Biographies About
Astounding Astronauts

Blast off with adventures of rocket scientists and bold explorers who dared
to shoot for the moon—and soared through space.

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....

Mike Massimino's childhood space dreams were born the day Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Growing up in a working-class Long Island family, he catapulted himself to Columbia....

Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space....

A stunning memoir from the astronaut who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station....

Without John C. Houbolt, a mid-level engineer at NASA, Apollo 11 would never have made it to the moon. Top NASA engineers on the project, including Werner Von Braun, strongly advocated for a single, huge spacecraft to travel to the moon, land, and return to Earth....

Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades....

The riveting inside story of three heroic astronauts who took on the challenge of mankind's historic first mission to the moon, from the best-selling author of Shadow Divers....

An epic memoir from a man whose life is defined by exploration and innovation....

At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969, time stood still throughout the world, as thousands converged at the Kennedy Space Center and millions tuned in on live television. Apollo 11 was on its way to a historic first landing on the Moon....

The phenomenal true story of the Black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space....

In Carrying the Fire, Michael Collins conveys, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humor of the adventure of reaching the moon....

When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong....

Forty years ago, Buzz Aldrin became the second human, minutes after Neil Armstrong, to set foot on a celestial body other than the Earth....

In 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts was introduced to the world - 29 men and six women who would carry NASA through the most tumultuous years of the program....

The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program....

Leland Melvin is the only person in human history to catch a pass in the National Football League and in space....

The Los Angeles Times headline screamed: Rocket Scientist Killed in Pasadena Explosion. The man known as Jack Parsons, a maverick rocketeer who helped transform a derided sci-fi plotline into actuality, was at first mourned as a scientific prodigy, but....

Much has been written about Neil Armstrong, America's modern hero and history's most famous space traveler....

Based on his historic mission to the International Space Station, Ask an Astronaut is Tim Peake's guide to life in space....

The Astronaut Wives Club tells the real story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history....