Good story from John Young (Apollo 10 and 16)

[Eric Mc]

I videoed it off the TV back when it was shown (around 1983 or so) and I've seen it on you tube since. He has a tendency to answer every question with a clipped "Yup" or "Nope".

If only our politicians were as economical with their wordage - or as direct.

[budfox]

speedtwelve said:

John Young always seemed to me the 'coolest' of the astronauts in an "Aw shucks, it was nothin'" kind of way. He comes across as introverted and self-deprecating, but has the most astonishing flying CV.

I was really looking forward to his book, but was disappointed on reading it. Dry and matter-of-fact to the point of being dull. No real sense of 'what it was like'. Very heavy handed with detail on spacecraft and navigation/rendezvous systems to the point of reading like an engineering textbook. I'm a professional pilot with an engineering degree and felt like I was back in the classroom rather than enjoying the story. I can only take so much description of state vectors and DSKY programming.

Mike Collins' excellent Carrying the Fire, Mullane's Riding Rockets and Gene Cernan's Last Man on the Moon were far more entertaining for me. Much more of a human element to those. Would be epic to spend an evening in a pub with them.

Carrying the Fire is excellent for sure. I've just ordered another four books in my drunken state, one of which is "All American Boys" and another is "Deke!"

So many great books to be had for just a few pounds.

[Eric Mc]

Finished "Deke" over the weekend. It was extremely enjoyable and enlightening. Slayton was a real "man's man".

Now started on "Foerever Young" and really enjoying it so far.

[Warmfuzzies]

I have a signed copy of riding rockets 😀😀