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  • The Astronaut Wives Club

  • A True Story
  • Written by: Lily Koppel
  • Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
  • Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (6 ratings)

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The Astronaut Wives Club

Written by: Lily Koppel
Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy
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Publisher's Summary

As America's Mercury Seven astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, television cameras focused on the brave smiles of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. They had tea with Jackie Kennedy, appeared on the cover of Life magazine, and quickly grew into fashion icons.

Annie Glenn, with her picture-perfect marriage, was the envy of the other wives; platinum-blonde Rene Carpenter was proclaimed JFK's favorite; and licensed pilot Trudy Cooper arrived on base with a secret. Together with the other wives they formed the Astronaut Wives Club, meeting regularly to provide support and friendship. Many became next-door neighbors and helped to raise each other's children by day, while going to glam parties at night as the country raced to land a man on the Moon.

As their celebrity rose - and as divorce and tragic death began to touch their lives - they continued to rally together, and the wives have now been friends for more than fifty years. The Astronaut Wives Club tells the real story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history.

©2013 Lily Koppel (P)2013 Hachette Audio

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A Time Capsule as Valuable as the Lunar Modual

Although the wives' tales at times are catty or rife with '60s trivialities, The Astronaut Wives Club is a valuable piece of history, showing that to keep the home fires burning could take more energy than igniting booster rockets.

Despite the rare and unique positions they held, the overwhelming feeling I had from reading this book was a sense of sadness and sorrow for these women, but if a girl weds a test pilot, she must know she's in for a wild ride that might just crash and burn.

Fame and material wealth didn't bandage many of the broken hearts, and scars were left, wives and astronauts, in the end.

The book demonstrates that these women should have been awarded medals of their own. Their Right Stuff far exceeded their husbands'.

A definite read if you want to know the whole story, and what it really took to go to the Moon.

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