{"product_id":"across-the-airless-wilds","title":"Across the Airless Wilds","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“THRILLING. ... Up-end[s] the Apollo narrative entirely.” —\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTimes\u003c\/em\u003e (London)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA “brilliantly observed” (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/em\u003e) and “endlessly fascinating” (\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWSJ\u003c\/em\u003e) rediscovery of the final Apollo moon landings, revealing why these extraordinary yet overshadowed missions—distinguished by the use of the revolutionary lunar roving vehicle—deserve to be celebrated as the pinnacle of human adventure and exploration.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOne of \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e’s 10 Best Books of the Month\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e8:36 P.M. EST, December 12, 1972\u003c\/em\u003e: Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt braked to a stop alongside Nansen Crater, keenly aware that they were far, far from home. They had flown nearly a quarter-million miles to the man in the moon’s left eye, landed at its edge, and then driven five miles in to this desolate, boulder-strewn landscape. As they gathered samples, they strode at the outermost edge of mankind’s travels. This place, this moment, marked the extreme of exploration for a species born to wander. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA few feet away sat the machine that made the achievement possible: an electric go-cart that folded like a business letter, weighed less than eighty pounds in the moon’s reduced gravity, and muscled its way up mountains, around craters, and over undulating plains on America’s last three ventures to the lunar surface. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn the decades since, the exploits of the astronauts on those final expeditions have dimmed in the shadow cast by the first moon landing. But Apollo 11 was but a prelude to what came later: while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trod a sliver of flat lunar desert smaller than a football field, Apollos 15, 16, and 17 each commanded a mountainous area the size of Manhattan. All told, their crews traveled fifty-six miles, and brought deep science and a far more swashbuckling style of exploration to the moon. And they triumphed for one very American reason: they drove.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn this fast-moving history of the rover and the adventures it ignited, Earl Swift puts the reader alongside the men who dreamed of driving on the moon and designed and built the vehicle, troubleshot its flaws, and drove it on the moon’s surface. Finally shining a deserved spotlight on these overlooked characters and the missions they created, \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAcross the Airless Wilds\u003c\/em\u003e is a celebration of human genius, perseverance, and daring.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":48551277560115,"sku":"9780062986542","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0741\/6181\/5859\/files\/9780062986542_63aa5.jpg?v=1712276041","url":"https:\/\/www.bluebirdcrozet.com\/products\/across-the-airless-wilds","provider":"Bluebird \u0026 Company Crozet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}