Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys

Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys

40th Anniversary edition
Author	Michael Collins Charles Lindbergh
Language	English
Subject	Autobiography Science
Publisher	Cooper Square Press
Publication date	1974, 2001 & 2009
ISBN	0-8154-1028-X
OCLC	897906
Dewey Decimal	629.45/0092 B 21
LC Class	TL789.85.C65 A3 1998
Followed by	Flying to the Moon and Other Strange Places

Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys is an autobiographical book written by the Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 astronaut, Michael Collins. It was released in 1974 and has a foreword written by Charles Lindbergh. An updated version was re-released in 2009 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing.

The book covers his life as a test pilot in the United States Air Force, his selection as an astronaut and his spacewalks on Gemini 10 and historic flight as the Command Module pilot on Apollo 11. Collins presents some candid insights into his astronaut colleagues, including Neil Armstrong ("I can't offhand think of a better choice to be the first man on the moon")^[1] and Buzz Aldrin ("would make a champion chess player; always thinks several moves ahead").^[1]

Reception

In his review for TIME magazine, Robert Sherrod calls it "the best-written book yet by any of the astronauts".^[2] As an author, Collins works without assistance from ghost writers, stating that "No matter how good the ghost, I am convinced that a book loses realism when an interpreter stands between the storyteller and his audience".^[1]:xvi Collins has subsequently released further titles, including Flying to the Moon and Other Strange Places (1976), Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space (1988) and Mission to Mars (1990).

References