Carrying the Fire

I recently read a book Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys by Michael Collins. The book preface has this nice quote about its name:

Of course, Apollo was the god who carried the fiery sun across the sky in a chariot, but beyond that – how would you carry fire? Carefully, that’s how, with lots of planning and at considerable risk. It is a delicate cargo, as valuable as moon rocks, and the carrier must constantly be on his toes lest it spill. I carried the fire for six years and now I would like to tell you about it, simply and directly as a test pilot must, for the trip deserves the telling. – Michael Collins

I really enjoyed this book, mostly for great detail and personal take on how to become an astronaut when there was a very little idea of what will be required. The first US flight to space took place on May 5, 1961. Alan Shepard in Freedom 7 Mercury capsule powered by Redstone booster reached altitude of 187 kilometers. Michael Collins joined NASA two years later as part of third group of astronauts.

He briefly introduces himself, his studies, Air Force service and moving to training and work as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB). Then his fascination with space took over, he passed the interviews and moved to Houston. I never had much idea what it would take to be an astronaut back then. My only other reading about space jobs were from An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield, but in that case it was much more established endeavour. Michael Collins was around during the time their spacecraft had been designed.

It was interesting to see what kind of learning was required by them. There were among others geology classes, survival courses for bad landings, electrical engineering, early computers, communications, medical sciences, meteorology, astronomy or flight mechanics. Each astronaut got their specific responsibilities – for Michael Collins they were pressure suits and extra-vehicular activity (EVA).

On top of training and specific responsibilities, main and backup crews were selected for upcoming flights. Both of crews spent usually almost half a year of preparation for the flight, running endless simulations of all possible situations, both normal and emergency ones.

His first spaceflight was on Gemini 10 in 1966, in which he and Command Pilot John Young performed orbital rendezvous with two Gemini-Agena Target Vehicle (GATV), and undertook two EVAs, also known as spacewalks. Probably the most space of the book covers one of the best known spaceflights of all time, the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that flown to the moon and its Eagle Lunar Module (LM) landed there for the first time with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Michael Collins stayed in the Columbia Command Module (CM) orbiting the moon and later performed rendezvous with returning LM. They all returned safely back to the Earth eight days after their departure.

He also covers what ensued after the flight, his decision to leave the astronaut group and his life after.

The book provided fantastic detail, give a glimpse into careful planning and training, as well as the execution of the spaceflight. One is left with amazement of dedication and hard work of the NASA people, amount of problem that needed to be solved, designs to be achieved and tested, skills and fragility of humans in the space.