Reviews & Praise

Son of Apollo: The Adventures of a Boy Whose Father Went to the Moon

University of Nebraska Press, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-49623334-9
Pages: 176

For many memoirs, the impetus for writing comes when faced with one’s own mortality and a need to record some personal or family history. While on deployment in Afghanistan, his fellow Marines suggested that Christopher Roosa do just that for his young kids. What emerged is the latest title in the University of Nebraska Press space history series.

Much has been written about the astronauts who flew to the Moon during the Apollo program, either by the astronauts themselves or by researchers and historians documenting every aspect of the program and the key player involved in fine detail. In contrast, little exists from the perspectives of the families—the parents, the spouses, and the children— which is why this book is a welcome addition. Christopher Roosa is the son of Astronaut Stuart Allen Roosa, Apollo 14’s Command Module Pilot.

Son of Apollo recounts the Roosa family history including the life of Stu Roosa from his childhood to his career as an Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut as told from the perspective of his oldest son. One such story: “My grandfather...sitting on the back porch, would tell a young Stuart, ‘It’s a big world, Son; get the hell out of Oklahoma.’ He didn’t know then that his advice would lead my father to the Moon.”

About half the book offers anecdotes from his years growing up while his dad was at NASA—more than enough stories to be of interest to space enthusiasts and recommend it to readers of Quest.

Scott Sacknoff
Bathesda, Maryland

Essential Reading
Important New Strategic LIterature

Truly, Son of Apollo

NATIONAL PRESTIGE IS A HARD-EARNED, precious commodity; a
force multiplier in diplomacy and strategic positioning. Christopher A. Roosa’s new book, Son of Apollo: The Adventures of a Boy Whose Father Went to the Moon, invites us to consider the prestige which the space program conveyed on the US, and those other nations which embarked on space exploration.

It is a story of the incredible lunar exploration, and the family life of astronauts as fathers and husbands. The author is the son of US astronaut Stuart Roosa, a US Air Force test pilot, who was the command module pilot of the Apollo 14 moon mission. Along with his two crewmates who landed on the moon, Apollo 14 also saw the distinctly unscientific, but entertaining first golf shot on the moon by Alan Shepard, who was the first US astronaut to reach space in a sub-orbital flight during the Mercury program in 1961, and the only one of the original seven Mercury astronauts to walk on the moon. Continue Reading...

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“Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa was an accomplished test pilot and smoke jumper whose career took him to the moon, where he spent a day and a half completely alone in lunar orbit. He observed and photographed the moon with a detail no human had ever before captured. His early death in the last century robbed us of many firsthand insights. Yet only a family member can tell us what it was truly like to be around a lunar explorer—not only during their NASA glory years but also when faced with the question every moon voyager faced when returning to Earth: what do they do next?”

Francis French

Space historian and editor of Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele

“Australia has played a role in NASA’s programs since Apollo 14, with Phil Chapman on the support team. But space has always been about not only the astronauts but their families. Now a pilot’s son reflects on those heady days from the perspective of the children and the families. A great read.”

Paul Scully-Power

Australia’s first astronaut, who flew on
space shuttle Challenger (STS-41-G)

“U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Colonel Christopher Roosa provides a unique view of the Apollo program from the perspective of an astronaut’s child. This book belongs on the shelf of everyone who revered the space program, as well as the values we seek to emulate from it within our families.”

Stephen M. Ryan

General counsel to Sen. John Glenn, who flew on
Friendship 7 and space shuttle Discovery (STS-95)

“Having had my own children witness what it was like in those days of the Apollo program, it’s great that Christopher Roosa has written a story from the viewpoint of those who had a seat at the table. He shares family stories that only someone growing up during the Apollo program would know. An interesting read for space enthusiasts and those with gun and outdoor interests.”

Maj. Gen. Bill Anders

U.S. Air Force Reserve, lunar module pilot on Apollo 8

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