Flying to the Moon and other strange places / Michael Collins.

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Kirkus Book Review

Michael Collins is the astronaut whose Carrying the Fire (1974, adult) was so widely praised, and here he demonstrates once again a knack for bringing the experience of space flight into human scale. For Collins, who is still whimsical enough to name Cyrano de Bergerac as his favorite astronaut, flying to the moon was simply the ""best job"" he could imagine having. His Gemini walk in space is undoubtedly the high point here--he once overshot his target on a mid-space jump and felt himself floating out into the void; still, just the right note of informality is struck by his descriptions of his career as an Air Force pilot and his astronaut training, where geology field trips, classroom work, and physical conditioning figured more prominently than simulated free fall. Not all readers will share Collins' faith in the future of the space program--nor his dream of Libra, a utopian artificial planet that might be constructed in earth orbit--but we can all be grateful that the first crew to reach the moon included a born storyteller. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.