Customer Reviews

Fallen Astronauts: Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon

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As an astronaut from 1963 to 1971, I was at NASA during the incredible years when mankind went from making short flights in Earth orbit to standing on the surface of the moon. Unfortunately, in those years, we also lost a good number of my astronaut colleagues along the way. This personally affected me most when, as part of the backup crew for Apollo 1, we had to step into their shoes and fly the first manned Apollo flight after their untimely and tragic deaths. The death of Gus Grissom's crew helped make it possible to land a man on the moon on schedule - indeed, it may have saved America's space program - so we cannot consider their deaths to have been in vain. It certainly made our Apollo 7 mission a success. It also reminded the American public that people could and would die in our efforts to explore the heavens.

If you have been a jet fighter pilot for any length of time, you have seen your friends get killed - often - and you build up a certain immunity. I flew with such men and knew them well - men frozen in time now like shadows in old group photos. After several flights with Ted Freeman, I was convinced he was one of our better pilots. C.C. Williams, a big, strapping six-footer who wouldn't let you dislike him, had flying skills that couldn't be faulted. What impressed me most about Charlie Bassett was his discipline, dedication, and fine mechanical skills. I once played a great practical joke on Ed Givens. Elliot See was another friend of mine. My children were playmates with their children, and they noticed that some of Daddy's friends sometimes didn't come home from work.

This book brings these old colleagues and friends of mine back to life, and it is wonderful to see them finally get the attention they deserve in print. I highly recommend this book for a long overdue insight into my old friends and colleagues, who paid the ultimate price for us all.

Burgess and Doolan have written a book that was long overdue. Instead of the usual rehash of facts well known, they have brought to the public the story of these heroes as human beings, people with hopes and dreams, men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country - whether in a plane or automobile crash or in a horrible spacecraft fire. As director of the Apollo One Memorial Foundation, I was particularly pleased with the way they presented the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. However, I knew little of the other astronauts who died. The authors filled this gap in my knowledge in a clear, fact-filled way. Most impressive was the objective way in which they described the loss of the astronauts and cosmonauts, neither laying blame nor sensationalizing the accidents. This book is a must-read.

This is quite simply an outstanding book. In the race to land humans on the Moon, a number of astronauts and cosmonauts died, and many were quickly forgotten. They have been missing from the pages of the history books - until now. This book brings their personalities to life in warm detail, drawing on unprecedented cooperation from the families, it seems. For the first time, I have come to know the stories of men who, if not for unfortunate accidents, would have been some of the most famous names in American history. You get to know them as people, their good and bad sides, their failings but mostly their incredible professionalism and dedication. One of the decade's most important space books, and a must-have for anyone interested in the subject.

... until I read this book. With so many books out there about space flight, particularly the 1960s, I thought all the stories were told. But I was wrong.

This book tells the previously unknown stories of the men who would have been famous, if they hadn't died in tragic accidents before reaching their career peaks as astronauts and cosmonauts. Many have only been footnotes in the history books, and it is wonderful to see them finally come to life as fleshed-out humans, fascinating personalities whose lives were cut short all too soon. This is an essential book for anyone who thinks they had the whole story - they didn't, until now.

Poignant, moving, and absorbingly informative, "Fallen Astronauts" is an extraordinary, lasting tribute to America's astronauts and the Soviet Union's cosmonauts who reached for the moon, but tragically lost their lives while pursuing their goal. Equally important, authors Colin Burgess, Kate Doolan, and Bert Vis tell of the wrenching but inspiring effects of the fallen heroes losses on the lives of loved ones left behind, stories seldom told in accounts of the brave and courageous.

While readers receive a capsule history of the early, pioneering days in the race to the moon, the book's mini-biographies tell us of the backgrounds, personalities, young lives, and good humor of those who risked so much and dared so magnificently. The depth and breadth of research and writing are evident, making clear to readers that each astronaut contributed greatly to advancing the mission, though their lives were grievously brief. Recollections of them by their wives and children, and the remarkable tributes on the surface of the moon by fellow astronauts, are touching, and bring warmth and balance to stories otherwise forever lost in the sparkling magic of space travel and discovery.

"Fallen Astronauts" is a joy to read and adds a memorably eloquent dimension to the spectacular triumphs in space exploration.

.. this book was one of the most moving I have ever written. It takes you right to the heart of these forgotten men, and makes you realize just how important they were. It also appalled me to read that Ed Givens is still missing from the Astronaut Memorial, and I have decided to write to my political representatives about this. Any book that could move me this much must be good. But don't take my word for it - when you have astronauts posting reviews on Amazon.com (see other reviews here), you know it must be a good book!

A very impressive book, especially given that it was authored partly from Australia and over 30 years after these astronauts had died. The authors have done a (generally) excellent job with their research. It was especially interesting to learn what became of the widows once they left the "astronaut family". If there is one fault with the book, it is the inconsistency with which those stories about the widows were told. It would have been nice to have complete stories about all the widows, but this may well have been due to the sensitivities of the families. I thought the lack of any reference to Pat White's ultimate suicide (if I recall correctly) years after Ed White's death was an important omission. One of the other astronaut biographies (it may have been Walt Cunningham's All American Boys) mentions that sad event in passing, attributing it to her feelings of loss after White's death in Apollo 1.

The chapter about Ed Givens is, perhaps, one of the most important in the book. Of all the astronaut deaths in the 1960s, this one has always been given the least attention, simply because it was not due to spacecraft accident (Grissom, White, Chaffee) or aircraft accident (Freeman, Bassett, See, Williams). It was almost seen as not having been in the line of duty (which of course it was). I, for one, felt Ed Givens's story always deserved more attention.

Overall, a great book and a refreshingly (although tragic) new slant on an era that has been generally well covered in other biographies and texts. Well done to all concerned.

"Fallen Astronauts" is a long overdue book on the astronauts and cosmonauts who died during the race to the moon. Colin Burgess and Kate Doolan (with assistance from the remarkable Bert Vis in the area of the Soviet space program casualties) have written a magnificent book, which serves as both a tribute and a historical accounting of the astronauts who died in the space race. The book is full of rare facts and biographical insights which were in danger of being lost forever, but thanks to these authors and the University of Nebraska (Bison Books), they are now preserved for future space historians and enthusiasts.

The book covers all the fatalities in the US space program up through the death of C. C. Williams on 5 October 1967, plus the Soviet fatalities from the same era. Bert Vis has done extraordinary work uncovering the history of the Soviet space fatalities, which were (and to a degree still are) hidden in secrecy. The passing of Valentin Bondarenko is especially painful to recount, not only for the tragic circumstances and disturbing details of his death, but for the realization that had the USSR been more open about the hazards of working in a pressurized 100 percent oxygen atmosphere, the deaths of Grissom, White, and Chaffee might have been prevented.

This book is both detailed and concise. It provides genuine insight into these men who paid the ultimate price for space exploration, and recounts their lives and deaths with compassion, accuracy, and a sense of gratitude. The book easily deserves five stars, and I recommend it without any reservations.

Hard to put down - nice to read about the person not just the astronaut!

Great that the families had a say in the final copy.

If you grew up in the 1960s and could name every astronaut and recount the details of each Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo mission (or, if you didn't), this outstanding work is a very important milestone and accurate record that enables us to remember the sacrifices made to reach the Moon. In great detail from the impressive research conducted by the authors, this book provides very rare insights into the lives of Astronauts Freeman, See, Bassett, Grissom, White, Chaffee, Givens, Williams, and the cosmonauts from the former Soviet Union. The book also dispels some rumors with respect to the accidents that took the lives of these skilled pilots and astronauts, as many of those rumors have been reported, merely repeated, and accepted in other accounts unfortunately as facts.

Thank you for reminding us of a time when America tackled a monumental challenge, and allowing us to be more fully grateful for the lives lived and lost so that we could meet that national challenge and extend the spirit of exploration to the heavens.