Featuringmorethan600photos,PhotographingAmerica’sFirstAstronauts:ProjectMercuryThroughtheLensofBillTaubisthemostcompletephotographicaccountofProjectMercuryeverpublished.PreviousProjectMercurybookslargelyhavereliedontherelativelylimitednumberofphotosreleasedbyNASA.Thisbook,however,showcaseshundredsofnever-before-seenimagesofAmerica’sfirstmannedspaceprogrambyNASA’sfirststaffphotographer,BillTaub.TaubwenteverywherewiththeMercuryastronauts,capturingtheirdailyactivitiesfrom1959to1963.Asaresult,hisphotosprovideauniqueandintimatebehind-the-sceneslookatthepeopleandoperationsofProjectMercuryinrealtime.DrawingonTaub’srecentlydiscoveredarchiveofthousandsofblack-and-whiteandcolorprints,slides,andtransparencies,thisisthefirstbooktocomprehensivelyvisuallydocumentProjectMercury.NopreviousbookhasdevotedasmanyimagestoeachoftheMercurySevenastronautsandtheirpioneeringspaceflights.Otherchapterscoverastronautselectionandtraining,NASAmanagement,andfacilitiesatCapeCanaveral,Florida.Eachimageisaccompaniedbyadetailedcaption.TheforewordisbylegendaryNASAFlightDirectorEugeneKranz.
