In the Shadow of the Moon (book) In the Shadow of the Moon (book) In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility is a 2007 non-fiction book by space historians Francis French and Colin Burgess. Drawing on a number of original personal interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts and those who worked closely with them, the book chronicles the American and Soviet programs from 1965 onwards, through the Gemini, Soyuz and early Apollo flights, up to the first landing on the moon by Apollo 11. The book is the second volume in the "Outward Odyssey" spaceflight history series by the University of Nebraska Press. Although the
History of spaceflight History of spaceflight Spaceflight began in the 20th century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Robert H. Goddard. The Soviet Union took the lead in the post-war Space Race, launching the first satellite, the first man and the first woman into orbit. The United States caught up with, and then passed, their Soviet rivals during the mid-1960s, landing the first man on the Moon in 1969. In the same period, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and China were concurrently developing more limited launch capabilities. Following the end of the Space Race, spaceflight has been characterised by greater