The Pilgrim Project

Hard to imagine these day - but this was a "race to the moon" novel in the old old days when the U'S. and U.S.S.R. were literally racing to be first to land on our nearest neighbour.

the novel was very technically-focused, with a strong emphasis on the day to day routine of an astronaut who be on thsi very first American spaceship to escape Earths' gravity. I recall that the astronaut didn't have time for casual reading, because he spent all of his time reading technical manuals. As though his very life depended on it.

I do rather suspect that some of my book ratings from way back then, in the days of my long-lost youth, were rather more generous than later in my SF reading career.