Sharon Orlopp's Reviews > Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon

I listened to this amazing book, Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon, on audiobook. Author Robert Kurson and narrator Ray Porter are phenomenal! Kurson speaks at the end about the book and his thorough research, including many days of interviews with the Apollo 8 astronauts.

Kurson immediately immerses readers into national and world events in the sixties, particularly the tumultuous, divisive year of 1968. I felt like I had a front row seat to historic events in 1968: Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination in Memphis, Robert Kennedy's assassination after he had a successful campaign stop in California, the riots at the Democratic National Convention, Walter Cronkite breaking from fact reporting on Vietnam and expressing his opinion after the Tet Offensive that it appeared America wasn't winning the war, President LBJ deciding he wouldn't run for President after Cronkite's pronouncement, and the extremely close Presidential race between Richard Nixon (43.4%) and Hubert Humphrey (42.7%).

Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. This triggered the Space Race. In 1961, a young President John Kennedy dramatically expanded the U.S. space program and committed to landing a man on the moon, and returning him home safely. President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, a few weeks after the President of South Vietnam was murdered.

During incredibly challenging times in 1968, NASA was preparing to launch Apollo 8 in December. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth and orbit the Moon ten times. The astronauts were Frank Boorman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders.

I felt like I was riding in the rocket alongside the three astronauts. Stories about bowel movements during and after the flight are interesting and something that wouldn't be discovered without extensive interviews decades after the flight. Kurson does a brilliant job describing the astronauts, their wives and families during the sixties as well as what they have done over the past four decades.

Highly, highly recommend!