Customer Reviews

Deke ! U.S. Manned Space From Mercury to the Shuttle

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A revealing story of the least known of the original mercury astronauts, this book gives great details of Deke's life from the beginning of his childhood to his tragic death. Deke, himself knew of the brain tumor which eventually ended his life. He was worried that it would affect his memory, so we are able to benefit from his detailed recollections. Lucky for us that he was able to complete the book. This is a rare insight into a hero, written at a time in his life were he was very reflective. He obviously wanted to leave an accurate picture of his life (maybe his perceived misjudgment of Gus Grissom in "The Right Stuff" was a motivation). In any event, thanks Deke! I hope to meet you one day!

The best insiders book about the early astronaut office. It has so much good stuff about which astronaut was assigned what duties and a good behind the scenes view of each spaceflight. There are also good stories about some of the lesser known astronauts who never flew in space. A great book!

As one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Deke Slayton was grounded before his Delta 7 seven flight (the one scheduled after Glenn's first orbital flight). Although disappointed, he overcame this set-back and became Director of Flight Operations which means he was responsible for the astronauts and flight selections. He had the respect of the group and treated them fairly.

DEKE is honest, objective, and written in a matter-of-fact manner. The most interesting part of the book is the "behind the scenes" information on crew selection and rotation. A very interesting fact is that Deke, Kraft, and Gilruth agreed that a Mercury astronaut would make the first landing on the moon if possible. Gus Grissom was unofficially tapped to take the first step on the moon prior to his tragic death on the pad for an Apollo 1 test.

Ten years after being grounded in Mercury, Deke gets clearance to fly in the joint US-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz mission. This was long overdue and add poetic justice for someone responsible, in large part, for NASA's success.

I recommend reading Chris Kraft's Flight book first. It gives a detailed historical perspective while DEKE fills the gaps. My respect for Deke Slayton is even greater than ever after reading this book.

As an avid reader of the manned space program, I tend to enjoy books that don't just re-hash the history of the program and space race with the Soviets... and I got it here. Slayton gives us his no-nonsense explanation and perspective of the program while not over-burdening us with details that are found numerous times over in other accounts (like his co-authorship with Alan Shepard for "Moonshot") ... what this leaves you with is a picture of how (I'm sure) Slayton went about his business with NASA and how others at NASA perceived him. I enjoyed his "get on with it" attitude as well as his explanation of some of the lesser known items from the early days (i.e. his Mercury mission would have been called Delta-7 had he had a chance to fly it...). Don't get this book expecting just a chronology of the space race, but get it if you want an account that assumes that you know a little of the program and want a different perspective of it

For anyone with a deep interest in Mercury/Gemini/Apollo, this book is a must read. It provides excellent insight into the test pilot perspective on the space program. Deke's comments on astronaut selection and who he wanted to be first on the moon are not to be found anywhere else. However this book is definitely not the first one to read on this era. A basic understanding of the architecture and operations of Apollo is assumed. But if you can appreciate why Deke notices every time Gene Kranz leaves the MOCR, this book is for you. For a scientist's perspective on this era, Don Wilhelms' "To a Rocky Moon" would make an excellent companion. Add the hard-to-find "Apollo: Race to the Moon" and you have a great education in Apollo.

It would be hard to pick any one key figure in the race to land men on the moon, but Deke Slayton would have to be on the short list. Grounded from Mercury, he went on to head the Astronaut Office, deciding who would become an astronaut, who would fly and when, and, eventually, who would walk on the moon.

This is his story, from his childhood through to his work with Space Services, trying to establish an independent launch capability from NASA's government rockets.

Of course, the key part is his career with NASA, from being selected as a Mercury astronaut through Gemini and Apollo and finally getting to fly on Apollo-Soyuz. It's a unique inside viewpoint, and he tells it with frank detail. A little more polished than Gene Kranz's book, it ends up coming across as a bit more matter-of-fact and less from the heart, though no less upfront for all that. In particular, the recounting of the Apollo 1 fire is less rending than Kranz's.

Interspersed with the autobiography are interesting bits entitled "Other Voices," as his colleagues and, in a couple of instances, his son give their perspective on a particular incident or situation. It makes for an interesting enhancement to the main text and most worthwhile.

Along with Kranz's book, this is another must-have memoir of the golden age of NASA,

As a person born in the late 60's, I was facinated with the space program and astronauts while growing-up. I've read virtually every autobiography written by an astronaut from that era from the good (Michael Collins) to the terrible (Gordon Cooper) and rate this one #2, only sitting behind Collins' Carrying the Fire. Slayton was a matter-of-fact, pull-no-punches man who wrote what he felt. I especially enjoyed reading his insights on why he gave certain astronauts certain missions and was amazed when he stated that if Gus Grisson would have lived, he would have been the first man to walk on the moon (instead of Armstrong.)

If you are interested in the space program, read this book (instead of "Moonshot", for example)--you will not be disappointed.

Here's a test pilot, who buys into the Race for Space against the Russians, and then gets grounded for a unpredictable heart defibrilation and is no longer eligible to be in the flight rotation. He can still fly planes. T-34's and 38's all he wants but nothing that goes straight up.

So he steps up and builds the Astronaut Liason office, basically making sure that the astronauts become part of mission objective developement teams, making sure that the astronauts get all of the training they can stand, and he's also the one assigning men to teams and teams to flights.

It's his job to get to know each of the astronauts well enough to (with the help of others, granted) decide who goes where and in what capacity. To make sure there aren't personality conflits with the boys on the same flights, to make sure that there is always someone else trained so that when something goes wrong, someone else can step in. What an amazing amount of pressure.

And he did write about the things that go wrong. He wrote about the airplane accidents that took the lives of several astronauts and how as a close group of workmates they had to cope and keep going. He wrote about Apollo I. He hand picked the men who would be in that tin can the day of the plugs out test. One of them Virgil (Gus) Grissom, who was a member of the "Original 7" with Deke and a good friend.

This book wasn't just about the manned space program, though that was certainly the focus, it was a autobiography written by a man who knows that he has cancer and is taking advantage of the time left to him to tell his story in his own words (though it is co-written). It is a well told story and a very interesting perspective to have. This book was middling technical, not a whole lot but some stuff, while probably dumbed down specifically for people like me who aren't pilots or engineers, was still kind of tough to slog through.

Thankfully having been around airplanes most of my life, at least that part I got the jist of. It's like there's a fly boy gene (though my grandma's got it too) that Deke had, that my Grandparents and my Dad have; that I might have a bit of. Flying is like setting things up and knocking them down. It was really cool to have this love of airplanes almost given back to me. Deke writes with such love and joy of his time flying planes that I think if you have a bit of the fly boy gene it's going to waken that up for you too.

Having read several NASA histories and astronaut biographies, for years I had been curious about the Apollo program's chief astronaut, Deke Slayton. Thankfully the autobiography "Deke" delivers his story and delivers it very well.

Unlike in "Moonshot" (the other purported co-autobiography of Deke Slayton along with fellow astronaut Alan Shepard), "Deke" comes across as you would have imagined the man - direct, somewhat gruff, but fair and honest. One of the Original Seven astronauts, Slayton candidly writes how the men, the machines, and the space missions combined into stepping stones to the moon. What really stands out, however, are his observations of the astronauts. He knew them all and to him crew assignments, which he picked, weren't slots to be filled. Instead they were unique individuals, each of whom was ideally suited and prepared for a space mission. So "Deke" ends up providing the most comprehensive view of the astronaut corps in the 1960s.

"Deke" is also one of the few NASA autobiographies written with professional humility. Slayton's confidence comes across without him touting his accomplishments, yet this book cemented my idea of Slayton as one of the most underrated participants in NASA's history. From the astronauts' perspective, his contributions were as important as the German rocket makers who took us to the moon. That makes "Deke" absolutely necessary for anyone with even a passing curiosity in NASA, astronauts, and space travel.

Not only did this book provide the more insight into the space program than any other I have read, but it also was immensely entertaining. Deke Slayton obviously had a brilliant sense of humor. I was of course very interested in the historical content of the book, but what made the book impossible to put down was that I just wanted to keep reading to see what he would say next. (Previously I'd never finished a book in less than 5 months. I read this one in 1 week.) His account is very candid and incredibly honest, and he does not in the least hold back in his assessment of anyone or anything. I'm sure you'll find these comments as amusing as I did. Definitely read this one!