Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth

A celebration of the Apollo eleven moon landing—the fascinating story of twelve astronauts who ventured to space with interviews of nine of the surviving men.

The Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 1970s have been called the last optimistic acts of the twentieth century. Twelve astronauts made this greatest of all journeys and were indelibly marked by it, for better or for worse. Journalist Andrew Smith tracks down the nine surviving members of this elite group to find their answers to the question “Where do you go after you've been to the Moon?”

A thrilling blend of history, reportage, and memoir, Moondust rekindles the hopeful excitement of an incandescent hour in America's past when anything seemed possible as it captures the bittersweet heroism of those who risked everything to hurl themselves out of the known world—and who were never again quite able to accept its familiar bounds.

“Fascinating. A wonderful book.” —David Bowie

“Highly entertaining . . . [Smith’s] superb book is fitting tribute to a unique band of twentieth-century heroes.” —GQ

“It left me spellbound . . . belongs to the same tradition as Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff.” —Sunday Times (London)

“Spellbinding . . . a provocative meditation on lunar travel and humanity’s relation to space.” —Business Week

“Smith’s book is an engrossing read, full of humor, insight, and appreciation for the vision and outright zaniness that marked the only human mission to another world.” —Space Daily

“Forget flower power, the Beatles and Beach Boys . . . what made the 1960s an unforgettable decade was the conquest of space.” —The Guardian, Best Books of the Season

© 2023 Harper Perennial (Ebook): 9780062968685

Release date

Ebook: 21 November 2023