CARRYING THE FIRE
by MICHAEL COLLINS
478 pages. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $10.
One of the lessons that many former U.S. astronauts apparently learned during their training was how to land on their feet. A good number are now well-paid public relations vice presidents of business firms. Alan Shepard grew rich in real estate; John Glenn has a good chance of becoming U.S. Senator from Ohio next November; Richard Gordon is an executive with the New Orleans Saints football team; and Edgar Mitchell runs an outfit for the study of extrasensory perception.
Then there is...