Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight by Jay Barbree

Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight
by Jay Barbree [Biography Armstrong]

Neil Armstrong - the first man to step on the moon. This is not a story of Armstrong's lifelong flight from the police, as a friend jokingly questioned. Rather, this covers his training, his career as a pilot in the Korean War, his NASA career, and his life after he left the space program. There is excellent background on all the Mercury and Gemini flights, and most of the Apollo flights, as well as some of the Soviet flights. We meet most of the astronauts and some of the cosmonauts. We also get a full five enthralling chapters on Apollo 11's historic flight to, and return from, the moon. There are photos on nearly every page, a good many I hadn't seen before and some are very moving. My only complaint - all the photos are black & white. When tragedy struck again, Armstrong returned to NASA briefly as Vice Chairman of the commission that investigated the Challenger accident. Barbree was best friends with Armstrong, good friends with most of the astronauts and we get some good stories. Definitely a bromance with the fliers and the space program but Barbree doesn't cut NASA any slack for its mistakes and later failures. A must-read for the space fan and I defy you to not tear up throughout the telling. -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library [ see Charlotte's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[ official NASA Bio for Neil Armstrong ] | [ Jay Barbree on Wikipedia ]

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