Son of Apollo

The Adventures of a Boy Whose Father Went to the Moon

Christopher A. Roosa

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781496233349
• eBook ISBN: 9781496234230
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Biographies historiques

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.

For more information about the book visit roosa.com

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Preface
• Prologue
• 1. The Launch of Apollo 14
• 2. The Roosa Family
• 3. Growing Up in Claremore
• 4. Life after Claremore
• 5. Flight Training
• 6. The Barrett Family
• 7. Meeting My Mother
• 8. Early Family Life
• 9. Houston, Texas
• 10. Getting on a Flight
• 11. Apollo Casualties
• 12. Pastimes
• 13. Apollo 11
• 14. Apollo 13
• 15. Apollo 14
• 16. Moon Trees
• 17. The Country Western Tapes
• 18. Postflight
• 19. Tales from the Road
• 20. Apollo Launches
• 21. Astronaut Downtime
• 22. Growing Up after Apollo 14
• 23. The Apollo Groupie Scene
• 24. Apollo 17
• 25. Reflections of an Apollo Command Module Pilot
• 26. The Last Flight of Apollo
• 27. Leaving nasa
• 28. My Father’s Passing
• Epilogue
• About Christopher A. Roosa
• About Jim Lovell
• Series List
• Illustrations