on Earth.

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong: The basis for an under-appreciated 2018 biopic starring Ryan Gosling, James R. Hansen’s biography shows us why Neil Armstrong was exactly the right person to be the first human being to set foot on another world. Armstrong’s “laconic professionalism” kept him focused on the task at hand; more importantly, he “refused to impose his own understanding of this epochal event on the world or the future.”

Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her: Don’t let the title fool you—British aerospace chronicler Rowland White does more than just narrate the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia. It’s as much a history of the space shuttle program’s early days and a glimpse into the virtually unknown Manned Orbiting Laboratory program as it is a page-turning account of Columbia’s maiden voyage.

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