Recently there was a total lunar eclipse but good old traditional PNW weather seemed to conspire against us as it clouded up about 10 pm that night but was clear again at 7 in the morning. We have another chance to see an eclipse in October (a full and a partial, actually), but I'm not holding out much hope as October can be a cloudy month. The Ohio relatives missed it as well ... they had snow. Again.

You Will Go to the Moon by Mae and Ira Freeman, illustrated by Robert Patterson. I loved this book as a child and was thrilled when I was given my very own copy from a friend who was thoughtful enough to keep an eye on used book sales for many years. It was updated after the moon landing, but I prefer this original version when the illustrations were possibilities rather than drawings based on the real thing. :-)

Footprints on the Moon by the writers and editors of the Associated Press, manuscript by John Barbour. The Russians are first into space (or at least orbit) with Sputnik, NACA becomes NASA, Kennedy challenges the US to send a man safely to the moon and back, rockets blow up, seven men are chosen to be the first test subjects (who knew what would happen to the human body when it was exposed to weightlessness, the high 'g's' of launch and re-entry ... remember, everything was new at this time) ...and finally, the success of Apollo 11 ... it's all here. And with beautiful photographs, too.

We Seven, by the Astronauts Themselves. Men who knew the risks and were still willing to be strapped into a small capsule on what could be an exploding bomb. The story they tell is full of adventure, facts, opinions and beliefs, and of what they each endured on their quest to reach the moon. As alike as they were different, each of these test pilots were handpicked by NASA. They had to be a certain height, and a certain weight. They needed to be calm, cool, and level headed in tense situations. They needed an engineering (or something similar) background. The requirements went on and on, but the result was the best of the best.

Carrying the Fire: an Astronaut's Journey by Michael Collins. Michael Collins went to the moon as part of Apollo 11 but was the astronaut who stayed with the ship that was in orbit around the moon. This is a personal memoir of the test pilot with the Air Force who became an astronaut. He tells of his training, often with a sense of humor, and of the wonder of seeing the Earth from the far side of the Moon. It's been many years since I read this book now, but I remember it was hard for me to put down.

This 'trail' lay dormant until I found The Astronauts Wives Club: a True Story by Lily Koppel. I remember seeing the pictures of the wives in Life magazine but never gave them much more thought. This book tells the 'rest of the story' .... how they were expected to look, act, what they were to cook for their husbands and so on. Being in the public eye is not easy and I found the book both sad and heroic.

Where were you when man landed on the moon?

Reading Hermit with Dog