Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Prologue
1. Kansas Kid
2. Jayhawk
3. The Pilot and Miss Pollom
4. Wings
5. Fighting Falcon
6. Top Guns of Oriskany
7. Teachers and Pupils
8. Deke and Al
9. Screaming Eagle
10. Rolling Thunder
11. Per Ardua ad Astra
12. El Lago
13. Modules
14. “Go Fever”
15. Two Lives
16. Footprints in the Dust
17. Backups
18. The Rocky Road to Taurus-Littrow
19. Many a Slip
20. Captain America Sets Sail
21. Into the Shadow
22. The Big Picture
23. Spaceman
24. Return to Ticonderoga
25. End of an Era
26. Apollo-Soyuz and Beyond
27. The Most Alien World
28. Ad Astra
Sources
Index

About the Author

Geoffrey Bowman is a retired litigation lawyer living with his wife in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A sometime glider pilot, he is a fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and has contributed to the society’s Spaceflight magazine. He is a regular contributor on spaceflight to the quarterly magazine of the Irish Astronomical Association, of which he is a member. Jack Lousma is a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel, former naval aviator, NASA astronaut, and politician. He was a member of the second crew on the Skylab space station in 1973 and commanded the third space shuttle flight in 1982.

Reviews

"At long last, those unfamiliar with Evans' life and career get to know the last person to perform a deep space EVA."—Emily Carney, National Space Society

"This well-written, fascinating book provides a biography of Evans with a special focus on his role during Apollo 17."—J. Z. Kiss, Choice

"Bowman's storytelling and lively, conversational prose make A Long Voyage to the Moon a commendable biography of Jan Evans's husband, who flew for the navy and conducted science beyond low earth orbit, for general audiences and anyone interested in astronauts who have not landed in the history books with one small step. . . . The story of Ron Evans points to the additional science that could be done on the moon and urges us to remember the partners and support systems who make the extraordinary possible and worth doing."—Kevin Castro, H-Sci-Med-Tech

"This work will appeal to those who simply cannot read enough about the history of crewed space flight. We should all be thankful that Bowman has written this book and shined a light on this historic aviator and space traveller."—Dr. Brian Laslie, From Balloons to Drones

“From a small town in Kansas to dodging enemy rockets in a jet fighter over North Vietnam to orbiting the moon on Apollo’s final lunar voyage, here is the extraordinary journey of Ron Evans. In this thoroughly detailed biography, Geoffrey Bowman captures a man of unflappable calm and easygoing warmth who met the final frontier with unabashed exuberance. In these pages, you’ll learn why Evans left countless people, myself included, feeling honored and glad to have known him.”—Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts

“Ron Evans is one of the unsung heroes of the Apollo program. . . . I am delighted that this book now tells the story of Ron’s remarkable life.”—Farouk El-Baz, geologist and trainer of Apollo astronauts in observation and photography

“Ron Evans and I were selected as NASA astronauts in 1966. I enjoyed my time with Ron during our ‘rookie’ years through a variety of training before I was selected for Apollo 13 and Ron for Apollo 17. This very interesting and informative account of Ron’s life and career emphasizes how we shared with many others the immense privilege of having been a part of the Apollo program.”—Fred Haise, lunar module pilot on Apollo 13