Fallen astronauts : heroes who died reaching for the moon /

Many astronauts died in the early human spaceflight era. Some of these are well known, such as the crew of Apollo 1 (Grissom, White, and Chaffee), who perished in a launch pad accident in 1967. Others are relatively more obscure, such as Elliot See and Charles Bassett, astronauts for Project Gemini, who died in airplane accidents prior to their mission. This book considers both American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts who died in the line of duty prior to 1972. Burgess and Doolan offer a brief biography and personal stories with a focus on the astronauts' passion for their profession. Many of the accidents from the Soviet era were once shrouded in secrecy, but the authors have made extensive use of recently declassified materials to give a perspective on the Russian cosmonauts. The story of the Apollo 1 crew is especially compelling even though it has been told previously. It is well written and will be enjoyed by enthusiasts of the history of spaceflight. Black-and-white photographs. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers. J. Z. Kiss Miami University

Eight of America's early astronauts, selected to participate in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, died while employed by NASA. Three of the eight-Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom and Ed White-are fairly well known, having died in a gruesome fire during a training exercise in the Apollo 1 command module on January 27, 1967. The other five are far less familiar. Four perished in jet crashes (Ted Freeman, Elliot See, Charlie Bassett and C.C. Williams) while one (Ed Givens) died in a car crash. Unfortunately, Burgess (Teacher in Space) and Doolan (coauthor, Mission to Planet Earth) tell their stories in turgid and repetitive prose, failing to dig beneath the surface and thus providing remarkably little insight into the men, their time or the agency for which they worked. Unlike virtually every other book dealing with the personalities of the astronauts, this one leads us to believe that all were single-minded saints, with no human foibles. Rounding out the book is a chapter written by Vis, a Dutch space analyst, detailing the lives and deaths of the eight Soviet cosmonauts who died between 1961 and 1971. This chapter is even weaker than the rest; little meaningful information is presented and there are factual conflicts with the American chapters. While the untimely deaths of good, talented men evoke pathos, these abbreviated biographies do not deepen understanding of them. 37 b&w photos. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.