Customer Reviews

Angle of Attack: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I don't intend to write a long analytical review like some already posted. I just want to say that I was there at NAA as a young engineer during the period covered by this book. I absolutely loved the book. I couldn't put it down and wanted it to never end. To those critics who ask "Is it really true?", I can only say that those parts that covered events that I witnessed personally are uncannily in sync with my recollections. What an adventure it was! I don't think we could do it again, in today's environment, even with twice as much budget and time.

I am aware that this book has been called "pro-North American Aviation (NAA) propaganda", but even if it is slanted in their favor, it is still very well worth reading. The book gives the background of legendary aerospace leader Harrison Storms and NAA starting from his windtunnel work after the attack on Pearl Harbor, demonstrating the feasiblilty of launching B-25 bombers off the deck of an aircraft carrier which enabled Jimmy Doolittle to carry out his audacious raid on Tokyo, through the development of the famous P-51 Mustang, F-86, and F-100 fighters, up to the Mach 3 B-70 bomber and X-15 rocket plane. Based on this wealth of experience, Storms persuaded NAA to form the Space and Information Systems in Downey, California and to make a serious bid for the contract to build the Apollo spacecraft which was ultimately succesful. Unfortunately, the Apollo 1 fire which took the lives of astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee in 1967 tarnished the reputation of Storms and NAA and led to questioning whether NAA should have been given the contract at all, but based on the successes of the past, NAA was well qualified to build the spacecraft as the astronauts who were picked to fly it felt at the time.

The weakness of the book is that it seems to give full backing to Storms' contention that nothing at all was wrong with the way things were done at Downey. In fact, the books written by Mike Collins, Frank Borman and Chris Kraft point out that they were unhappy with NAA before the fire but the immense time pressure to get to the Moon before 1970 led people at NAA and NASA to sweep problems under the carpet until it was too late.

The most fascinating parts of the book describe the various technological challanges that had to be overcome in building the spacecraft, such as how Monte-Carlo methods were used to determine the "worst-case" scenarios the Command Module could encounter on landing in the ocean so that it could be designed to protect the astronauts, the packing of the landing parachutes which required compressing them in a vacuum chamber so that they could fit in a very small space, and the extreme weight limitations on the S-II second stage of the Saturn V moon rocket which required breakthroughs in many new manufacturing technologies and materials science.

I found this book to be very inspiring in showing how a vast team of talented people can come together and do something great.

One of the most fascinating and enjoyable space program books yet written, and one that starts to suggest the unvarnished version of events, including the concept that, gosh, NASA might not be beyond reproach when it came to Apollo stumbles and friction. "Angle of Attack" is particularly fascinating for exploring the business and management aspects of bidding, designing, and actually building the Apollo spacecraft, something I have not found elsewhere in print. Other very good books, Apollo: Race to the Moon (Murray and Cox), and Man on the Moon (Chaikin) tell the NASA as hero, flight controller as hero, and astronaut as hero stories, but little is said about what it took to get from concept to built craft. Further, much of the NASA derived stories have a "contractors are just tinbenders" attitude that not only is conspicuously self-serving to NASA, but shelters a whole lot of incredible effort from view. Having worked on large complex fast-track projects, having seen the bassackwards nature of demanding clients and the politics and the skirmishes, the messy environment of the mid-60's space program sure rings truer in this book than anything else I have read on the subject. This story exactly fits how large organizations and their people behave. And if you can find a more credible description of the political/media aspects of the Apollo 1 accident investigations, I'd like to see it. Some accuse Mike Gray of bias for telling North American's oral history rather than NASA's. I say it is for precisely that reason this is a valuable book. Read it, read the others, decide where the truth lies and how good of a guy Joe Shea is and all that on your own, but if you love the Apollo story, read this book.

This is a lively journalistic account of the career of Harrison Storms, president of the Aerospace Division of North American Aviation that built the Apollo capsule. Because of the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts in January 1967, Storms and North American Aviation, Inc., got sucked into a controversy over accountability and responsibility. In the aftermath Storms was removed from responsibility for the project. The most important aspect of this book is its discussion of the Apollo fire and responsibility for it from the perspective of industry. It lays the blame at NASA's feet and argues that Storms and North American were mere scapegoats. It, unfortunately, has no notes and the observations offered in it cannot be verified. It is an interesting and lively account that should be balanced against the accident investigation records available on-line at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/

Well, when I first got this book about ten years ago, I heard there was controversy related to it. After reading other accounts about Apollo and NAA's involvement after reading this book, I am pretty certain this book is accurate in its portrayal and doesn't make any deliberate attempt to slant history. The author might be guilty of being a bit over enthusiastic about the point he's trying to make, but thats all. It certainly isn't a boring read.

It should be interesting to note as well that elements from this book were used in the Apollo 1 episode of "From the Earth to the Moon" as the episode focused rather heavily on NAA's involvement in the fire investigation. But, it is possible Mark Gray had an involvement with the writing of that episode as well as this book, given his history in Hollywood. Another thing worth noting as well is that Penguin Books also published "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin.

In any event, "Angle of Attack" is a good read IMHO. The technical challenges listed for the development of the Apollo CSM and S-II rocket stage are a fascinating read and easy to understand. It also helps to reveal that not all the changes made to the Apollo Block 2 spacecraft which flew to the Moon were made after the fire as this is something that tends to be glossed over by media accounts of the post Apollo 1 time period. The media also tends to focus on NAA not using any of the work done on Gemini in Apollo spacecraft design when in reality both Gemini and Apollo were essentially two programs done in parallel and there wasn't all that much that could be transferred from one program to the other.

Probably the best benefit I got from reading this book was it gave me an inside account of what a company went through in the 1960s to get contracts to build hardware for the Moon flights and then going about building that hardware. You've got the back and forth disagreements with NASA, the efforts undertaken to get the contracts, the tests that went wrong as well as those that went right and other interesting glimpses into an extraordinary time. It all worked out in the end though and it took a lot of talent to get men on the moon by the summer of 1969.

But I wouldn't use it as your only reference of the Apollo program. The moon program was very big, and it can't really be fully explained in one book. This is just one part of the story.

In any detailed account of the Apollo program, it's always been assumed that North American Aviation was in over it's head and used major marketing "tricks" to get the Command Module and S-II stage contracts. This account gives the "other side" perspective and what a story it is! You get NAA's perspective on their early days, the drive to get the Apollo contracts, the roadblocks encountered in trying to "spec" these never before used components all culminating in the Apollo 1 fire that, un-fortunately, sacrificed the career of Harrison Storms and others.This more than any other book (with the exception of "Apollo...the race to the Moon by Murray/Cox) gives the true meaning of the term "Space Race" and the anxiety felt by all participants. MUST be included in all essential Apollo reading...

A very worthwhile book for engineers, project managers
and people who want to understand the challenges
those people face. It is very readable and intensely
interesting.

Engineers and others with project experience will
recognize this book has the "ring of truth".

The Apollo project had a number of extremes that the
book explains well, such as:
balancing design goals such as light weight and strength
building on a bigger scale than had been done before
going someplace that had only been a dream before
working incredible numbers of hours

Some people complained this book was not a footnoted history.
Good thing it isn't that boring.
Others complained that it ignored someone else's experience.
They should write another book and hope it is half as good.

It am thankful this book is still it print and I commend the publisher for making sure that it is. Angle of Attack is a very worthy addtion to the history of Project Apollo. There have been few books from the contractor's viewpoint, and there should be many more. This fast-paced book covers the efforts of North American Aviation and Harrison "Stormy" Storms to engineer and build both the S-II second stage of the Saturn V and the Apollo command module.

However, it also delves into the intense battle by aerospace contractors to get a piece of the Apollo pie and it is fascinating; it does so at a very human interest level. Most people have no idea the staggering amount of engineering hours and the sacrifice of the hundreds of thousands of people who worked, sometimes to the point of collapse, to achieve president John Kennedy's goal of landing men on the moon by the end of the decade.

Angle of Attack proves the story of engineering Apollo does not have to be dry as dust. These were real people laboring to achieve the greatest effort of exploration in the history of man. This book truly was a page-turner for me--a great real. It will certainly appeal to every Apollo enthusiast, but also to those who have wondered about the people who really made it happen. Harrison "Stormy" Storms was one of them and I for one consider him a hero of the Apollo age. Sadly, there is not a single photo in the book so we have no idea what Storms even looked like.

Thank you Mr. Storms and all those who worked with you and for you.

I found this book especially fascinating because it shows the race to the moon from a totally different perspective. Not the astronauts, not the people at huston mission control; the people who actually designed and developed that great engine that takes mankind to the moon. I am an engineer in space technology, and I can imagine (on a very, very limited scale, naturally !) what amount of work, dedication, and enthusiasm was necessary to do that job.

I am a project manager on large software development projects. I found this book to be a wonderful case study into the management of technical people. There has never been a more complex and pressure-packed project than Apollo. This book provides lessons for project managers today. Most importantly, have clear objectives and don't let up