The Launch

Name: The Launch
Author: Stephanie Taylor

51 pages

Florida’s Space Coast—1963. People flock south to make the Sunshine State their winter playground, moving to the brand new beach towns and neighborhoods to live their lives in the sun. But the families moving to Stardust Beach near Cape Kennedy aren’t there for canasta and cocktails; the men aren’t going to spend their days on the golf courses, and the women aren’t there for fashion shows and shuffleboard. These couples are young, driven, and there to make history. These are the First Families of NASA’s new space program, and they’re ready to aim for the moon…
Josephine Booker, wife to Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Bill Booker, is hesitant to jump into the spotlight. She doesn’t relish the idea of leaving wholesome Minnesota for flashy Florida, and she doesn’t love the thought that her family will be used as a public prop for NASA as Bill goes through astronaut training. But she loves her husband, and she believes wholeheartedly that he deserves a shot at space, so Jo is going to trade in canning peaches, camping in the woods, and waiting for the snow to fall in favor of pool parties, sunshine, and life at the beach.
In Stardust Beach, Jo meets Frankie, Barbie, Carrie, and Jude, the wives of the other new NASA recruits. The women become fast friends, and almost immediately, they learn that leaning on one another is the only way they’re going to survive on Earth if their husbands leave to explore space.

As the world changes around them, the astronaut wives band together to confront the tumultuous times as a united front. Because when the president is shot, when war breaks out, and when personal tragedies crop up amongst them, they realize that sometimes all you need is a little help from your friends.

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