PRESS RELEASE FOR SMOKEJUMPERS.COM

Acclaim Press of Morley, Missouri announces the release of SMOKE JUMPER, MOON PILOT: The Remarkable Life of Apollo Astronaut Stuart Roosa, by Willie G. Moseley.

This detailed biography tells the story of a focused, determined, and patriotic youngster who believed in the American dream, and grew up to live it. At the age of 19, Stu Roosa was parachuting into the woods of the Pacific Northwest to fight forest fires as a smoke jumper with the Cave Junction, Oregon base.

Then, he joined the Air Force.

Then he became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base.

Then he was selected to be an astronaut by NASA.

Then he went to the Moon.

Al Shepard, America’s first man in space, had been grounded for most of the Sixties due to an inner ear problem, and had been serving as NASA’s Chief of the Astronaut Office, and had figured into the selection of crews for American manned space flights. When he was declared healthy and cleared for flight himself, Shepard knew he was going to walk on the Moon, and he knew who he wanted on his own Apollo crew.

For Lunar Module Pilot, he selected a brilliant Navy aviator, Edgar Mitchell, a.k.a. “The Brain,” who already had a doctorate of science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from M.I.T., and had been highly involved in the design of the Lunar Module.

The Command Module Pilot, who would be responsible for guiding the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon, placing it in a safe orbit, and returning it safely to Earth, was to be Air Force pilot Stuart Roosa.

And Roosa didn’t even have a college degree when he had won his Air Force wings, and hadn’t been on a backup crew for an Apollo flight.

But when it came to piloting skills, he was that good.

Roosa loved his family and his country, and he loved to fly. Recollections in SMOKE JUMPER, MOON PILOT include memories from family members, schoolmates, and veteran smoke jumpers, pilots, and astronauts. The book also details Roosa’s “Moon Tree” seed effort on Apollo14, which he accomplished in honor of his fellow smoke jumpers. The foreword for the book was written by Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke.

SMOKE JUMPER, MOON PILOT is the quintessential, All-American chronicle of the life of an Oklahoma farm boy whose initiative, drive and personal integrity earned him a place among the 24 individuals who made the most dramatic voyage in human history, It’s a story that needs to be told, now more than ever.

About the Author

A self-described “child of the Space Race,” author/columnist/lecturer Willie G. Moseley came of age in Montgomery, Alabama during the original Civil Rights Movement. But while he paid attention to the historical changes that were unfolding in the Deep South in the Sixties (and would write about such occurrences decades later), he was, like millions of other people around the globe, fascinated by the primeval efforts of the human species to journey into outer space, and he also paid close attention to the events that were taking place on the Atlantic coast of Florida and somewhere inside the Soviet Union.

Moseley is the senior writer for Vintage Guitar Magazine. He began writing for that periodical in 1989, and in the ensuing decades, has interviewed hundreds of guitar players and builders. He also presently serves as News Editor/columnist/photographer for The Tallassee Tribune. He has been collecting guitars (with a current emphasis on basses and custom-made instruments) since 1972.

Willie resides in central Alabama with his wife Gail, daughter Elizabeth, and their pet Schnauzhund, “Josie.”

SMOKE JUMPER, MOON PILOT is his eighth book.

6" x 9" hardbound
256 pages, illustrated

For further information, contact www.acclaimpress.com

The author may be reached at willie@vintageguitar.com