Rocket Men

Archival Summary & Scope

*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*. Robert Kurson's *Rocket Men* delivers the gripping, inside story of the audacious Apollo 8 mission—humanity's first journey to orbit the Moon.

In August 1968, with America's space program faltering and President Kennedy's lunar deadline looming, NASA made an unprecedented, high-stakes decision: scrap their methodical approach and launch three men to the Moon in just four months, by Christmas. Against a backdrop of national turmoil, commander Frank Borman, idealistic Jim Lovell, and rookie Bill Anders—along with their families—raced against time and immense danger.

Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, Kurson crafts a definitive, real-life thriller, revealing the epic dangers and extraordinary courage required for mankind to leave Earth for the first time and arrive at a new world.