Iron and Fire

Bruce McCandless II waited eighteen years for his first spaceflight, marking him as an astronaut with seemingly inexhaustible supplies of patience and dedication. When he cruised serenely away from Challenger in 1984, photographed against the infinite cosmos, we stared in wonder at a fellow human slipping the bonds of Earth. An important and entertaining book, Wonders gives us a complex, complete portrait of a brilliant and courageous American.

In Wonders All Around, Bruce McCandless III has managed to open the lid on the extraordinary life of his father, Bruce McCandless II, in a way arguably no one else could. Thanks to his fly-on-the-wall manner of writing, we meet a man who achieved so much in his life and yet seemed to balk at showing the world how amazing he really was. We are granted a window into his inner workings and get to know a gifted individual who was so much more than that iconic figure floating untethered in space. So outstanding are the accomplishments of Bruce McCandless II that we refer to his untethered spaceflight as just another of his amazing endeavors. Prepare to be astounded!

Wonders All Around, Bruce McCandless’s account of growing up the son of a real-life Buck Rogers, is at once a deeply felt memoir of fathers and sons and an engaging exploration of space and its mysteries—space beyond the bounds of Earth and space between a suburban teenager’s ears. With his eyes on the stars and his feet on the ground—like his astronaut father—McCandless has produced a wonderful, readable book.

When we think of astronaut Bruce McCandless II, we think of “the Poster”: the iconic image of him free-flying in space that was a ubiquitous addition to every space geek’s wall in the mid-1980s. This biography delves into McCandless’s very human quirks, moods, and more unheralded achievements. His story is told alongside his family’s story, and underscores what it was like to grow up and live in the shadow of NASA. An evocative, sometimes surreal memoir of a man and his son’s childhood, and essential for astrophiles.

When Bruce McCandless from my astronaut selection group made the first untethered spacewalk, photos of him became as iconic as anything taken on the moon. Bruce was a very smart guy—the brain of our group—analytical and very academic in his approach to work. So he wasn’t a real “jock,” which unfortunately for him, as things were back then, meant he didn’t get to fly for almost two decades. But NASA caught up to him with the shuttle program, and his years developing that untethered EVA backpack paid off—flying it first made history.

Bruce McCandless is the astronaut the world knows from an iconic photo that has become shorthand for space exploration—and yet he’s someone who few could name. Floating alone in Earth orbit, face hidden behind his spacesuit visor, his image was everywhere in the mid-80s. It was on my wall when I was a teenager, along with the usual music and movie posters. The movies and musicians came and went, yet McCandless stayed. It takes a talented author to bring old events to life, and his son’s humor and candor makes me feel as close to knowing him as we could ever get. I almost feel like hanging up my old 1980s poster again.

McCandless’s memoir of his astronaut father’s life and accomplishments is infused with intriguing details about the era of the 1960s through the 1980s, the space program’s history, and the technological developments in spaceflight. [The] narrative is readable and he often brings a lyrical sense to his storytelling in his descriptions and sentiments. Primarily he describes and explains well the science, technology, and developments of spaceflight in a manner that most laypeople and readers will understand. [Wonders All Around] is an interesting look into a very intelligent, gifted, and courageous astronaut and man. It’s apparent McCandless has done a lot of research, and he mixes the personal with the professional of his life to interesting effect.

[Star Bound] digs impressively deep to place the growth of America’s space program in context… [Carney and McCandless are] a writing marriage made in heaven’s starry skies.

With Carney and McCandless’s breezy style, this enthusiastic and accessible history will engage the curiosity of both general readers and seasoned space enthusiasts alike.

The authors should be commended for concisely charting a path through dozens of topics and telling interesting stories.

[A]n outstanding overview of American space exploration…The trivia fascinates and the authors ground their narrative in colorful character portraits. This soars.

On every page of Star Bound I learned some new details of a story I’d once heard and vaguely remembered, and here it was brought to life for me. I felt like a child in a favorite museum, standing right in front of a piece of history. I don’t think any fiction can capture our imaginations in the way the true story of space exploration does.

Two of the world’s foremost space history chroniclers have joined forces to tell the tale of how spaceflight developed and nurtured our existence over the last century or more. They fly us through the decades with their characteristic wry humor, making Star Bound both an entertaining and an informative read.

A sweeping, comprehensive, and detailed spaceflight history and primer, Star Bound is not just informative, it’s engaging and fun—less an academic text than a lively conversation with that one cool friend who’s funny, snarky, and oh-so-smart.