Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Apollo Moon Landings [Kindle Edition]

Jay Barbree (Author), Alan Shepard (Author), Deke Slayton (Author), Neil Armstrong (Introduction), Howard Benedict (Contributor)

Book Description

A revised edition of the New York Times bestselling classic: the epic story of the golden years of American space exploration, told by the men who rode the rockets

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation’s most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA’s effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the twentieth century’s greatest feat—landing humans on another world.

 

Collaborating with NBC’s veteran space reporter Jay Barbree, Shepard and Slayton narrate in gripping detail the story of America’s space exploration from the time of Shepard’s first flight until he and eleven others had walked on the moon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Swashbuckling.” —The New York Times

 

“Breathtaking.” —Entertainment Weekly

 

“A must read . . . an insight into the wonders of space flight, yes. But more important, readers come to know Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, and come to respect their courage and feel genuine affection for these two American heroes.” —President George H. W. Bush

 

“Gripping, authoritative . . . and skillfully told, this is the ultimate inside story of the U.S. space program. “ —Walter Cronkite

 

“From the early Cold War days of the Space Race through the beginnings of the ‘thaw,’ Moon Shot comes alive.” —Senator John H. Glenn

Review

“Swashbuckling.” —The New York Times

 

“Breathtaking.” —Entertainment Weekly

 

“A must read . . . an insight into the wonders of space flight, yes. But more important, readers come to know Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, and come to respect their courage and feel genuine affection for these two American heroes.” —President George H. W. Bush

 

“Gripping, authoritative . . . and skillfully told, this is the ultimate inside story of the U.S. space program. “ —Walter Cronkite

 

“From the early Cold War days of the Space Race through the beginnings of the ‘thaw,’ Moon Shot comes alive.” —Senator John H. Glenn

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 967 KB
• Print Length: 396 pages
• Publisher: Open Road Media E-riginal (May 3, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004S2UAKG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,068 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #59 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Aeronautics & Astronautics
  • #94 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Astrophysics & Space Science

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Massive opportunity missed. August 30, 2011

By BSG

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you only read one book about the moon program, make sure it's not this one.

Jay Barbree comes across as a tabloid hack who is more interested in sensationalism than facts. His method of simply inventing conversations and reactions borders on the ridiculous.

The book is not a step-by-step guide through Mercury/Gemini/Apollo, but it's also not an in-depth story on Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. It's as though the authors couldn't decide which way to go with the book, and ended up meeting none of the objectives.

Having access to Shepard and Slayton SHOULD have resulted in a book that was the definitive story of the American space program from its inception. Unfortunately the opportunity was lost.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Missed trajectory December 1, 2011

By Cynthia

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

My father was an aeronautical engineer who had me take him to his last air show three weeks before he died. I was in first grade when Alan Shepard made his first flight into space, so I grew up with the space program. As an adult, I've had a number of close friends who worked for NASA or NASA contractors. I'm a huge fan of the space program. And I found this book a big disappointment.

For one thing, the writing style was too overblown; it sounded like a press release, and not even from NASA. ("Poets in spacesuits" indeed). There were lots of little copyediting problems: run-on sentences, bad punctuation, use of the wrong word or the wrong form of a word. As others have pointed out, Barbree recreates thoughts, conversations and reactions that he couldn't know first-hand and that are inappropriate in a work of nonfiction.

He spends far too much time on mechanics and far too little time on perspective. He goes over the countdown and launch sequence in detail several times; anyone who didn't already know about the water blanket that cools the pad as a rocket's engines start up will have several chances to read about it in this book. On the other hand, he gives short shrift to the astonishing technological developments that either came from or were accelerated by the space race and help shape our world today. He mentions virtually nothing learned from lunar exploration except some arcane geology.

The most disturbing problem with this book is its lack of direction. It purports to be a history of the moon race from the perspective of Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton, but the voice is strictly Barbree's. We never hear directly from Shepard or Slayton. Some space missions are covered in detail; some are glossed over. So the book doesn't come across as the personal story of two men who were truly significant to the space program; it comes across instead as a sloppy, uneven survey of the moon race.

This book was originally published in 1994, but Barbree revised it in 2011 for the Kindle edition. In that time both Shepard and Slayton have died. It would have been natural and gracious for Barbree to add a little epilogue to wind up their stories. Instead, he chose to add a shrill, sour rant against Barack Obama. Sad.

I hesitated what rating to give. I consider three stars to be an average book, and I thought this one was below average. On the other hand, I enjoyed the little trip down memory lane that it brought me and I read all the way to the end, so it wasn't a terrible book. It didn't need to be destroyed by the range safety officer, but it certainly missed its trajectory and failed to make orbit.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Slightly Disappointed with the Amount of A/V Content May 5, 2011

By Ron2112

Format:Kindle Edition with Audio/Video|Amazon Verified Purchase

So, having read and loved the first edition of this book that came out way back in 1994, I jumped when I saw the new release, hyped to include new A/V content. But was definitely disappointed to discover that the A/V content amounts to only six short video clips embedded in the text of the book. The content of the clips themselves was nice, but I was expecting more. On the positive side, it doesn't cost any more than the regular Kindle edition, and the actual text of the book works on both my iPad and my "regular" Kindle. (The traditional Kindle just doesn't display the A/V clips).

This still remains a wonderful book, which is why I give it four stars. Just don't expect a huge amount of A/V in this edition.