Carrying the Fire
An Astronaut's Journeys
Collins, Michael (NASA Astronaut)
Michael Collins was Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 11 mission that brought the fist humans onto the surface of our moon. With a Foreword by Charles A. Lindbergh. For more than a decade, the world watched man hurtling into space, experiencing new dimensions, walking where no one had gone before, and we asked: "What's it like up there?" Michael Collins, the Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 astronaut, answers the question. In this remarkable book, he captures, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humor of one of man's greatest adventures: Collins may well become the Saint-Exupery of space flight. Carrying the Fire is a pilot's odyssey in which Collins traces his development from his first flight experiences in the Air Force, through his days as a test pilot, to his flight in the incredibly complex Apollo 11. He presents an evocative picture of the joys of flight - the union of man, technology, and the elements. The description of the testing that aspiring astronauts must undergo is as fascinating as that of his later education, which included navigation, geology, and jungle survival. He describes the Houston space Community, and details the preparation and testing of the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft and their support Systems - making complex technical material easily comprehensible. He also gives candid portraits of his fellow astronauts: Armstrong, Aldrin, Stafford, Shepard, Borman, Glenn, and others. Collins's account of the Gemini 10 mission belies the theory that astronauts are automatons at the mercy of ground control. His space walk carries the reader into a bizarre and alien environment. Following Gemini 10, Collins was assigned to the crew of Apollo 11 for the first manned moon landing, probably the most closely watched event in the history of man. In Carrying the Fire Collins takes us with him to the moon, but in a way other accounts have never done. The concluding chapter tells how space flight has altered Collins's perceptions - his senses of time, light, and movement have changed as a result of his seeing a fragile earth from a great distance. Our world and his have gained a new perspective, one not likely to be forgotten.
Hardcover
482 Seiten / pages
many photos
very good condition,
New York - 1974 - Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Art.Nr. 1267
