Books Saving Lives
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It's been a while since I did a blog post... so let's catch up.
I was on FOX 5 news this week talking about the Orion spacecraft being brought into San Diego after splashdown in the Pacific (congratulations to all of you who were involved!). I had to laugh though when the news ticker lined up with a scrolling story and it appeared the Orion spacecraft was coming to San Diego inside a public restroom in a park in Ocean Beach...
... Almost as surreal as another recent appearance I made on the same news channel, talking about Goat Yoga. Someone made me laugh out loud while I was on camera holding a chicken, and the subsequent image cracks me up.
Talking of Orion (and not Goat Yoga), I contributed to this article while the mission was still in flight — reflecting on returning to the moon in a human-rated spacecraft after half a century.
The main reason for this blog, however, is to tell you I was at Novaspace in Tucson, Arizona last week, signing some books, plus donating others to worthy non-profit causes such as Taking Up Space, which sends Indigenous girls to Space Camp. Other books will go to Higher Orbits, who help kids design experiments that fly to the space station, developing teamwork skills along the way.
While at Novaspace, I also made a special donation of fifteen signed copies of "Falling to Earth," the book I co-authored with Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden. Al passed away in 2020, so signed copies of our book are finite. These copies are signed by me and also signed "Al Worden, Apollo 15" by Al.
I am donating them to Novaspace to sell to raise money for the National Ataxia Foundation. Ataxia is a disease of the nervous system with no cure (yet). It begins by attacking speech and motion, and can end in an early death. It killed Kim Poor, who ran Novaspace for decades. And now it is affecting his daughter — my dear friend Kelsey.
It's a race against time to find a cure, or at the least something to slow symptoms, in time to help Kelsey.
Francis and Kelsey with one of the autographed copies.
I'm asking if you would buy a copy for at least $50. If you can give more, that's even better. And then Novaspace will also do their magic with shipping, charging whatever it is for where you live. You'll potentially help save lives, while obtaining an Apollo-astronaut signed book at a great price. Everyone wins. Will you help?
Click here to order the book from Novaspace.