I read “The
Astronaut Wives Club” by Lily Koppel after I saw part of one episode on this
season’s ABC program called the Astronaut Wives Club. As much as I like to
watch TV, I always feel a book is better. I remembered that the book had come
out in 2013 so I decided to look into that. Once again I wasn’t disappointed. I
knew some of the stories because I recently read Jim Lovell’s book, “Lost Moon,”
after I saw the Apollo 13 movie. I liked the way Ms. Koppel told the stories in
quick bursts, but sometimes she jumped right over important events and didn’t
elaborate on them. On page 275 when Rene Carpenter was with the Bobby Kennedy
campaign, Ethel asked Rene to: “please help Bobby.” Ms. Koppel writes that “Rene
came in and saved the day,” but never explained what that meant. Two paragraphs
later “Bobby Kennedy was shot in the Ambassador Hotel,” and John Glenn and his
wife Annie were taking five of Bobby’s eleven kids to their home Hickory Hill.
The growth of the space program
took place from 1959 to the present day, but they had their disappointments
such as Nixon cancelling the Apollo program, even as two rockets had already been
built. This was the time of empowerment for women with the start of NOW. These
conservative women and their star-struck men had to grow with the challenges to
their beliefs and life style. The support that the Astronaut Wives Club
offered to the women was important. From the book we learn that Marge Slayton
considered it “a lifetime membership.” They still hold reunions and consider it
a privilege to be on-call to their friends from the space era. I recommend this
book.
