Moonshot Astronaut Families: Update

UPDATED August 11 , 2024. After a year and a half of research, my Moonshot Astronaut Families project has taken on a sharper focus: the story of one cohort of astronaut families, particularly the wives, of NASA Astronaut Group 3, and a longer time frame (so much data and still more to gather). Below is […]

1960’s Space Tech

24 humans journeyed to the moon from 1968 to 1972. No humans have been to the moon since. What was it like to fly in space in the 1960s and 70s? What was onboard technology like for the original Moon Shot Astronauts?  Technology onboard Apollo Watch my “show-and-tell” about the Apollo onboard technology experience in […]

“Just Our Dads”

“They were just our dads.“ – Diane Gordon Briggs (daughter of Richard F. Gordon: Gemini 11, Apollo 12). 2021. (Podcast for Emory Rose MARBL.) Diane Gordon (Briggs) lived across the street from me in Nassau Bay, where we grew up together as daughters of astronauts who flew on Gemini and Apollo missions. Our fathers were […]

Awe and the Office

“The summer of 1971 I went to camp and my dad went to the moon.”  – Tracy L. Scott. 1974. (Autobiography for 8th Grade English.) When I was 10 years old, my father (David R. Scott) flew to the moon on Apollo 15, and, to me, it was as “normal” as going to camp. Flying in space […]

Primary Sources at Emory

What was the Moon Shot era really like?  Over the last 50 years, many accounts have been written about the Moon Shot era, from many different angles. Yet, the reality of that extraordinary accomplishment was complex, and primary sources from the time still hold a wealth of stories that have yet to be told. At […]

MoonShot Astronaut Families: Preface

A color photograph with a wise shot of the Apollo 15 lift-off. The Saturn V has just cleared the top of the support structure. "The tower is clear!"

“What was it like to walk on the moon?” My father* has heard that question thousands of times. I’ve heard it dozens of times, as his daughter. There is no quick, easy answer. The reality was rich and deep and complex, for each of the individuals who went to the moon. Moreover, the question overlooks […]