Customer Reviews

Apollo

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Perhaps the best general account of the lunar program, this history uses interviews and documents to reconstruct the stories of the people who participated in Apollo. Although published in 1989 and long out of print, "Apollo: The Race to the Moon" stands out as the best popular book on the subject ever to appear. Neither a warmed over account of the astronauts and their adventures on the Moon nor a large-format illustrated history--both of which are in abundance--this book seeks to understand the larger contact of Apollo by focusing on the massive technical and scientific infrastructure that made the trips to the Moon possible. Taking as its central characters not the astronauts but the managers and engineers who ran the program, this book by famed author and political lightning rod Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox is based extensively on interviews with the remaining actors of the endeavor. The authors spent considerable time talking to NASA officials, both active and retired, at the Johnson Space Center, the Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Kennedy Space Centers, as well as high level officials in Washington. In this book Murray and Cox reconstruct a non-scholarly account of Apollo that examines operational details of the program that have gone undiscussed in astronaut-centric works.

By taking this approach Murray and Cox shift the history of Apollo to its most appropriate place. They recognize that the feat, as impressive as it was and as heroic as the astronauts truly were, was essentially an accomplishment of systems management. It was an endeavor that demonstrated both the technological and economic virtuosity of the United States and established national preeminence over rival nations--the primary goal of the program when first envisioned by the Kennedy administration in 1961. It had been an enormous undertaking, costing $25.4 billion with only the building of the Panama Canal rivaling the Apollo program's size as the largest non-military technological endeavor ever undertaken by the United States and only the Manhattan Project being comparable in a wartime setting.

Murray and Cox emphasize that Project Apollo was a triumph of management in meeting the enormously difficult systems engineering and technological integration requirements. James E. Webb, the NASA Administrator at the height of the program between 1961 and 1968, always contended that Apollo was much more a management exercise than anything else, and that the technological challenge, while sophisticated and impressive, was also within grasp. More difficult was ensuring that those technological skills were properly managed and used. Webb's contention was confirmed in spades by the success of Apollo. NASA leaders had to acquire and organize unprecedented resources to accomplish the task at hand.

There is a wonderful editorial in the November 1968 issue of "Science" magazine, the publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which speaks to the management system that Murray and Cox bring to life in this book: "In terms of numbers of dollars or of men, NASA has not been our largest national undertaking, but in terms of complexity, rate of growth, and technological sophistication it has been unique....It may turn out that [the space program's] most valuable spin-off of all will be human rather than technological: better knowledge of how to plan, coordinate, and monitor the multitudinous and varied activities of the organizations required to accomplish great social undertakings."

If you want to understand the Apollo program, you must read and ponder this important book by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox. I'm so glad this book is back in print. Buy it, read it, and encourage your friends to do so.

Anyone who has more than a passing interest in the space program, particularly manned spaceflight, will find this book invaluable. Here is the story of the people who made Apollo and the technological challenges they faced, both on the ground and in flight. Many books focus on the astronauts and their accomplishments, but this book focuses on those who designed the spacecraft, the rockets that propelled them into space, the launch facilities at Cape Canaveral and those who controlled the flight from the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.
For example, their are fascinating stories about the ultimate spacecraft
designer Max Faget, who designed every American spacecraft from Mercury to the Space Shuttle; the story of how an obscure engineer named John Houbolt managed to convince NASA to use the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous mode for landing on the moon against formidable opposition from already legendary figures like Faget and Wernher Von Braun; the nightmarish combustion instability problem that plagued the immense F-1 rocket engine (five of which powered the Saturn V moon rocket's first stage); the development
of the huge transporter/crawler (and its "golden slippers") that transported the already assembled rocket out to Launch Complex 39 and the building of the gigantic Vehicle Assembly Building where the assembly took place with the use of immense cranes that could set down a multi-ton
rocket state onto an egg without breaking it.
What is especially noteworthy in this book is the description of how
the legendary Christopher Kraft built the flight control system that ultimately became Mission Control at the Manned Spacecraft Center. The authors explain what the job of each of the controllers was, how they communicated between themselves and the Flight Director and what personal characteristics were needed for the people who manned these jobs. The book also says how the different Flight Directors like Gene Kranz, Glynn Lunney and Gerry Griffin, among others did their job and the crushing responsibility that was on their shoulders. Frankly, the autobiographies
of Kraft and Kranz do not describe these fascinating things like this book does. What is particularly engrossing are the descriptions of the crises that faced the controllers during the "1201 Alarm" episode Steve Bales confronted during the first lunar landing by Apollo 11's Eagle LM, the lightning strike that hit Apollo 12 during its ascent that John Aaron fixed, and, of course, the ultimate crisis of Apollo 13.
Reading this book left me in awe of the people that worked on Apollo facing the crushing pressure created by Kennedy's deadline of "by the end of the decade". It is truly an inspiring story, and unlike a similar
crash technological program called "The Manhattan Project", this one was made "in peace for all mankind".

I would also recommend for the reader who finds this book interesting, the book by Mike Gray called "Angle of Attack" which also deals with
North American Aviation's role in building Apollo, led by Harrison Storms.
There, other interesting examples of technological problem solving are illustrated regarding the building of the Command and Service Module in addition to the harrowing story of building the S-II Saturn V second state.

I too and glad that this book is finally back in print. This is not an overview of Project Apollo with astronaut stories and illustrations, for that you should look for the beautiful 3 volume illlustrated edition of Andrew Chaikin's A Man on the Moon. This book focuses almost exclusively on the vital contribution of the engineers and flight controllers and takes us into a world which usually is given short shrift. The missions are portrayed from within mission control itself and presents a superb sense of how the people involved thought and dealt with the problems. Top notch writing, that is accessible, but doesn't dumb things down.

The perfect counterpart to Chaikin's book, and an indispensable history of the administrators and decision-makers who made the space program one of our nation's greatest successes. In this day when the word "bureaucrat" is intended as a slur and when government withdraws from the big scientific challenges, it can do us all good to remember the era when the bureaucrats were honest heroes and government dared to reach for the stars. Murray and Cox do justice to everyone from James Webb to the guys in the "trench" in Houston. An invaluable book for any serious Apollo enthusiast.

I am so glad this is back in print as my copy is falling apart from the number of times I have read it.
The approach taken by the authors of emphasising the "behind the scenes" rather than from the astronauts point of view is extremely enlightening. The massive effort behind the program to put a man on the moon is spelled out with just the right amount of detail and is extremely entertaining and easy to read. I came away with a whole new interpretation of the phrase "Well they can put a man on the moon, why can't they...."
The methods, personalities and organisation detailed in the book is a beautiful study of how to carry out the most challenging undertaking of the 20th Century.
If you are interested in space travel or manned space history, then you MUST READ THIS BOOK for the complete story!
A FANTASTIC READ!

In my opinion, "Apollo" ist the best available book on the lunar program. It uses documents and interviews of the people who participated in the Apollo project, and it provides some deeper insides about the people who brought the spacecraft to the moon, like Bob Gilruth, Max Faget, Chris Kraft, Glynn Lunney and many many more.

For further reading regarding the people who worked in Mission Control, I strongly recommend "Flight My Life in Mission Control" by Chris Kraft and "Failure is not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond" by Gene Kranz.

This is an excellent book covering the inner workings of the Apollo program. It does not focus on the astronauts or the missions themselves, but more about the people on the ground in Mission Control, the engineering challenges of Apollo, the management of the program, and NASA / Washington politics about space exploration at that time. Some chapters are so well done, they read like a thriller and you can't stop turning the pages. It also covers well the most important personalities of Apollo.

After reading this book, I realized how much we have lost the memories of what is probably the most incredible achievement in humankind's history. Shockingly enough, most people think about Apollo about being a thing of the past, while it is in fact our future.

Reflecting back on the sad end of the Apollo program (the plug was simply pulled in the mid-70s without any kind of follow up), it is a shame that we have lost all these years. Just imagine if we would have persevered with more missions, the eventual setup of a moon base in the 80s, moon exploration of resources, etc... Who knows where we would be now in 2007 ? Perhaps on the verge of a Mars mission, or Jupiter ? We would have impressed new generations with the same sense of awe-inspiring achievements and exploration that Apollo did 40 years ago. These emotionally inspiring achievements are the ones that elevates humankind to new heights, and this is probably the strongest feeling I felt about Apollo after reading this book.

This book is so rivoting, I cannot put it down. I read it at the library a year ago, and purchased it once I saw it was re-released. I can't put it down. Packed with information; it has to be read over and over again. I have read many of the astronauts and controller's biographies, and they're all great reads; but, this surpasses them all. After reading this book, you will have even greater respect for them men who pushed the edge of the envelope. You'll walk away thinking you have met the men who made it happen. From the first rockets, to designing the manned space center, solving the problems with the giant F-1 rockets, deciding how to go to the moon, and the mind boggling effort it took to actually make it happen; this book has it all. Full of tension and drama, but never too technical, this book is simply the best. I can't recommend it more. A must have for any space fan.

I've read many books about the Apollo program.... This is by far and away the best!. It captures the thrilling pace of the whole space program in the 1960s, from the initial efforts of the US to compete with the Soviet Union, the tragedy of the launch pad fire of "Apollo 1", the daring decision to make Apollo 8 a trans-lunar flight, the seat of the pants landing of Apollo 11 and the near disaster and "diving catch" to rescue Apollo 13! This is a true classic of non-fiction and I can recommend it to one and all!

Shepherd,Armstrong,Krantz,Lovell...these are the names we all know. This book is about how you start from basic principles and engineer your way to your goal.
Inventing the technology as they went, this book gives you the failures, the disasters and the triumphs from the perspective of those that actually made it happen - and is every bit as gripping and awe-inspiring as the tales told by the men who sat on top of thousands of tons of explosive fuel watching the clock tick down.

The true story of America's race to space.