Acclaimed author, poet, and NASA historian Bruce McCandless III (“The Wonders Around Us”), the son of Gemini, Apollo, and shuttle astronauts, navigated the thunder of the Apollo-era rocket and shuttle programs grew up in the roaring sound Bruce McCandless IIhe became the first person to make the famous untethered flight in space February 7, 1984 The spacewalk was one of his many highlights at NASA.
Now, McCandless III has teamed up with acclaimed space journalist and podcaster Emily Carney to launch an informal and informative new book focused on history of human spaceflight The book, titled “Star Bound,” arrives on January 1, 2025 from the University of Nebraska Press.
The full title of this comprehensive book, Star Trek: A Beginner’s Guide to America’s Space Program, From Goddard Rockets to Goldilocks Planet and Everything in Between,” is a mouthful, but in 296 pages it sums up our nation’s fascination with rockets as they continue to evolve, providing lift for babies into outer space, lunar missions, dreams of Mars and beyond.
We caught up with McCandless at his home in Nacogdoches, Texas, to learn more about the origins of Star Bound and hear his story about growing up as the son of an astronaut .
“Well, I think my motivation was reading a book called The Soviet Union in Space by Colin Burgess, which gave an overview of the Soviet space program,” he told Space.com. “I think this book is very well done. It’s smart but very technical and covers a lot of ground. I wondered if the U.S. space program could do this. I was surprised to find that there are some very large books in which Some are noteworthy, but now out of date, but not much in the way of a moderately sized general introduction to the U.S. space program.
“There are also a lot of books on specific topics, and you can delve into a variety of topics as much as you want, including hardware and personality. We wanted to create something for people who are educated but who are a little intimidated by the terminology and some of the gatekeeping associated with the program terminology and those who are so into ‘inside baseball’ that it’s hard to talk about in a general sense.
McCandless divided labor with Carney to achieve a smooth synthesis of ideas.
“She’s a big advocate for the space program and is very interested in getting more women involved, not just in those programs but as interested viewers and reporters. So we try to keep a balance in that. She has a certain relatability , and she was a big Skylab fan in the 1970s and was familiar with some of the early space shuttle stuff.
“She co-hosted a podcast called ‘Spaces and Things’ with Dave Giles for three years and produced 150 episodes. They interviewed a lot of people and we ended up doing it on our The book uses considerable interviews with astronauts, engineers and mission controllers to provide much of the raw material.
Growing up in the shadow of the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston gave his father’s career ample opportunity to be involved in NASA operations.
“He was selected for the program when I was five years old,” McCandless recalled. “He was working on his PhD at Stanford University, and when he was selected, we moved from Palo Alto to a suburb of Houston, Texas. So I was involved in the entire Apollo program and then Skylab and the Space Shuttle. I wasn’t really interested in that kind of thing at the time, but I absorbed a lot of space history and knowledge by listening to my father’s lectures and him discussing the projects he was involved in.
“He had never flown in a plane until I went to England for graduate school, so I didn’t see his first launch. We grew up with the legacy that he never quite got the chance he deserved, This is one of the reasons why, back in 2021, I wrote the book Miracles Are Everywhere.
“This new book is an informal, pop-culture-referenced, and sometimes acerbic way to explore space history that we hope will appeal to some young people as well.”
Star Bound will launch on January 1, 2025, and is now available for pre-order on Amazon.
The following is the official detailed introduction:
“Journey to the Stars is a book for anyone who wants to learn about the U.S. space program but doesn’t know where to start. First and foremost, it’s a history—short, sweet, and simple. From Rocket Pioneers Robert Goddard’s Original Flight From the 1926 test to the creation of NASA, from our first landing on the moon to building the International Space Station to planning a trip to Mars, readers will meet the men and women who put America at the forefront of space exploration people and plans.
• How the United States defeated the Soviet Union in landing on the moon
• Why astronauts float in space (hint: it’s not due to lack of gravity!)
• How fast does a rocket need to go to stay in orbit around the Earth?
• How we can “look back” through space telescopes
“With the development of science and technology and the continuous expansion of mankind’s understanding of the universe, we are entering an exciting period of space exploration. “Stars and Seas” was created by two senior space writers with unique insights on the subject, focusing on the American people Stories in space.
“Star Bound is energetic, positive, humorous, and filled with facts and stories for the novice space fan. History is also dotted with lists of the greatest space songs, books, movies, and more – all dedicated to space exploration. designed.