[Closed] Books about early manned space flight

I enjoyed the Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe

Andrew Chaikin's Man on the Moon Is pretty much the gold standard where Apollo is concerned.

'Carrying the fire' is good, 'A Fall of Moondust' looks at the Apollo astronauts' lives after.

How Apollo flew to the Moon Is great if you're a tech loser like me, lots of nuts and bolts stuff there.

+1 For Chaikin. Don’t get much time to read but listened to the audiobook this summer. Enjoyed it so much I listened to it all again straight after I’d finished the first run through.

I have a coffee table picture book called “Full Moon” which doesn’t have much text but some truly fantastic images from the Gemini and Apollo era.

'Starman' by Piers Bizony about Gagarin. Really good insight into the early Russian space missions.

not a history book obviously, and it's spinning off in a different direction entirely from what you are asking! 😆 But it kinda fits the 'pioneers' part of the request, but read 'the Martian', the film is great and the book is brilliant too.

Second Andrew Chaikin’s Man on the Moon. Mega.

Michael Collins "Carrying the Fire" and if you just want to watch it "In the Shadow of the Moon" is superb. No CGI and no narration other than the voices of the Apollo astronauts themselves. Gives me goosebumps.

Then go an buy yourself the Lego Saturn V.

First Man, the Neil Armstrong biography is good, as is Failure is not an Option by Gene Kranz (NASA flight director), although the latter is towards the more technical end of the spectrum and can be a little hard-going. First Man delves into the history of NASA before it was NASA, when it was NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics).

+1 on Carrying the Fire as well.

It's not just the early stuff but I enjoyed Two Sides of the Moon by Alexey Leonov and David Scott.

Moonwalk One

I have a copy of https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0471291056/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Xh1fCbWYAT56 E">Countdown - it covers space flight from the early rocket experiments through the manned space programmes. It's a fascinating read about the space race and the background to all the people and technology that made it happen.

As mentioned above, Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe is a brilliant insight.

Failure Is Not an Option : Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13

Another vote for Failure Is Not An Option.

Moon Shot is quite good too, but I ended up not particularly liking Al Shepherd by the end of it.

Thanks very much! Some great additions to my Christmas list.

Beener

And another vote for The Right Stuff. Excellent book.