Moon Bound

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxviii

   PDF

2. Part One

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Announcements and volunteers

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 3-27

   3. Screening the volunteers

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 29-60

   4. The finalists

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 61-144

   5. The “Next Nine”

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 145-159

   6. Settling in

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 161-175

3. Part Two

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177

      PDF

   2. The boy from Barren Run

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 179-197

   3. Answering the call

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 199-250

   4. A few exceptionally good men

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 251-281

   5. The Fourteen

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 283-295

   6. Patience and Persistence

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 297-309

   7. “Before this decade is out”

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 311-328

   8. For some, the glory

      • Colin Burgess

      Pages 329-341

4. Back Matter

   Pages 343-371

   PDF

Often lost in the shadow of the first group of astronauts for the Mercury missions, the second and third groups included the leading figures for NASA's activities for the following two decades. “Moon Bound” complements the author’s recently published work, “Selecting the Mercury Seven” (2011), extending the story of the men who helped to launch human spaceflight and broaden the American space program. Although the initial 1959 group became known as the legendary pioneering Mercury astronauts, the astronauts of Groups 2 and 3 gave us many household names. Sixteen astronauts from both groups traveled to the Moon in Project Apollo, with several actually walking on the Moon, one of them being Neil Armstrong.

This book draws on interviews to tell the astronauts' personal stories and recreate the drama of that time. It describes the process by which they were selected as astronauts and explains how the criteria had changed since the first group. “Moon Bound” is divided into two parts, recounting the biographies relating to the nine astronauts from NASA’s Group 2 in the first part, and the fourteen finalists in Group 3 in the second part.

The stories of both selection groups are narrated through the experiences of four finalists with interesting backgrounds. One of these men is Al Rupp of the USAF who, as a West Point cadet, cheekily helped to steal the Navy mascot goat prior to the annual Army versus Navy game in 1953, thus achieving legendary status in the game’s history. Rupp was killed in a plane crash just two years after being named as a finalist for Group 3. The service career of naval aviator John Yamnicky was also very much the equal of other finalists, but he was killed on September 11, 2001, as he was a passenger on hijacked Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon.

At the end of the work there are several chapters on how these candidates were prepped for their missions.

• Astronaut Personal Stories
• Astronaut Selection Process
• Astronaut Training Process
• Gemini and Apollo Astronauts
• Humans Space History
• NASA Group 2 and 3
• Project Mercury Background
• Project Mercury Finalists
• Space Exploration
• U.S. Space Program

From the reviews:

“Moon Bound, by Australian space historian Burgess, a follow-up to his Selecting the Mercury Seven … examines the selection process and features profiles of the chosen 9 as well as the other 22 finalists … . This well-written, factually accurate book is nicely illustrated with 168 interesting halftone photographs from the era. A welcome addition to any space enthusiast’s library. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic and general audiences.” (J. Z. Kiss, Choice, Vol. 51 (2), October, 2013)

• Bonnet Bay, Australia

  Colin Burgess

Colin Burgess has had a strong interest in the history of space exploration since the age of 14 in 1962. He also has an interest in Australian military history, and particularly the Australian POW experience. His first few books – the first published in 1985 – reflected this latter interest, but in the 1990s he began writing increasingly more magazine articles and books on his principal interest, spaceflight. Mostly biographical, his books have filled an information niche that had previously never been explored in print. He has been writing books for Springer-Praxis since 2006 with his title “NASA’s Scientist-Astronauts.”

The majority of his research and writing is carried out at his home in Sydney, Australia. He does attend astronauts events overseas and conducts interviews with many space explorers relevant to the project he has at hand. Overall, he is author to over 26 titles, including four titles with Springer. He most recent work, “Selecting the Mercury Seven” was published in the fall of 2011.

Policies and ethics