28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Man Behind the Visor, July 6, 2005
There are insufficient superlatives to describe the amazing life and many careers of Charles (Pete) Conrad. The first time I ever saw a NASA photograph of Pete following his September 1962 astronaut selection, I remember thinking how little he looked like the archetypal spaceman. Slight, unsmiling, balding and gap-toothed, he looked more like the guy who ran your local electronics store than one of his nation's fledgling space heroes. How wrong I was, because Pete Conrad emerged as one of the finest, boldest and sharpest of the early astronaut corps, with a wry, devlish sense of humour that even renowned astronaut punster Wally Schirra conceded he could never match. On paper, Pete's Gemini career may appear a little pedestrian to those who are not overly-familiar with spaceflight history - a long duration flight with Gordon Cooper in which the biggest problems seemed to be increasing tedium and finding places to stow the mounting trash, while his incredible, record-breaking Gemini 11 flight with Dick Gordon became sadly lost in the mounting excitement of the forthcoming Apollo program. Yet both of these missions were carried out with consummate skill by all three astronauts, and Pete was rewarded with the command of an Apollo lunar landing mission. In fact his crew could easily have been the first to touch down on the moon, but fate and early mission successes decreed that they would be second to do so. Despite being the third man to walk on the moon, he would later declare that his favourite mission was the one in which he and two crewmembers flew up to the ailing Skylab space station, where their actions and skill saved this multi-million dollar space project, along with NASA's hard-won reputation as a can-do administration.
Of all those early space pioneers, the one whose story has been most eagerly anticipated in recent years has been Pete Conrad. While spaceflight aficionados may perhaps bemoan the lack of technical detail in this superb book, it is nevertheless about a stongly-dedicated man who strove to become an aviator and an astronaut against many odds, and it is a heartwarming story that is superbly crafted by the authors. His flight to the moon almost ended in catastrophic failure when two bolts of lightning slammed into their ascending Saturn V rocket and shut down many of Apollo 12's systems, yet he and his crew somehow solved these problems and then relaxed and resorted to mild levity all the way to the moon. That was Pete's way; solve the problem, solve it well, and then move on, but maintain that all-important sense of humour and an even keel.
Sadly, we lost Pete Conrad all too early. He would certainly have been swept up in recent events that saw civilian astronauts fly into the very fringes of space aboard rockets launched from airplanes, and would likely have been at the forefront of a parallel venture. Spaceflight, and flying, intrigued him all of his life. Death, on the other hand, would have caught poor Pete by surprise - he still had many more frontiers to explore, and he would have met any obstacles head on, but with that renowned mirth we associate with this legendary aviator/astronaut.
Nancy Conrad and Howard Klausher honour us with this marvellously warm and exquisitely-told biography of an extraordinary, likable, passionate and sadly-missed man. Their love and admiration for the Rocketman in the title shines through in every page, and it's a journey all readers will find as amazing, enthralling and wonderful as the man himself.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Only One Book this Year? This is must be the one., May 13, 2005
Authors Nancy Conrad and Howie Klausner accomplished the impossible in The Rocketman. Since I was so fortunate to count Pete Conrad as a friend, I was able to evaluate the degree of success that the authors achieved in the very difficult task of writing this book. How is it possible to accurately emblaze Pete's life with the upbeat fun, astronomical success, and down to earth personality that was uniquely and gloriously his? Yet they did so magnificently. What a triumphant accomplishment! Since Pete was treasured by many, there naturally exists a tendency for the book to be challenged by an unfair level of expectation or criticism. Yet the authors were impossibly able to take mere black symbols on wood pulp and make the characters come alive with rich history and inspirational imagery. They were able to accomplish something even larger than what Pete Conrad might have wistfully desired as life's final result. Even though he left his footprint on the surface of the moon and indelibly upon the hearts of many, only the authors reached beyond that by giving Pete life beyond his years and extending to millions the joy of his presence, all within the cherished pages of this book. This great book launches beyond its five star rating, leaves behind most of the techno-jargon which typically saturates aeronautical titles, and positively impacts its readers long, long after its covers are reluctantly closed. You simply cannot miss this one.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rocketman Rocks, June 5, 2005
I'm not much for reading biographies but I genuinely enjoyed this one. I felt that I understook this person on so many different levels and grew a greater appreciation for the lives of those in the space program.
I found the book so enjoyable to read, the story was great as was the writing style. I can highly recommend it.
What an amazing feat it must have been to have succeed in such a career! This made even more challenging for anyone with dyslexia. Pete Conrad is clearly a role model in so many ways.
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