Francis French Bücher

A people's history of the global space race in the 1960s, beginning with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and astronaut Alan Shepard and ending with the close of the Mercury and Voskhod programs in 1965.

Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure.

Coauthored with spaceflight historian Francis French, The Light of Earth is Al Worden's wide-ranging look at the greatest-ever scientific undertaking, in which he was privileged to be a leading participant.