On the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing comes a novel in which a Jewish astronaut must reassess his moral compass when forced to confront NASA's early collaboration with Nazis and the role it may have played in his father's death. Jonathan Stein, the CEO of Apollo Aeronautics, is an ambitious polymath who has spent a lifetime determined to accomplish two tasks: First, to complete his father's unfulfilled mission to reach the moon, and second, to forge a relationship with the reclusive Neil Armstrong. Despite a heart condition, he's on the verge of his first goal, but has gotten nowhere with the second. Armstrong has never responded to any of Jonathan's dozens of letters. Avi Stein was an Israeli pilot specially chosen to command Apollo 18 in 1974, but suffered a fatal heart attack before launch. Now, months from being able to realize his father's dream, Jonathan discovers a "lunar hoax" conspiracy website offering a disturbing reason for Armstrong's silence: He knows Jonathan's father didn't die of natural causes. While researching his father's last days in the National Archives, Jonathan expects to confirm the official cause of death, but what he uncovers instead is a motive for murder. To get to the truth, Jonathan must confront Dale Lunden, his father's best friend and the last man on the moon.

While many children grow up with the dream of becoming an astronaut, Patrick Mullane grew up the child of one. In The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle: Growing Up an Astronaut's Kid in the Glorious 80s, Mullane shares his unique and outrageous coming-of-age tale. It is a tale about his father's unusual astronaut profession, a secret long-held by his mother, and his often-hilarious efforts to be a person of consequence. In 1978, when Mullane was ten years old, his father, Mike Mullane, was chosen in the very first group of space shuttle astronauts - a group that included Sally Ride and four members of the Challenger crew who were lost when it tore apart in 1986. In The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle, he tells of how his father's profession defined him, first as a young boy hopping from military base to military base with his parents and two sisters, and then as a pimple-faced, unknown nerd in a large Houston high school where he often felt like one of the pathetic underdog characters in a John Hughes film of the day. The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle is about Mullane trying to be a hero in his own world as he believed his father and his pop culture idols - Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker - were in theirs. While unequivocally a memoir, Mullane weaves into his story a non-technical history of the early space shuttle program as seen through the eyes of somebody who witnessed that history in an intimate way. From the opening scene describing his dad's first launch attempt when a failure led Mullane to believe he had witnessed his father's death three miles distant, to the description of the day Challenger exploded and three of his high school classmates lost a parent, to stories of Sally Ride having a beer after work in his backyard, Mullane shares with readers a perspective that has yet to be explored in any book and does so with an infusion of 80s pop culture and colorful real-life characters that will leave readers nostalgic for a decade that shaped the millions. But more than anything, The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle is a story of the love between a father and son - a love shaped by a mutual wonder at the magnificence of the world, the majesty of the universe, and the beauty of flight.

Discusses activities astronauts do while they're in space.

Blast-off! Up into the shy goes the space shuttle. Into orbit, the astronauts get a taste of ready-to-eat food, experience zero gravity, go for space walks, and even fix a satellite. It's fun to fly aboard the shuttle...and then come back to earth. ‘A young girl declares her longing to ‘fly on the shuttle into outer space.’ The familiar acts of eating, sleeping, and working become intense and special as she and the rest of the crew go about their business. The illustrations positively glow in this simple, lyrical picture book that will have nearly everyone off and flying.’ —SLJ. Notable Children's Book of 1988 (ALA) 1988 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book) Best Illustrated Children's Books of 1988 (NYT) Oustanding Science Trade Books for Children 1988 (NSTA/CBC)

Do you have what it takes to be an astronaut? Blast off in this fun nonfiction picture book by the author of Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum to find out! With an appealing text and funny, brightly colored illustrations, Meghan McCarthy transports aspiring space travelers to astronaut school in her young nonfiction picture book. Take a ride on the “Vomit Comet” and learn how it feels to be weightless. Try a bite of astronaut food, such as delicious freeze-dried ice cream. Have your measurements taken—100 of your hand alone—for your very own space suit. Get ready for liftoff! “McCarthy introduces the paraphernalia of rocket travel with a corollary, direct humor that understands and respects its audience.” —Booklist “This appealing book is sure to find a wide audience.” —School Library Journal

The Man You Never Knew You Knew It’s one of the most powerful and popular images in the history of space exploration: an astronaut in a snow-white spacesuit, untethered and floating alone in an expanse of blue. Bruce McCandless II is the man in that spacesuit, and Wonders All Around: The Incredible True Story of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II and the First Untethered Flight in Space is the thoroughly engrossing, extensively researched story of his inspiring life and groundbreaking accomplishments, as told by his son, a gifted writer and storyteller. Bruce McCandless II, a Navy fighter pilot, joined NASA in 1966. He was Houston’s capsule communicator—the person talking to the astronauts—as Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind in 1969. McCandless supported subsequent Apollo flights and developed technology and techniques his fellow astronauts used during the Skylab program, working behind the scenes until he was chosen to ride Challenger into space on the tenth shuttle mission. When he stepped into the cosmos to test the Manned Maneuvering Unit, he became a space flight icon. But the road to that incredible feat was not the sure bet it should have been for such a gifted man. Bruce McCandless II was an astronaut for 24 years, and his story encompasses the development of the space agency itself—the changes in focus, in personnel, in approach, and in the city of Houston that grew up with it. Wonders All Around is more than a catalogue of McCandless’s extraordinary achievements, which included work on the design, deployment, and repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. It is also a tale of perseverance and devotion. Recounted with insight and humor, this book explores the relationship between a father and a son, men of two very different generations. And finally, it is an exploration of the mindset of one unique individual, and the courage, imagination, and tenacity that propelled him and his country to their place in the forefront of space history. From Wonders All Around: "Bruce McCandless turned his Jeep around and screeched out of the cul-de-sac in front of our house for the ten-minute drive to the space center. The moon, a waxing crescent, was standing thirty degrees above the western horizon, and my father slipped into a sort of reverie as he sped toward it on NASA Road One. The moon floated serene and imperturbable in front of him like a black-and-white photograph of itself, Earth’s gravitational remora, her pale silent sister, movie star and legend, goddess and mirage. Bruce McCandless had just turned thirty-two. He was an engineer, a true son of science, a distant nephew of Sir Isaac Newton. He knew the formulas required for achieving orbital velocity, could tell you the fuel mixtures you needed, the stages and timing of rocket-booster separations. He brushed sentiments away like so many spider webs. But even he was having trouble believing that human beings—his colleagues and friends—were up there in the sky, getting ready to do something no one had ever done before. He was going to be part of it. He would be talking to two men as they walked on the moon. The young astronaut hadn’t quite reached his lifelong goal of touching the lunar surface, but he was close. He was almost there. He could feel it."

"These nine ... stories, all set in and around Cape Canaveral, showcase Patrick Ryan's ... understanding of regret and hope, relationships and family, and the universal longing for love"--Amazon.com.

Neil Armstrong's journey to the moon is the focus of the fifteenth picture book in the New York Times bestselling series of biographies about heroes. This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great--the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of one of America's icons in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction readers and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. At the back are an excellent timeline and photos. This volume tells the story of Neil Armstrong from his childhood on a farm to a career as an engineer and pilot and how he became the first person on the moon. All of the small steps he took in life—even his failures—led up to his steps on the moon.

"Astronaut Clayton Anderson lived aboard the International Space Station--and while he didn't mail letters home, imagine if he did! These letters are full of weird science, wild facts, and outrageous true stories from life in space. Backmatter includes even more information on space, astronauts, and living among the stars"--

When America's first astronauts launched into outer space, Tony Jenzano helped them learn to navigate by the stars. As the leader of a big planetarium in a small town, Tony was the man who made the stars shine. Without Tony, NASA's first space travelers would have been lost in space.