Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight

NBC News correspondent Barbree (Moon Shot) has covered space travel for nearly six decades, including every American manned space launch, and here centers on the career of Neil Armstrong (1930–2012), who during the historic Apollo 11 mission became the first man to walk on the Moon. Barbree focuses on Armstrong as a pilot and astronaut, starting with his Korean War service before moving on to his long association with NASA. While he branches out to address some of Armstrong’s personal life, this is primarily a story of the space race, with copious attention given to the events leading up to and including the Moon landing. Barbree draws on conversations, transcripts, and interviews to reconstruct the space age’s most exciting and dramatic moments, fleshing them out with numerous photos and his own experiences. Indeed, he claims an almost worshipful friendship with Armstrong to convey an intimate association with the otherwise taciturn astronaut. Barbree’s feelings and passions are made clear in a scathing indictment of the American space program in the decades following the Moon landing and its failure to capitalize on the opportunity. The concentration on Armstrong’s space-related career makes this less than a definitive biography, but it’s still an eye-opening and entertaining tale of the race to the Moon. Photos. Agent: Elizabeth Kaplan. (July)