It was a bit of good fortune that I was interviewing authors on the radio in the Dayton region 20 years ago. We like to think of Dayton as the birthplace of aviation and for the past century it has definitely been an aviation hub. Many of the early astronauts passed through our local air force base and even long after they had retired they kept coming through to have events here. Several of these gentlemen wrote memoirs. I have conducted five interviews with four different astronauts (I interviewed Buzz Aldrin twice). John Glenn and Eugene Cernan talked to me about their memoirs. The fourth astronaut who appeared as my guest was General Thomas Stafford. We discussed his memoir "We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race."
During our conversation I asked him if he might have been the first man on the moon if things had gone differently and he agreed that it could have happened. I have loved every interview I have done with an astronaut and this one was one of the more fun ones that we did.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.
