The Astronaut Wives Club

Royal Young’s memoir is about a dreamer, set in the post- apocalyptic celebrity world of today, and Young, who grew up in New York — like Holden Caulfield if he wanted to be famous — is looking for adventure and action and becomes entangled in all sorts of romantic and sordid relationships. He points out the perplexing tragedy (and good fortune, I think) of what it means to be talented and rebellious, but not a celebrity.

Some of the wives had already put their names on the waiting list for Pan Am’s first commercial flight to the Moon, but now that wasn’t going to happen. There would be no “orbital newspapers, updated every hour” per Arthur C. Clarke’s dream; no Lunar Hilton, which Barron Hilton had proposed; no Lunar Disney; and no chain of A&W Root Beer stands that Pete Conrad and Jim Lovell had planned, half jokingly, to open on the Moon after we colonized.

Apollo 17 would be the sixth and final flight to the Moon. In total, the American space program had taken the work of two and a half million people and had cost nearly $25 billion.

There was a fuss over Rene, but her

America’s space age was officially announced on April 9, 1959.

keep the astronaut away from stress. He should never have to worry about the plumbing, or the dental bills, and he should never be nagged about his lack of initiative in the bedroom.

I don't know how to describe it but it was truly unreal. I saw the tv flickering and the LM was there and we were told it was the Moon, and the LM was on the surface of the Moon. Of course, we were so relieved that they had landed, but it simply wasn't real.

When a professor in her women’s studies course asked the class to come up with possible research topics about people under stress, Harriet had a brilliant suggestion: astronauts’ wives. She would’ve liked to add in the astronaut kids, who she thought had also suffered. It was hard having a part-time dad who was considered a hero but who was hardly ever at home.

On the Apollo 11 heroes’ “Giant Step” world tour, traveling alongside the other Moon couples, Joan had watched as Buzz went deeper and deeper into a depression. Returning to Earth, her husband, who later inspired Disney’s Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story (and MTV’s original logo), felt that he no longer had structure in his life, with no one telling him what to do and no one sending him on a mission. He eventually crash-landed, having, in his words, “a good old American nervous breakdown.

It was hard for them to come home,” admitted Faye Stafford. “Who could ever compete with the Moon? I was lucky if I could come in second.

On his previous Apollo 10 mission, a “dry run” for Apollo 11, Geno had radioed back to Houston that riding around the Moon was a piece of cake. “It was definitely not a piece of cake for me,” said Barbara. “If you think going to the Moon is hard, try staying at home.

NASA had a protocol officer conduct a New Nine wife orientation, where he prattled on about how astronauts needed a good breakfast before flying off to work—eggs, bacon, hell, why not steak or fried chicken? Feed him well. Praise his efforts. Create a place of refuge.

Out of the Mercury Seven, the New Nine, and the Fourteen space families, only seven couples would stay together.

John looked handsome in the photo of him in his

were, however, all consumed by a burning

Dodie could often be seen at the club, clutching a white terry-cloth towel in one hand, her cigarette holder in the other, as she pedaled away on one of the club’s stationary bikes.

ounce Absolut vanilla vodka 1 ounce Godiva chocolate liqueur (or ½ ounce Godiva chocolate liqueur and ½ ounce Godiva white chocolate liqueur) ½ ounce Baileys Irish Cream ½ ounce Kahlúa

but not enough about the extraordinary day-to-day lives the wives experienced behind the scenes.

Soon after launching Sputnik in 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik II with its passenger Laika (“Barker,” also known as Little Curly), the Soviet space dog. She was a female stray found on the streets of Moscow (and those godless Soviets let her die in orbit).