A wonderful book!! Absolutely outstanding, and exceptionally well-written. I brought it up on my laptop when we left Atlanta and couldn't put it down (until the pilot said LA) — I was back in those magical days for four hours, rewinding several times to dwell in the fuzzy corners of routines and procedures. My, did we ever have our seasons in the sun.

— David R. Scott, Astronaut, Commander of Apollo 15

"Would we not like to have the recollections of a junior officer on the Santa Maria?" asks Don Eyles, one of the computer wizards at MIT who helped create the software that made it possible for twelve Apollo astronauts to land on the Moon. In this beautifully told memoir, Eyles shares his rich recollections of a life lived at the heady intersection of history-making exploration, towering intellectual challenges, and the cultural upheavals of the 1960s and early '70s. Along the way, we all become stowaways on an unforgettable adventure that, on these pages, shines as brightly as ever.

— Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon

Eyles's engaging memoir fuses the technology and culture of the Apollo program with the joys of programming early digital computers. His experience lovingly intertwines what some thought to be the polar opposites of the 1960s — the moon landings and the counterculture. We are fortunate that the computer code for critical parts of the lunar landings emanated from the brain of someone as thoughtful and creative as Don Eyles, and that he has now shared his perspective with history. 

— David Mindell, author of Digital Apollo

Sunburst & Luminary is a gem of a recollection about Apollo, focusing on the story from one engineer's perspective of the massive task... It took thousands of people nearly a decade to reach the Moon, the end was never a certainty. Don Eyles has brought to life one part of this story. 

— Roger Launius, former NASA chief historian

A round peg in a room full of squares, Don Eyles was an offbeat hero in one of the most fascinating stories of Project Apollo: the creation and use of the computers and software that took astronauts to the Moon. His unique memoir offers a participant's eye for detail and provides an invaluable historical snapshot of an era, its technology, and its fascinating characters. 

— Matthew Hersch, author of Inventing the American Astronaut

What distinguishes Eyles' memoir is that it goes richly beyond an account of early space technology triumphs and pitfalls (though that alone would be worth reading). Eyles has created an absorbing history of a unique workplace, at a key cultural and technical moment: the MIT Instrumentation Lab in Cambridge in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In what would become one of its most famous accomplishments, the lab was working on a government grant for a massive, trailblazing project: "to build the primary guidance and navigation system for going to the Moon." [Access full review here.]

— Carol Iaciofano, writing on WBUR's The ARTery

Sunburst & Luminary is an important, detailed insider's account of NASA's early missions to the moon. [Access full review here.]

— Michelle Anne Schingler, writing in Foreword Reviews