Cover of Moondust by Andrew Smith
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A few years after Moondust's publication, Smith was given the opportunity to make a documentary about the enigma of Neil Armstrong for the BBC. As ever, Armstrong declined to be interviewed, but he did contribute some surprising emails.

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BBC Radio 4 commissioned Andrew to write a short story to mark the anniversary of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1. It’s Saturday morning in Cheequa Falls, Arizona, and Ron Padget’s day has not started well. Seems the Russians are coming for his garage . . . and that's just the start.

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MOON DUST

"100 Best Books of the Decade"
The Times
"A fascinating book, often poignant, but funny too."
Daily Mail
"As an update on the nine surviving astronauts it is fascinating. As a commentary on life on Earth, it is superb."
Scotland on Sunday
"An inspired idea, immaculately executed: witty, affectionate, completely captivating."
Word Magazine
"A really interesting book, which we all read while we were making Sunshine."
Danny Boyle
"Smith is particularly good at teasing out the personal and global meanings of the Apollo missions without ever sounding mad or pretentious."
Nick Hornby
"A fascinating book . . . the humour is underpinned by a sense of extreme danger."
Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
"Utterly gripping . . . Smith is both sympathetic and bracingly unsentimental."
Daily Telegraph
"Enthralling . . . Smith is an ideal narrator: sharp-eyed yet increasingly affectionate about his subjects."
Financial Times
"A moving and thorough account of America’s last great act of optimism."
The Guardian
"Fascinating. A wonderful book."
David Bowie
"Smith’s book succeeds because he bungee-cords together so many intriguing digressions into Apollo minutiae, which are more poetically revealing than the loftiest of speeches."
New York Times
"Spellbinding."
Business Week
"Smith’s mix of reporting and meditation is highly entertaining, and this superb book is a fitting tribute to a unique band of twentieth-century heroes."
GQ
"Fascinating . . . a revelatory, insightful and very entertaining book."
The Scotsman
"Riveting . . . so vivid you can almost smell the suburban lawns."
Time Out
A splendid and very necessary job!
Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey
I was jealous of Moondust. I wished I’d written that.
Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare at Goats)
Smith has written an extraordinary book that sets you thinking about the vast picture as profoundly as any work of philosophy.
Uncut
We know what went on inside the Apollo spacecraft, but what went on inside the astronaut's minds? Did any of them really recover from their strange journey? Extremely thought-provoking.
J. G. Ballard

From the Moon to the Earth

The Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 1970s have been called the last optimistic acts of the twentieth century. Twelve astronauts made this greatest of all journeys and were indelibly marked by it, for better or for worse. With awe and humor, Smith tracks down the nine surviving members of this elite group to find their answers to the question "Where do you go after you've been to the Moon?"

A thrilling blend of history, reportage and memoir, Moondust rekindles the hopeful excitement of an incandescent hour in America's past when anything seemed possible, capturing the bittersweet heroism of those who risked everything to hurl themselves out of the known world—and who were never again quite able to accept its familiar bounds.

With a new chapter-length Afterword to mark the 50th anniversary of the first moonlanding, this is an essential updating of an award-winning, timeless classic. Nominated for two British Book Awards, including "Read of the Year" and chosen by The Times of London as one its "100 Best Books of the Decade."