Moon Shot, by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton

NOTE: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of man's walk on the moon, my book groups are reading books about the space program.

Project Mercury – one man per flight	Gemini – two men per flight Ten manned flights in 20 months
Scott Carpenter Gordon Cooper John Glenn - first man to orbit earth Virgil “Gus” Grissom - died in Apollo 1 Walter Schirra - only one to fly in all three programs Alan Shepard – first man in space, 9 hours on moon with Apollo 14 Deke Slayton	Gemini 3: Grissom, Young Gemini 4: McDivitt, White (died in Apollo 1) Gemini 5: Cooper, Conrad Gemini 6: Schirra, Stafford Gemini 7: Borman, Lovell Gemini 8: Armstrong (first man on moon), Scott Gemini 9: Stafford, Cernan Gemini 10: Young, Collins Gemini 11: Conrad, Gordon Gemini 12: Lovell, Aldrin
Apollo – three men per flight	Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Apollo 1: Grissom, White, Chaffee – died in cabin fire Apollo 7: Schirra, Cunningham, Eislele Apollo 8: Borman, Lovell, Anders – first to orbit moon Apollo 9: McDivitt, Scott, Schweiker Apollo 10: Stafford, Young, Cernan Apollo 11: Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins Apollo 12: Conrad, Bean, Gordon Apollo 13: Lovell, Swigert, Haise Apollo 14: Shepard, Roosa, Mitchell Apollo 15: Scott, Irwin, Worden Apollo 16: Young, Duke, Mattingly Apollo 17: Cernan, Schmitt, Evans	Stafford Slayton Brand Leonov - Russian Kubasov - Russian

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition of book.

1. After his flight, Alan Shepard and his wife were invited to the White House to meet with the President Kennedy.  As he was taken to the National Association of Broadcasters convention and a parade in Washington DC, Shepard felt he was being used and that the president was “…showing off a war trophy named Shepard, and it smelled” (page 131).  Was he justified in this feeling?  Was it a necessary evil for the space program to continue?
2. Do you think the role the wives of the astronauts played would be different today?  Do we hear about any of the current wives?
3. During John Glenn’s flight a problem developed that “…his life was in jeopardy” (page 148).  The decision was made not to tell him about the problem at first, which angered Glenn.  Do you think he should have been told sooner, even though there was nothing he could do?
4. In the first chapter about Apollo 11, there was a computer alert as the Eagle was approaching the moon. It fell to 26-year-old Steve Bales (the guidance officer, knowledgeable about all computers on board) to make the final call (page19-21).  How hard was it for Bales to make the call to continue?
5. Apollo 8 was called “…the single greatest gamble in space flight then, and since” (page 229).  Was the gamble justified?
6. Both Shepard and Slayton were eliminated from flying because of medical conditions.  How were they able to stay with the program after such disappointments?  Was it worth it for both of them to risk medical procedures to be able to fly again?
7. Were you surprised that the astronauts were able to sleep?  On page 223, Frank Borman was in such a deep sleep that at first, upon waking, he did not know where he was.
8. Discuss the character of Deke Slayton.  When Apollo 13 had trouble, he broke the rules and talked directly to the astronauts who were reassured by hearing his voice. When he was medically cleared for flight, he refused to bump someone who had already been assigned a flight even though he had seniority and could do so.
9. The authors described two different reactions of astronauts on Apollo 14 to seeing earth from space.  Why did the authors choose to highlight these two?  Do you think any of the other astronauts felt differently or had the same experience?
1. Alan Shepard felt he was there to take home the message “…that everyone there must learn to live on this planet together” (page 311).
2. Ed Mitchell was “…swept along by a peak experience in which the presence of divinity became almost palpable” (page 311) and “…the universe has meaning and direction” (page 312).
10. Discuss the writing style, particularly with both authors writing about themselves in the third person as opposed to an autobiography.
11. If you had the chance, would you go into space?

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First Semester Success: 2nd edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available as an eBook and  hard copy from  amazon.com and a hard copy from wordassociation.com.   Click on the upper right link.