This book originated with some ordinary, curiosity. What is it,
I wondered, that makes a man willing to sit up on top of an
enormous Roman candle, such as a Redstone, Atlas, Titan, or
Saturn rocket, and wait for someone to light the fuse? I
decided on the simplest approach possible. I would ask a few
astronauts and find out. So I asked a few in December of 1972
when they gathered at Cape Canaveral to watch the last
mission to the moon, Apollo 17. I discovered quickly enough
that none of them, no matter how talkative otherwise, was
about to answer the question or even linger for more than a
few seconds on the subject at the heart of it, which is to say,
courage.