TWO SIDES of the MOON

Signed on the title page by

David Scott

Commander Apollo 15 and Moonwalker

Simon & Schuster.  First UK edition, first printing 2004. 415 pages with lots of photos

Fine condition hardback book with black boards and gilt titles.  Fine condition dustjacket, complete, unclipped and in a protective cover. Feels unread & practically as new. Discreet previous owner name to the front end paper.

Growing up on either side of the Iron Curtain, David Scott and Alexei Leonov experienced very different childhoods but shared the same dream to fly. Excelling in every area of mental and physical agility, Scott and Leonov became elite fighter pilots and were chosen by their countries’ burgeoning space programmes to take part in the greatest technological race ever – to land a man on the moon.

In this unique dual autobiography, astronaut Scott and cosmonaut Leonov recount their exceptional lives and careers spent on the cutting edge of science and space exploration. With each mission fraught with perilous risks, and each space program touched by tragedy, these parallel tales of adventure and heroism read like a modern-day thriller. Cutting fast between their differing recollections, this book reveals, in a very personal way, the drama of one of the most ambitious contests ever embarked on by man, set against the conflict that once held the world in suspense: the clash between Russian communism and Western democracy.

Before training to be the USSR’s first man on the moon, Leonov became the first man to walk in space. It was a feat that won him a place in history but almost cost him his life. A year later, in 1966, Gemini 8, with David Scott and Neil Armstrong aboard, tumbled out of control across space. Surviving against dramatic odds, a split-second decision by pilot Armstrong saved their lives, they both went on to fly their own lunar missions: Armstrong to command Apollo 11 and become the first man to walk on the moon, and Scott to perform an EVA during the Apollo 9 mission and command the most complex expedition in the history of exploration, Apollo 15. Spending three days on the moon, Scott became the seventh man to walk on its breath-taking surface.

Marking a new age of USA/USSR cooperation, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project brought Scott and Leonov together, finally ending the Cold War silence and building a friendship that would last for decades. Their courage, passion for exploration, and determination to push themselves to the limit emerge in these memoirs not only through their triumphs but also through their perseverance in times of extraordinary difficulty and danger.

A brilliant personal perspective of the Space Race and one of the best astronaut memoirs.  A highly recommended book enhanced by a very collectable moonwalker signature. 

David R. Scott was born on June 6, 1932, in San Antonio, Texas. He received a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy in 1954 and an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962. He was chosen with the third group of astronauts in 1963. Pilot of Gemini 8, command module pilot on Apollo 9, backup commander of Apollo 12, he was the 7th man to walk on the Moon. In July 1972 he became Special Assistant for Mission Operations for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and in April 1975 was appointed director of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. He resigned from NASA on October 30, 1977. David Scott – Wikipedia