I just feel sorry for Marilyn, Grace said.
She’ll be sweating the Trans-Earth Injection, he said. That’s the burn that’ll bring them home.
And if it goes wrong? she said.
They’ll be spending plenty more Christmases around the moon, he said.
Well aren’t you Captain cheerful. What’s their odds?
Of making it home?
Yeah.
Honestly?
Yeah.
Fifty-fifty, he said.
Jesus, she said.
This is Apollo 8, coming to you live from the moon, Borman said.
Harrison turned his attention to the television. In the kitchen, the telephone rang.
I’ll go, Grace said.
We’ve been flying over the moon at an altitude of sixty miles for the last sixteen hours.
He heard Grace pick up. It was Pancho. Yeah, Grace said, we’re watching.
We are now approaching lunar sunrise, Anders said. And for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send to you.
Harrison sunk back into the sofa.
IN THE BEGINNING, GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH; AND THE EARTH WAS WITHOUT FORM AND VOID, AND DARKNESS WAS UPON THE FACE OF THE DEEP; AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD MOVED UPON THE FACE OF THE WATERS. AND GOD SAID, “LET THERE BE LIGHT”; AND THERE WAS LIGHT. AND GOD SAW THE LIGHT, THAT IT WAS GOOD. AND GOD DIVIDED THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS.
You got it, Frank, Lovell said.
No, it’s your […]
AND GOD CALLED THE LIGHT DAY, Lovell said, AND THE DARKNESS HE CALLED NIGHT. AND THE EVENING AND MORNING WERE THE FIRST DAY. AND GOD SAID, “LET THERE BE A FIRMAMENT IN THE MIDST OF THE WATERS, AND LET IT DIVIDE THE WATERS FROM THE WATERS”; AND GOD MADE THE FIRMAMENT AND DIVIDED THE WATERS WHICH WERE UNDER THE FIRMAMENT AND THE WATERS WHICH WERE ABOVE THE FIRMAMENT, AND IT WAS SO. AND GOD CALLED THE FIRMAMENT HEAVEN. AND THE EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE SECOND DAY.
Can you hold the camera? Borman said.
You want to pass it over here, Jim? Anders said.
AND GOD SAID, “LET THE WATERS UNDER THE HEAVENS BE GATHERED TOGETHER INTO ONE PLACE,” Borman said, “AND LET THE DRY LAND APPEAR” AND IT WAS SO. AND GOD CALLED THE DRY LAND EARTH, AND THE GATHERING TOGETHER OF THE WATERS HE CALLED THE SEAS. AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.
Harrison sat very still. On the screen was the surface of the moon.
And from the crew of Apollo 8, Borman said, we close with good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.
The camera swung up, showing the Earth, hanging in the darkness, burning, blue.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This work of fiction would not have been possible without the labor of many others. I am deeply indebted to the many writers, biographers, historians and filmmakers who have come before me and documented this extraordinary period in history. In particular, I would like to cite the following works that provided information, detail and dialogue crucial to the writing of The Last Pilot:
Across the High Frontier by Charles E. Yeager and William R. Lundgren First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Yeager by Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos
The Happy Bottom Riding Club: The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes by Lauren Kessler A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger Deke! by Donald K. Slayton with Michael Cassutt
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys by Michael Collins Return to Earth by Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. with Wayne Warga Rocketman: Astronaut Pete Conrad’s Incredible Ride to the Moon and Beyond by Nancy Conrad and Howard A. Klausner Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Rivalries That Ignited the Space Age by Matthew Brzezinski Countdown by Frank Borman with Robert J. Sterling We Seven by the Mercury astronauts
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel
Live from Cape Canaveral by Jay Barbree
Of a Fire on the Moon by Norman Mailer
And the following motion pictures:
The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club (2009; dir. Amanda Pope) For All Mankind (1989; dir. Al Reinert)
Apollo 13 (1995; dir. Ron Howard)
Thirteen Days (2000; dir. Roger Donaldson)
The Right Stuff (1983; dir. Philip Kaufman)
In the Shadow of the Moon (2007; dir. David Sington) When We Left the Earth (miniseries, 2008; dir. Nick Green et al.) From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries, 1998; dir. Tom Hanks et al.) Rocket Science—The History of Space Exploration (2004; prod. Casablanca Media Television)
In addition, I would like to credit two poems that appear in the story: High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., written in 1941, and Oh Little Sputnik by G. Mennen Williams, first published in The New York Times in 1957.
I would like to thank Col Jeff Hosken, USAF (ret.) for graciously fielding my many queries and Charlie Duke for talking to me about his experiences and answering my questions.