Customer Reviews

Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon

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

 

 

First, so you know, I'm a lifelong fan of the space program. I was five years old when Apollo 11 landed, and, like many of that age, caught a feverish interest in space travel and the people who actually did what I dreamed of doing.

I'm not saying that to claim a special expertise on the topic, but to confess that I'm far from impartial when reviewing a book like this. The fact is, I'd probably find Frank Borman's grocery list or John Young's dog's veterinary records intensely fascinating.

More's the pity, since I can't say the same for Moon Shot. Other reviewers have noted that the authors seem to have been unable to make up their minds whether they were writing a history of the space program, or a joint autobiography. Because of this, it fails at both. The coverage of the space program is haphazard, focusing on the authors' accomplishments while ignoring many other significant people and events. As a biography, Moon Shot leaves much to be desired, giving little information on Shepard's or Slayton's backgrounds, reasons for becoming astronauts, etc. If you're looking for an astronaut autobiography and a detailed account of part of Project Apollo, Jim Lovell's book, Lost Moon, does a much better job of putting both in one package.

Moon Shot does not go in depth into what it does cover. Instead, the major parts of each event are duly recited, and the narrative goes no further. Worse, the book breaks no new ground, either. When I bought Moon Shot, I expected that, since I would be reading recollections of people who directly participated in Project Apollo, I would be treated to unusual viewpoints and to information not readily available elsewhere. But, at no time while reading the book was I surprised. There was nothing in Moon Shot which made me say to myself, "Wow, I didn't know that."

Moon Shot suffers from having been published at about the same time as Andrew Chaikin's masterpiece, A Man On The Moon. At first glance, Moon Shot looks weak and inept by comparison to Chaikin's thorough historical account. This is unfortunate and unfair. While it may not be clear what the authors intended Moon Shot to be, it seems obvious that Shepard and Slayton never planned to write something on the scale of A Man On The Moon.

But, even if one accepts Moon Shot for what it is - light coverage of selected parts of the authors' experiences in the space program - the book still falls short. In the world of Moon Shot, there are no serious rivalries, no harsh animosities among the astronauts, and everyone happily performs above and beyond the call of duty every day. Shepard's well-known hostile managerial style as head of the astronaut office is represented here as little more than occasional grumpiness. John Glenn's behind-the-scenes efforts to knock Shepard out of the first manned Mercury flight after the selection had been made are barely mentioned.

Don't get me wrong - I have no desire to bash legends. But neither do I want to read saccharine and be told it is history. And the fact is, Moon Shot often reads more like a NASA press release than like a well-balanced account of the facts.

In summary, the only positive thing I can say about Moon Shot is that it has two heroes' names on the cover. Sadly, both men passed away soon after Moon Shot was published. Too bad they didn't write a better, well deserved epitath for themselves.

Deke Slayton and Al Shepard's book is a fine, well-written overview of the American space program. It unfortunately misses in several ways.

First, the book can't decide if it's an autobiography or not. It's "the inside story," but it concentrates on Shepard's two flights and Slayton's overrated Apollo-Soyuz mission. The plot is skewed towards the authors, which doesn't make sense considering it's written in the third person.

I found this third-person narrative approach irritating. I almost felt as if the ghostwriters chose to describe the events in this manner so they could feed the astronauts' egos further. Apollo books often come face-to-face with the astronauts' infamous cockiness, but this book makes no attempt to hide it. Shepard described himself as a "leading test pilot, astronaut, explorer, adventurer, master of wings and rocket fire, and hero to millions." All this may be true but you're not supposed to say it about yourself.

It also needs more character development. It doesn't go beyond saying that Slayton and Shepard were friends. I got tired of being told outright of the friendship. I wanted to be told about it, not of it. I felt like I wanted to know the authors better, especially since they were the focus. On top of that, several crucial people such as Ed Mitchell (Shepard's lunar module pilot) are just names here- they are not given any substance.

It also concocts stupid commentary for narrative purposes. For example, to get across a point the book may recount a "conversation" between Slayton and Shepard that is so corny as to be all but useless. This is a subtle, but unfortunate problem with this book.

The final downfall of this book is its unwillingness to discuss the other Apollo missions. Apollos 15 and 16 are passed over in a paragraph-- and Apollo 17 got a whole page because the future of the program needed to be stressed to segway into Slayton's Apollo-Soyuz mission.

Most importantly, this book fails to convey the magic and wonder of spaceflight. It fell victim to poor writing-- the descriptions of being on the moon were too often reduced to cliche.

Here's what's good about this book. It does tell the "inside story" of the Apollo missions-- and does faithfully describe the missions. It serves as a decent, quick-read overview of Apollo.

For the complete, longer story read Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon." For a more specific, personal, and readable story of a specific mission, read Gene Cernan's "Last Man on the Moon." But don't read "Moon Shot."

I re-visited this book, which I read (and got autographed by Shepard) when it was new, after watching the great "From the Earth to the Moon" series again. The book has its four-star moments, but I settled for three.

The content is not particularly sophisticated, and to be honest, the competition among the Apollo books is strong. For example, books by Lovell and Cernan are both better than this one. Even so, it's worth reading by students of the space program for the additional perspective and occasion detail.

Perhaps a root problem is that the book is a mixture of autobiography and story of the space program, with the perspective of the two astronauts not given very often. When that happened effectively, the book was at its best. I liked stories such as NASA's attempt to keep secret who had gotten the first flight, Deke's grounding, Shepard's return to flight status, Apollo 14, and Deke's reaction to the Apollo 1 fire. There are several scenes like that, enough to make the book worthwhile.

In contrast, some other incidents had superfluous reference to the authors. I didn't really care that Deke and Al sort-of high-fived each other when Apollo 11 landed. Their thoughts on the end of the Apollo program or what the program really meant to them aren't really captured. Few insightful comments about the other astronauts were made (unlike Cernan's book). Many opportunities were lost.

The Apollo-Soyuz mission is presented as a relatively big deal, which it was to Deke, obviously. In reality, it was pretty meaningless, other than as an exercise in international cooperation.

Deke comes across pretty well in other books and in the "From the Earth to the Moon" series. His character shines at times here, too. Maybe some remarks by other people about Deke, besides from Shepard, would have helped convey that image. How did others feel about how Deke ran the astronaut office, which was his core contribution to the space program? You won't find that in this book.

This review is based on the original (1994) hardback edition. This book is much more than a history of the space program from about 1957 to 1975. It includes the inspirational determination for Shepard to fly again and for Slayton to fly even once. I had the pleasure of meeting Alan Shepard and getting his autograph on this book.

The book captures the intensity of the space race. When Shepard saw Sputnik 1 (or, more probably, the upper-level rocket stage also in orbit), he chagrined at the fact that it didn't have "Made in the USA" written on it. Later, the Soviets were sad that the men circling the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 didn't have Russian names.

Some seldom-discussed information is provided in this book. For instance, the US could have orbited a satellite over a year before Sputnik (p. 45). Were it not for an overcautious NASA, Shepard could have beat Gagarin into space by a month (p. 89, 91). The dog, Laika, is said to have lived for several days in space (p. 44). We now know that she died several hours after launch--from an overheated cabin.

The authors discuss the politics behind the space program. For instance, the grounding of Deke Slayton had been for political and not medical reasons, as there was no evidence that Deke's heart irregularity would interfere with space flight. Rather, the fear was that, were Slayton's flight to end in disaster for any reason, his heart condition would automatically be suspected, and those who cleared him for flight would face automatic recrimination. The authors also allege that politics was behind the choice of Houston as the site for the Space Center. Both astronauts also had to contend with politics in the wake of the Apollo 13 near-disaster, notably the call, by some politicians, to cancel all remaining Apollo moon flights. Shepard also realized that, were his Apollo 14 to fail to land on the moon, there most probably would be no further Apollo flights.

One is thrilled by Alan Shepard finding a surgical treatment for his Meniere's syndrome, and getting restored to flight status. Up to that time, he had considered himself an eagle whose wings had been clipped and who had been forced to be a turkey--in more ways than one.

Then, over ten years after his grounding, Deke Slayton got his chance...in a joint US-Soviet flight that would have been equally unimaginable at the time of his grounding.

I enjoyed this book for many reasons: good covering of the Mercury Program, interesting description of the Russian Star City, Slayton on the Apollo-Soyuz mission , etc. In general, it brings excitement and wondering about the whole US space history.

However, I have read dozens of books on this subject and I must say that it's far from being the best of the bunch. I was more than annoyed that the authors describe themselves in the third person. It just a bit childish. After reading this book, we might have the impression that Shepard and Slayton were the big heroes in the space program. Well, if you read more about space exploration history, it might be true for Slayton but Shepard has been extremely critized in the past for, among other things, his attitude toward scientists during the moon exploration.

So, if you want a good overview of the space program in general, this book is probably ok. However, like some others, I would rather recommend "A man on the moon" or Aldrin's "Men from Earth" for a more extensive and accurate coverage.

This is review is based on the Kindle edition of the 2011 revised edition.

I agree with criticism from other reviewers: The book is suspended between history and autobiography, neither being achieved. Yes, there are some historical details that are interesting, but way too little of them. The autobiographical writing is so grandiloquent at times that it is virtually unreadable. But the most disquieting for me was the ad hominem criticism of those who had the temerity to express doubts about the wisdom of the manned space program. Jerome Wiesner, an eminent scientist and engineer, and JFK's science advisor, is portrayed as having "mumbled and fumbled" that the Russians were too far ahead, and, along with his "cronies" "wanted to gut the whole national space program." Actually, Wiesner supported a space program, but of unmanned probes -- hardly the view of a reactionary. Those not endorsing full speed ahead for manned space flight are all "naysayers." The revision adds President Obama to its ad hominem targets. Thus, the reader might start off with the intention of learning some inside scoop -- and the book does, indeed, start off that way. But by the end -- if one gets that far -- the reader knows that, in total, the book is an unabashed NASA PR piece.

Moon Shot is a great book. An easy read with good pictures. I've already read Deke about Deke Slayton and Light This Candle about Alan Shepard. I liked those books too. I've read many of the astronaut books...check my reviews.

Moon Shot gives a little run down about each of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights. Also Moon Shot goes a little into the Astronauts and some of the Cosmonauts lives too.

We see both Deke Slayton (Air Force pilot) and Alan Shepard (Navy aviator) are super hot shot fliers and become jet test pilots. Both get secret orders to report to the new NASA. Both pass the mustard, are the best of the best and become Mercury 7 astronauts.

The two themes of the book are the race between the US and Russia for space dominance and both astronauts getting grounded and their fights to get back into space. Deke had a heart fibrillation and Alan had an inner ear loss of balance disease.

Alan becomes America's first man in space with his Mercury flight but then is grounded for years. He later gets an operation and is flight cleared. Deke as the head astronaut helps Alan get A moon shot. Alan trains and trains and is the commander for Apollo 14 and is the 5th man on the moon.

Poor Deke never gets to go up until after he is over 50 with the last Apollo mission. By going on a vitamin regiment his heart fibrillation goes away and he is cleared by top cardiologists for space fight. He enjoys himself in weightlessness in space with the other 2 Apollo astronauts and 2 Cosmonauts in the Apollo-Soyuz docking mission.

Sadly so many of my boyhood heros have passed away. Deke Slayton, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee, Wally Shirra, Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad and other astronauts and cosmonauts... All heroes that gave much for the exploration of space.

I'm an amateur astronomer of over 40 years who looks into the vastness of space with my telescope and agrees 100% with the ending of the book. We should populate many regions of space to ensure our species survival if our planet gets destroyed. Both Deke and Alan see from space how small and fragile our Earth is and how we should cherish and protect it but also as a human race expand into the Cosmos for our lasting survival.Deke says in the largeness of time about us going forward into space, the little he did for space exploration may be just be a blink of the eye.

More detailed information can be found with individual biographies of the astronauts but Moon Shot is great for getting a little info on many of the astronauts. 5 star

Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon - You would just know that Al Shepard's book would be the best yet by the astronauts. This book tells the inside story of the original seven astronauts, but tells it up to and including the Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous and docking of 1975. I don't know if the great narration was due to Al, Deke or the two writers who assisted them, but this book was the best written of all the astro books I have read. The stories, as written, capture all the excitment of both good sci-fi and space history!

This was an excellent book for anyone who is interested in the efforts to be the first to reach the moon. I have been a space junkie from the times my Mom would keep us home from school to watch the Mercury and Gemini launches. I was reminded of many things I observed and realized that my memories of the flights were from the perspective of a child. Hearing about the same events from the perspective of those who participated was very rewarding.

This book is much more than a history of the space program from about 1957 to 1975. It includes the inspirational determination for Shepard to fly again and for Slayton to fly even once. I had the pleasure of meeting Alan Shepard and getting his autograph on this book.

The book captures the intensity of the space race. When Shepard saw Sputnik 1 (or, more probably, the upper-level rocket stage also in orbit), he chagrined at the fact that it didn't have "Made in the USA" written on it. Later, the Soviets were sad that the men circling the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 didn't have Russian names.

Some seldom-discussed information is provided in this book. For instance, the US could have orbited a satellite over a year before Sputnik (p. 45). Were it not for an overcautious NASA, Shepard could have beat Gagarin into space by a month (p. 89, 91). The dog, Laika, is said to have lived for several days in space (p. 44). We now know that she died several hours after launch--from an overheated cabin.

The authors discuss the politics behind the space program. For instance, the grounding of Deke Slayton had been for political and not medical reasons, as there was no evidence that Deke's heart irregularity would interfere with space flight. Rather, the fear was that, were Slayton's flight to end in disaster for any reason, his heart condition would automatically be suspected, and those who cleared him for flight would face automatic recrimination. The authors also allege that politics was behind the choice of Houston as the site for the Space Center. Both astronauts also had to contend with politics in the wake of the Apollo 13 near-disaster, notably the call, by some politicians, to cancel all remaining Apollo moon flights. Shepard also realized that, were his Apollo 14 to fail to land on the moon, there most probably would be no further Apollo flights.

One is thrilled by Alan Shepard finding a surgical treatment for his Meniere's syndrome, and getting restored to flight status. Up to that time, he had considered himself an eagle whose wings had been clipped and who had been forced to be a turkey--in more ways than one.

Then, over ten years after his grounding, Deke Slayton got his chance...in a joint US-Soviet flight that would have been equally unimaginable at the time of his grounding.