
For those who aren't already well-versed with the chapter in history, David Sington's documentary about the Apollo space program is an invaluable document; those who are will find this appendix—focused more on personality than mission trivia—a touching appendix to earlier accounts. For his
In the Shadow of the Moon, Sington rounds up all of the living Apollo astronauts, save for Neal Armstrong, as well as a treasure trove of NASA mission footage. The men's comments range from the emotional to the spiritual to the philosophical—their perspectives are never mundane, and invariably garrulous. Sington gets the astronauts to venture into some surprising areas, like guilt over sitting out Vietnam. If there's an unavoidable "greatest next generation" tone here, it's justified by the men Tom Wolfe pegged as having "the Right Stuff."