Son of Apollo: The Adventures of a Boy Whose Father Went to the Moon

by Christopher A. Roosa, James Lovell (Foreword by)

Overview

Christopher A. Roosa grew up the eldest son of Apollo 14 astronaut and command module pilot Stuart A. Roosa. As a child of the space program, Christopher had a ringside seat at the dinner table of one of twenty-four Americans who had either entered lunar orbit or landed on the moon. The first book written by an offspring of an Apollo astronaut to focus on growing up in that era, Son of Apollo tells the inside story of the life of his father, a man who had a remarkable career despite always believing his air force career was “off-track,” from his initial application to the service to his removal from the prime crew of Apollo 13 and his subsequent assignment to Apollo 14. During the Apollo 13 mission and recovery, Stuart played an integral role in developing the procedures to return the crew to Earth safely. The focus—and the pressure—of the entire Apollo program then shifted to the Apollo 14 mission. If the Apollo program was to continue, Stuart and the Apollo 14 crew would need to get safely to the moon, land, and return.

In writing about his father’s career, Christopher Roosa also shows us a familial side of the Apollo experience, from the daily struggles of growing up in the shadow of a father who was necessarily away in training most of the year to the expectations involved in being an astronaut’s son. Roosa’s story shows the Apollo era was the result not only of thousands of scientists and engineers working steadfastly toward achieving an assassinated president’s national goal but also the families who supported them and lived the missions in their own way.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496233349
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Series:	Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Christopher A. Roosa is a retired colonel from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and is a combat veteran. He served in various positions in Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. He has worked as a senior congressional staffer on the House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, as a special assistant on the U.S. secretary of defense’s first Base Realignment and Closure Commission, as a political advance person for the U.S. Office of the Vice President, and as director of policy for a NASDAQ-100 corporation. For the last fifteen years he has also worked as an independent contractor for the U.S. government. Jim Lovell is a retired American astronaut, naval aviator, and mechanical engineer. He was the command module pilot of Apollo 8 and the commander of Apollo 13.
 

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Son of Apollo: Prologue
Chapter 1: The Launch of Apollo 14
Chapter 2: The Roosa Family
Chapter 3: Growing up in Claremore
Chapter 4: Life after Claremore: Smoke Jumper
Chapter 5: Flight Training
Chapter 6: The Barrett Family
Chapter 7: Meeting My Mother
Chapter 8: Early Family Life
Chapter 9: Houston, Texas
Chapter 10: Getting on a Flight
Chapter 11: Apollo Casualties
Chapter 12: Past Times
Chapter 13: Apollo 11
Chapter 14: Apollo 13
Chapter 15: Apollo 14
Chapter 16: Moon Trees
Chapter 17: The Country Western Tapes
Chapter 18: Post Flight
Chapter 19: Tales from the Road
Chapter 20: Apollo Launches
Chapter 21: Astronaut Down Time
Chapter 22: Growing up Post Apollo 14
Chapter 23: The Apollo Groupie Scene
Chapter 24: Apollo 17
Chapter 25: Reflections of an Apollo Command Module Pilot
Chapter 26: The Last Flight of Apollo
Chapter 27: Leaving NASA
Chapter 28: My Father’s Passing
Epilogue: Son of Apollo

Editorial Reviews

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve colonel Christopher Roosa provides a unique view of the Apollo program from the perspective of an astronaut’s child. This book belongs on the shelf of everyone who revered the space program, as well as the values we seek to emulate from it within our families.”—Stephen Ryan, general counsel to Sen. John Glenn, who flew on Friendship 7 and space shuttle Discovery (STS-95)


“Australia has played a role in NASA’s programs since Apollo 14, with Phil Chapman on the support team. But space has always been about not only the astronauts but their families. Now a pilot’s son reflects on those heady days from the perspective of the children and the families. A great read.”—Paul Scully-Power, Australia’s first astronaut, who flew on space shuttle Challenger (STS-41-G)


“Having had my own children witness what it was like in those days of the Apollo program, it’s great that Christopher Roosa has written a story from the viewpoint of those who had a seat at the table. He shares family stories that only someone growing up during the Apollo program would know. An interesting read for space enthusiasts and those with gun and outdoor interests.”—Maj. Gen. Bill Anders, U.S. Air Force Reserve, lunar module pilot on Apollo 8


“Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa was an accomplished test pilot and smoke jumper whose career took him to the moon, where he spent a day and a half completely alone in lunar orbit. He observed and photographed the moon with a detail no human had ever before captured. His early death in the last century robbed us of many firsthand insights. Yet only a family member can tell us what it was truly like to be around a lunar explorer—not only during their NASA glory years but also when faced with the question every moon voyager faced when returning to Earth: what do they do next?”—Francis French, space historian and editor of Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele
 

From the Publisher