Book Review: Wonders All Around

 

Wonders All Around

The Incredible True Story of Astronaut Bruce McCandless II and the First Untethered Flight in Space

by Bruce McCandless III

Pub Date 13 Jul 2021

 Biographies & Memoirs  |  Nonfiction (Adult)  |  Science 

I was sent a copy of Wonders  All Around from Greenleaf Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review which is as follows:

Most if not all are familiar with one of the most amazing and popular images in the history of space exploration: an astronaut in a snow-white spacesuit, untethered and floating alone in an expanse of blue. 

But how many of us know about the man himself?  In Wonders All Around his son gives us a glimpse into the life of Bruce McCandles the II.

Bruce McCandles II was a Navy fighter pilot, joined NASA in 1966. He was Houston’s capsule communicator—the person talking to the astronauts—as Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind in 1969.  McCandles would go to support subsequent Apollo flights and developed technology and techniques his fellow astronauts used during the Skylab program.  He worked behind the scenes until he was chosen to ride Challenger into space on the tenth shuttle mission. When he stepped into the cosmos to test the Manned Maneuvering Unit, he became a space flight icon. But the road to that incredible feat was not the sure bet it should have been for such a gifted man.

Bruce McCandles the II spent 24 years as an astronaut, his story encompasses the development of the space agency itself the changes in focus, in personnel, in approach, and in the city of Houston that grew up with it.

Wonders All Around is not only a book about an astronaut though, it also explores the relationship between Father and Son, both from two very different generations with both humor and insight.  It is also the exploration of the mindset of Bruce McCandles the II a man of individuality , and the courage, imagination, and tenacity that propelled him and his country to their place in the forefront of space history.

I give Wonders All Around five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!