
Boldly into the Darkness
A NASA Flight Directors Inside Stories from the Gemini, Apollo, and Shuttle Eras
Rod Pyle(Author)
Gerry Griffin(Co-Author)
Smithsonian Books (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 2. February 2027
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-58834-831-9 (ISBN)
Description
A never-before-told story from a NASA insider—experience the highs and lows of the golden era of spaceflight through the eyes of a former Apollo flight director
Features a foreword from Hollywood's space buff Tom Hanks
As a flight director for all of the Apollo program’s crewed missions, Gerry Griffin was instrumental in the Apollo 11 landing, the rescue of the Apollo 13 crew, and the successes of Apollo missions 12, 15, and 17, for which he served as lead flight director. His storied NASA career took him through the Gemini program, Apollo missions, and the shuttle era before he became the director of the Johnson Space Center. Space historian and author Rod Pyle worked with Griffin to recount incredible and untold stories from across his NASA years in the fascinating Boldly into the Darkness, including:
Griffin’s reflections are a transportive, insider’s look at what it was like to work on vital missions. Boldly into the Darkness is a valuable record of the glory days of space exploration and of a man who helped lead NASA through unexpected challenges and groundbreaking accomplishments.
Features a foreword from Hollywood's space buff Tom Hanks
As a flight director for all of the Apollo program’s crewed missions, Gerry Griffin was instrumental in the Apollo 11 landing, the rescue of the Apollo 13 crew, and the successes of Apollo missions 12, 15, and 17, for which he served as lead flight director. His storied NASA career took him through the Gemini program, Apollo missions, and the shuttle era before he became the director of the Johnson Space Center. Space historian and author Rod Pyle worked with Griffin to recount incredible and untold stories from across his NASA years in the fascinating Boldly into the Darkness, including:
- Early and challenging days of Project Gemini where missions flew within weeks of one another and plans changed abruptly
- The tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire, the investigations, and its impact on the program and workforce
- The daring adventure that was Apollo 8, which flew the unproven Saturn V rocket and orbited the Moon for the first time
- White-knuckle experiences working in Mission Control
Griffin’s reflections are a transportive, insider’s look at what it was like to work on vital missions. Boldly into the Darkness is a valuable record of the glory days of space exploration and of a man who helped lead NASA through unexpected challenges and groundbreaking accomplishments.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Washington, DC
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
50 B&W IMAGES
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
567 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-58834-831-9 (9781588348319)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
ROD PYLE is an author, journalist, and editor-in-chief of Ad Astra magazine. He has written extensively for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including their annual Technology Highlights book, and has written 20 nonfiction books on space history, exploration, and development, as well as 20th-century history. GERRY GRIFFIN is an American aeronautical engineer and former NASA official, who served as a flight director during the Apollo program and director of Johnson Space Center.