Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon

In spare yet vivid prose, Kluger (with Jim Lovell, coauthor of Apollo 13), senior writer at Time, captures the nostalgia and excitement of a “space-drunk nation” in this gripping account of the first lunar mission. Beginning years before the 1968 launch, the story revolves around Apollo 8’s crew: Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders. Slated for Apollo 9, they were switched to the first moonshot in an ambitious bid to meet President Kennedy’s timetable. Kluger sets the crew’s personal histories amid the space race, NASA’s early days, and the Gemini 7 program, in which Borman and Lovell orbited Earth in their underwear, eating “lots of fruitcake—packaged like unholy sausage links.” Kluger’s extensive research and relatable analogies show how “the levers of the great American moon machine were being thrown.” Launching a “mass of foil origami” takes a village, and such major players as Chris Kraft as well as the crew’s families are brilliantly sketched. Readers will relish Kluger’s multisensory prose, and the whole gamut of space flight comes alive in the details. Moreover, extensive interviews lend authenticity to the dialogue and character sketches. Kluger’s laudable storytelling novelistically conveys the charged politics of the era while revealing difficult technical concepts. (May)