The Mission of a Lifetime

April 22, 2019
Hero, a former investigative reporter for NBC, shares stirring reflections from nine of the 12 surviving astronauts, out of 24 in all, who walked on or orbited the moon. Mostly former test pilots, they had to prove themselves, through a battery of tests and interviews, to be brave but not daredevils, confident but not arrogant, and independent but also team players. Hero highlights how they conquered fear—during the Apollo 12 moon landing, pilot Alan Bean concentrated on his instrument panel, not the lunar surface outside his window—and were irrevocably changed by their experiences. For instance, when the Apollo 8 crew broke away from Earth’s gravitational field and looked back on the planet, they had a new sense, in astronaut Jim Lovell’s words, of “how insignificant we really are.” Hero takes care to give due credit to NASA, for how it “simulated every conceivable scenario” before missions, solved problems (ensuring the Apollo 13 astronauts’ survival after an explosion onboard damaged the spacecraft), and handled disasters (the fire on Apollo I that killed three astronauts). The astronauts’ humility, leadership, and belief in the common good shine through this lucid portrait, an inspiring book for any earthling. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor.