Gemini - Steps to the Moon [Paperback]

In Gemini - Steps to the Moon, David Shayler, the author, tells the story of the origin and development of the programme and the spacecraft from the perspective of the engineers, flight controllers and astronauts involved. It includes chapters on flight tests, Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA), rendezvous and docking, as well as information from NASA archives and personal interviews.Foreword.- Preface.- Acknowledgements.- List of Illustrations.- Abbreviations and Acronyms.- Prologue.- Origins.- Hardware.- Preparation.- Flight Operations.- Flight Test.- Endurance.- Rendezvous and docking.- EVA operations.- Entry and landing.- Experiments.- Military Gemini.- A place in history.- Astronaut Biographies.- Bibliography.- Index.

From the reviews:

David J. Shayler has written a fascinating book which tells, with a fresh perspective from the end of the twentieth century, the achievements of Project Gemini. His book, which is based on extensive research of NASA archives and interviews with some of the Gemini astronauts, relives the pioneering years of American manned spaceflight. (John ODonoghue, Astronomy & Space, July, 2002)

David Shayler has an easy style of writing and an excellent way of putting over what could have been a difficult subject. & With plenty of line drawings and black and white images, this book does the subject proud. It should appeal to anyone with an interest in spaceflight and to those wishing to understand how the US got to the Moon in under a decade from the first crewed spaceflight. & I expect it to become the bible on Gemini for spaceflight enthusiasts everywhere. (Paul Money, Astronomy Now, September, 2002)

David Shayler is well qualified to write a book about Gemini, and he has succeeded admirably. He deals with the project in all its aspects; the initial steps, the design and planning, the astronauts themselves, the flights & . It is clear that a tremendous amount of researclÓ)