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I Was a Teenage Space Reporter: From Apollo 11 to Our Future in Space
“ That’ s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind,” were the words spoken by astronaut Neil Armstrong as he stepped off the Apollo 11. This was the first and most famous manned mission to land on the Moon. As a 19-year-old college journalist, author David Chudwin covered the launch from Florida in July 1969. Chudwin was the only journalist with official NASA press credentials representing the college press and had extraordinary access to the astronauts, rocket scientists, launch pads, rockets, and control centers. 2019 will be the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 — a time to look back to celebrate that mission, and forward to our future in space. Divided into three parts, this book the author’ s account of covering the first landing on the Moon in 1969; lessons learned from the Apollo program and their relevance to future space activities; and our future in space including new rockets, space stations, and trips back to the Moon and to Mars.
- GenresNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
Published May 15, 2019
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February 19, 2025As the only college student who was accredited media at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Chudwin was there when Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin left Earth for the Moon, covering the entirety of Apollo 11 from Cape Canaveral. And he was there as a young journalist - as an outsider looking in. His involvement did not end in 1969. He went on to meet almost all the Apollo astronauts, and those interactions are told in the book as well.
It has three sections. The first is Chudwin’s journey through growing up as one of the first NASA geeks to covering Apollo 11, which includes a masterfully woven timeline of US spaceflight’s crucial moments. The second is lessons learned from Apollo and reflections on the impact of the program. The third is an outline and analysis of spaceflight’s future. It's an apt, informed, and appropriate characterization of the current players in the space industry, what they want to do, and how they are changing the game.
Most importantly, Chudwin has written a fresh and unique perspective on what it means to be a young person watching the beginning of the space age - a necessary achievement. He contributes to the concept of spaceflight as a cultural institution.
His writing immerses the reader in each of these historically memorable moments, giving them a relatable connection to what happened 50 years ago. This is cemented by the inclusion of primary sources like scans of the original press documents, handwritten notes, typewriter rolls, and original photographs. To be clear: this is not a history with a lengthy bibliography - it’s a factual personal story from the past. A historical memoir.
As a spaceflight historian and journalist currently in my early-20s, this book resonated on a personal note. It’s fascinating to read about what has changed, but what is still the same as well.
If you are new to spaceflight, it’s a perfect introduction to the history and value of the field. If you are involved in journalism, especially if you are under 35, it’s a keen insight into professionalism and dedication to your coverage. Ultimately, "I Was a Teenage Space Reporter" is a pertinent contribution to the Apollo narrative.
It has three sections. The first is Chudwin’s journey through growing up as one of the first NASA geeks to covering Apollo 11, which includes a masterfully woven timeline of US spaceflight’s crucial moments. The second is lessons learned from Apollo and reflections on the impact of the program. The third is an outline and analysis of spaceflight’s future. It's an apt, informed, and appropriate characterization of the current players in the space industry, what they want to do, and how they are changing the game.
Most importantly, Chudwin has written a fresh and unique perspective on what it means to be a young person watching the beginning of the space age - a necessary achievement. He contributes to the concept of spaceflight as a cultural institution.
His writing immerses the reader in each of these historically memorable moments, giving them a relatable connection to what happened 50 years ago. This is cemented by the inclusion of primary sources like scans of the original press documents, handwritten notes, typewriter rolls, and original photographs. To be clear: this is not a history with a lengthy bibliography - it’s a factual personal story from the past. A historical memoir.
As a spaceflight historian and journalist currently in my early-20s, this book resonated on a personal note. It’s fascinating to read about what has changed, but what is still the same as well.
If you are new to spaceflight, it’s a perfect introduction to the history and value of the field. If you are involved in journalism, especially if you are under 35, it’s a keen insight into professionalism and dedication to your coverage. Ultimately, "I Was a Teenage Space Reporter" is a pertinent contribution to the Apollo narrative.
May 20, 2019
David Chudwin is a reporter, and as a reporter he presents the story of the NASA space program by focusing largely on the facts. I Was a Teenage Space Reporter, his newly-issued book timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, could have been loaded with glowing adjectives and poetic metaphors intended to capture the momentous aspect of the moon landing. Wisely, Chudwin lets the facts speak for themselves, so that the excitement builds naturally as he tells the story from the moment he was selected by NASA to be one of the few college students given a reporter’s credentials at the launch of Apollo 11.
That took tenacity on Chudwin’s part, because initially NASA rejected his application since all 3,500 press passes had been given out to seasoned journalists from around the world. Judging from this book, NASA made the right decision in granting him an exception. Chudwin didn’t simply file his story and move on to the next assignment once the Saturn V rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on July 14, 1969. He has remained fascinated by the U.S. space travel and exploration program ever since.
For the past 50 years, Chudwin has met with or written to the astronauts involved, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins of the Apollo 11 mission. Chudwin has interviewed the engineers and scientists working on the space launches, and met with several of the key managers from the 1960’s missions. He’s attended numerous Spacefest conventions and amassed an important archive of material about the American space program, its successes and its tragic failures. There are many books about NASA and the space program, including several by astronauts, but what makes David Chudwin’s book different from all these others is his first person account of the Apollo 11 launch, and his comprehensive, compact summary of 50 years of space travel since.
As you read I Was a Teenage Space Reporter, you come away with a deep understanding of how risky the Apollo launches were, and why the astronauts aboard Apollo 11 felt they had only a 50-50 chance of returning alive. You also come away with the conviction that America’s space program can accurately be described as the greatest scientific and engineering accomplishment man has ever devised. You see how extraordinary it was to assemble and manage the 400,000 talented individuals – astronauts, engineers, scientists, contractors and so on - whose collective achievements represent a display of human cooperation never seen before on such a scale.
There will be lots of commemorative books issued for the July 20, 1969 landing on the moon, but grab David Chudwin’s first. He will actually take you along for the ride, because he was there to witness it firsthand, and he’s been participating ever since as a reporter and an historian. If you have any interest in space travel, or are fascinated by one of America’s proudest accomplishments, then David Chudwin is the writer you will want as your guide on the journey of a lifetime.
That took tenacity on Chudwin’s part, because initially NASA rejected his application since all 3,500 press passes had been given out to seasoned journalists from around the world. Judging from this book, NASA made the right decision in granting him an exception. Chudwin didn’t simply file his story and move on to the next assignment once the Saturn V rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on July 14, 1969. He has remained fascinated by the U.S. space travel and exploration program ever since.
For the past 50 years, Chudwin has met with or written to the astronauts involved, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins of the Apollo 11 mission. Chudwin has interviewed the engineers and scientists working on the space launches, and met with several of the key managers from the 1960’s missions. He’s attended numerous Spacefest conventions and amassed an important archive of material about the American space program, its successes and its tragic failures. There are many books about NASA and the space program, including several by astronauts, but what makes David Chudwin’s book different from all these others is his first person account of the Apollo 11 launch, and his comprehensive, compact summary of 50 years of space travel since.
As you read I Was a Teenage Space Reporter, you come away with a deep understanding of how risky the Apollo launches were, and why the astronauts aboard Apollo 11 felt they had only a 50-50 chance of returning alive. You also come away with the conviction that America’s space program can accurately be described as the greatest scientific and engineering accomplishment man has ever devised. You see how extraordinary it was to assemble and manage the 400,000 talented individuals – astronauts, engineers, scientists, contractors and so on - whose collective achievements represent a display of human cooperation never seen before on such a scale.
There will be lots of commemorative books issued for the July 20, 1969 landing on the moon, but grab David Chudwin’s first. He will actually take you along for the ride, because he was there to witness it firsthand, and he’s been participating ever since as a reporter and an historian. If you have any interest in space travel, or are fascinated by one of America’s proudest accomplishments, then David Chudwin is the writer you will want as your guide on the journey of a lifetime.
September 18, 2022
David Chudwin’s I Was a Teenage Space Reporter is a fun, informative trip back in time to July of 1969, when David and his best friend Marvin Rubenstein (also a talented author) wangled their way into a trip to Florida, where David covered the Apollo 11 launch for a network of college newspapers. Though David became a physician after attending the University of Michigan as an undergrad, he learned to write in the offices of The Michigan Daily, one of the great college cage-liners. His journalistic training shows. He’s a sober, fact-based writer, careful with dates, places, quotes and impressions. Included in the book are photos and notes he took while on assignment, so what we get is a product that’s history, memoir, photo album and expense report all rolled into one. Also included: the author’s lifelong fascination with cosmic exploration and the people involved in it—David’s love for space shines through every page. If you want to know how it felt to be on the scene when Neil, Buzz, and Mike walked out of the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building to begin their historic journey to the moon, this is the place to start. Also worth noting for you book nerds out there: David’s book is a little piece of art in and of itself, beautifully designed, well laid out, and with a clever, curvy timeline graphic gracing the first few pages. These details, along with the fantastic title, make I Was a Teenage Space Reporter a must read—I said Must Read, not Musk Read—for space enthusiasts, and Apollo junkies in particular.
July 9, 2019
Great title, not so great book. Chudwin's experiences covering the Apollo 11 mission are interesting, but there's only enough material there for a longish magazine story. The rest of the book is filled out with a potted history of space exploration that manages to make one of my favorite subjects impersonal and dull.
As an adult, Chudwin is a doctor and not a journalist, so maybe I expected too much. But it seems like he's spent a lot of time in the space community and has at least met most of the Apollo-era astronauts. It's too bad that he wasn't able to give us more interesting portraits of the people involved in the program.
As an adult, Chudwin is a doctor and not a journalist, so maybe I expected too much. But it seems like he's spent a lot of time in the space community and has at least met most of the Apollo-era astronauts. It's too bad that he wasn't able to give us more interesting portraits of the people involved in the program.
June 7, 2019
What a fun book! The Author's life long love and interest in space is complemented by his knowledge. I challenge you to read this book and not get excited and interested in manned space exploration!
May 8, 2023
Holey moley David Chudwin ! I just read your I Was A Teenage Space Reporter book today (I read the whole book today!). Amazing.
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