Fly Me to the Moon : Lost in Space with the Mercury Generation

Fly Me to the Moon transports you to who your were when America took its first steps into space; the night you sat transfixed to the television as the crew of Apollo XI landed on the moon; the day you resolved to one day become an astronaut. Perhaps you were the 10-year-old kid who transformed a plain refrigerator box into a Mercury space capsule; or the resident of a small Texas community lighting celebratory Christmas Eve candles for your neighbors, the crew of Apollo VIII, or the musician saved from the ravages of drugs by one woman's historic voyage to the stars.

For every Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle voyage into outer space, there is an accompanying story. For every mission, there is the story of a starry-eyed child transformed into Alan Shepard, John Glenn, or Neil Armstrong. For every astronaut who braved weightlessness, the unknown, the perils of space flight, there is a grown up child wishing he or she could do the same. You'll remember you own youthful dreams during a bygone time in America when space flight bewitched us all and changed a generation.

While this enthusiast's wide-eyed scrapbook may not sweep away readers unattuned to the thrill and romance of space exploration, space buffs will be mesmerized. Ethier, a freelance journalist born in 1958, calls himself a member of "the Mercury Generation," an allusion to NASA's very first project (1958-1964) to launch a human into space. His breezy, informal, entertaining history of America's space program and of our Cold War race with the Soviets to own the heavens focuses on Project Mercury (Mercury astronaut Schirra, who orbited the earth in Sigma 7 in 1962 and went on to transmit the first live pictures from a manned spacecraft in 1968, contributes a foreword), yet the unabashedly nostalgic narrative also catapults from Projects Gemini and Apollo to John Glenn's historic 1998 return to space aboard the Space Shuttle. For EthierAwho cried tears of joy with college chums near Cape Canaveral when they watched the 1981 maiden launch of Space Shuttle ColumbiaAspace flight is a metaphor for life, proof that with perseverance, study and faith one can accomplish anything. This theme resonates throughout profiles and interviews with NASA astronauts, engineers, technicians and amateur rocketeers. Ethier's odyssey is spiked with offbeat digressions, including his wife giving birth to their son (an event he likens to a rocket launch) and the story of rock singer/songwriter Jeannie Cunningham, whose veneration of her role model, astronaut Judy Resnik (a victim of the 1986 Challenger explosion) reportedly helped her kick her cocaine habit. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author, a freelance writer and fan of space exploration, tells the story of space flight, beginning with Project Mercury, from the perspective of the astronauts and their families, their neighbors, reporters, and space buffs. Drawing on interviews, Ethier offers glimpses of the astronauts as ordinary people and recaptures the excitement Americans felt watching each launch. He highlights the events that sparked the imagination of an entire generation of children. Just in time for the 30th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon, his book will be inspirational to parents, young adults, children, their teachers, and even guidance counselors. For school and public libraries.ADale Ebersole Jr., Univ. of Toledo Lib.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.