The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon

by Basil Hero

Overview

Award-winning former investigative reporter Basil Hero chronicles the life lessons humanity can learn from the twelve remaining Apollo astronauts who went to the Moon.

In rare in-depth interviews, the twelve remaining lunar explorers, for the first time, talk at length about the real right stuff; the true source of courage, leadership, and the quiet patriotism that it took to risk their lives going to the moon. Hero begins each chapter with key life lessons that readers can gain from these honorable men whom he calls the Eagles. He describes how they mastered their emotions and learned to conquer their fears through techniques that can be used from the classroom to the boardroom.

More importantly their voyages to the Moon led them to the most incredible discovery of all: our home planet and its precious place in the universe. They fear for Earth's future and offer sensible solutions to its mounting crises and the path to future space exploration.

In The Mission Of A Lifetime, the Eagles share their wisdom and urge us to reframe our view of Earth to theirs: no identifiable nations, borders, or races; just Earthlings working together as a collective civilization.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538748510
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	217,732
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Basil Hero is an award-winning former investigative reporter with NBC News television stations. From childhood, and throughout his career as a media entrepreneur, Basil has maintained a lifetime fascination with space exploration and the men who went to the Moon.

Table of Contents

Preface: Finding the Eagles ix

Introduction 1

1 The Real Right Stuff: Selecting the Eagles 9

2 The Techniques for Conquering Fear 31

3 The Wives: Braver Than the Eagles 51

4 Leadership Lessons and Doing the Impossible 93

5 Changed by a View: The Cosmic Lighthouse 123

6 The Eagles and the God Question 145

7 Paradise Found: And on the Brink 167

8 Gradatim Ferociter: The Future of Space Travel 185

9 The Noblest Journey of All 215

Acknowledgments 231

Appendix: Biographies of the Twenty-Four Eagles 235

Notes 253

Index 265

About the Author 279

Editorial Reviews

04/22/2019

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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"A powerful reminder from the men who went to the moon about the timeless values of duty, honor, country, and moral courage. Basil Hero has captured rare portraits of the remaining lunar explorers who offer provocative insights into the future of our home planet."—George Stephanopoulos, ABC News

"A phenomenal portrait of humankind's precious and endangered incubator and of the dedicated, courageous and soulful lunar explorers who created that portrait. A must read for all Earthlings."—William E. Burrows, Aerospace historian and author of This New Ocean.

"The astronauts' humility, leadership, and belief in the common good shine through this lucid portrait, an inspiring book for any earthling."——Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Narrator Dan Woren's deep voice brings drama to the stories told by surviving Eagles—men who participated in NASA’s lunar missions. He provides a conversational tone to the astronauts' stories of the jobs they had while growing up and delivers a more formal tone for their public speaking, in particular, the words they spoke from space. Woren especially captures the surface calm in Neil Armstrong's famous proclamation during the first moon landing—"The Eagle has landed."—and brings Armstrong's comments on his underlying fears to life as well. While the audiobook includes anecdotes on various crises, the astronauts mostly discuss what they learned about character through their space exploration—to which Woren gives a tone of authority. Listeners also hear about the new space race. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Dan Woren's deep voice brings drama to the stories told by surviving Eagles—men who participated in NASA’s lunar missions. He provides a conversational tone to the astronauts' stories of the jobs they had while growing up and delivers a more formal tone for their public speaking, in particular, the words they spoke from space. Woren especially captures the surface calm in Neil Armstrong's famous proclamation during the first moon landing—"The Eagle has landed."—and brings Armstrong's comments on his underlying fears to life as well. While the audiobook includes anecdotes on various crises, the astronauts mostly discuss what they learned about character through their space exploration—to which Woren gives a tone of authority. Listeners also hear about the new space race. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2019 - AudioFile