Donald K. Slayton (1924–1993)

A collection of memoirs "by THE ASTRONAUTS themselves" (it says so on the cover) from the original Mercury 7 in 1962. A fascinating historical account of their backgrounds (including John Glenn's Korean war stories), training (including the MASTIF device in Cleveland that spins you on three axes simultaneously - even the expression head over heels doesn't do it justice), technical information about the capsule and boosters (you have to keep reminding yourself what they called a computer was in the early 60s), and tense descriptions of the ballistic and orbital missions with all of the various human and mechanical malfunctions. Not that easy to read since the authors were engineers and all had the same outlook, and the book must have passed through some editor or ghostwriter's hands since there is a slightly numbing uniformity.… (meer)

If you want to read a book about the author, life in the war, or NASA (including one of the original astronauts and how his life was changed), then this book is one to add to your list. Deke passed away due to a brain tumour in 1993, this book was published in 1994.

"until I was in my thirties, I was always Don Slayton. Nobody called me Deke until I became a test pilot at Edwards in the 1950s"

Content warning for this book: war, death

As always with older books, some words have a different meaning today, or you would use something else. That doesn't take away too much from the book, but it may make you stop and wonder what the author means.

"It was maybe sixty hours from the Agena failure to White House approval. That was how things got done in those days."

This book is heavy detailed, which can be great for some but a slow read for others. Skipping some of the details doesn't detract from the overall book.

"In those days we did all our academic work—running all our performance numbers—on little hand calculators or slide rules. Today guys in test pilot school are sitting there with laptops. They can do more real-time calculating in five minutes than we could do in a six-month course."

"Marge got the idea that it might be good if everyone got to know each other better, so she organized the Astronaut Wives Club with Frank Borman’s wife, Sue"

The beginning of many chapters were weird, after a bit you realized they were quotes from someone in Deke's life. I don't think those quotes needed to be there, as they didn't add to the current point in the story.

The book does touch on some things that could have been different if x happened. And it touches on the highs and lows. It also just ends, then going into quotes of praise and acknowledgements.

"But that made five funerals in one year"

"Someone took a picture of me dozing at the console at the one-hundred-hour point in the mission. My own copy has an inscription from Jim, Jack, and Fred “thanking” me for my attention."

"People think that being an astronaut is all flying missions, but most of the job was just tedious work"… (meer)

New York Times bestseller for fans of First Man: A “breathtaking” insider history of NASA’s space program—from astronauts Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton (Entertainment Weekly).
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation’s most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA’s effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the twentieth century’s greatest feat—landing humans on another world. Collaborating with NBC’s veteran spa...… (meer)