The novel's protagonist Colonel Richard Martin suffers a mental breakdown during one of the series of space missions to test nuclear seismic charges on the Moon.

In 1972, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction's Joanna Russ praised The Falling Astronauts with "What is astonishing about this novel is not that the protagonist (the point-of-view character) is mad, but that everyone else is, too.

"[1] Galaxy Science Fiction's Theodore Sturgeon said "Malzberg gives a voice to the mixed-up, the impotent, to the torment of helplessness—and to the peculiar hope that personal integrity, even if it be irrational or wrong-headed, may just possibly be able to beat the system.

"[4] While reviewing Beyond Apollo, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction's Don D'Ammassa said novels like The Falling Astronauts were "denounced regularly in letter columns and in the fan press.

"[5] Under a pseudonym, Locus Online's Paul Di Filippo reported that on April 1, 2006 writer Barry N. Malzberg was invited by Richard Branson to fly on the spaceflight company Virgin Galactic.