Customer Reviews

Tracking Apollo to the Moon

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I've been researching and writing about spaceflight history since the early 1960's and have amassed a library on the subject of several hundred books. I do not know Hamish Lindsay personally, so I can be objective in my review, but when I was told about a book he'd written as someone involved in tracking the Apollo flights from Australia I thought it might have been interesting but probably overly technical. The reality is that this is a brilliant book, and both the author and publishers have combined to bring us one of the best and most vividly illustrated stories ever of the space era I grew up in. The text is divided into engrossing vignettes detailing all of the manned spaceflights as well as many of the more spectacular robotic missions, and Hamish is an extraordinarily good story-teller. The fact that it is told from an Australian viewpoint is refreshingly novel, but this should not deter overseas readers - rather, it will intrigue them. I found many excellent stories and quotes new to me in the text, and it is certainly an exciting new reference book that I will refer to often. Many Apollo-era astronauts have contributed their memories to the book, and the glowing introduction by Chris Kraft is essential reading before embarking on the text. It is obvious that Hamish sought to use many photos never seen before in his book (quite a number in brilliant colour), and these are used to wonderful effect. On first reading I could only find three very minor errors, and one of these is a typo, so there has certainly been some meticulous research,writing, and editorial work done before publication. In essence, I am truly overwhelmed by the work and love that has gone into this book, and both the author and publishers deserve credit for a truly magnificent job. It will become a classic among space books.

Hamish Lindsay has accomplished what few other manned space program writers have; he has captured the excitement of the Apollo Program from the viewpoint of a participant, has led into it with an historical perspective of man's quest for the stars, and has sprinkled it with historical data, photographs and cartoons which results in an outstanding record of not only what happened during Apollo, but why.

I believe this book will be for future generations THE authorative record of one of mankind's greatest achievements.

I had the privilege of meeting Hamish today at a book signing, and though I know a fair bit about space exploration, and I've read just about every book on the US and Soviet space projects, today I felt closer than ever before to the men who made this great adventure possible. Hamish, in a few words, made clear to me the incredible difficulties of controlling spacecraft and retrieving information from a vast distance. The environment is absolutely unforgiving and there are no second chances. The planning and the execution have to be perfect.

The book itself is astounding. It is far more image-rich than any of the recent memoirs and histories, with photographs, maps, diagrams, cartoons, paintings on every page, rather than a few black and white shots grouped in the middle. The images themselves are chosen with care and matched to the text - I was impressed with two of the earliest photographs of the Lunar Module, almost lost against the immensity of the lunar landscape, a reminder of just how fragile and precious was this little bubble of Earth.

Sometimes it seems as if I've read the same story of Apollo many times over from slightly different viewpoints, with just a few little nuggets of "newness" to savour. With this book, Hamish has given us a whole new perspective on the adventure, and I've got to say that he has also given this reader a feeling of excitement and enthusiasm that is hard to gain from the more buttoned-down writings of the US astronauts, flight controllers and engineers.

It might be a cliche, but this book puts you there. You are with the astronauts as they gaze up at that black sky stretching on forever, floating in space between Earth and Moon on a spacewalk, with the controllers at moments of extreme tension, and sitting beside the communications specialists as they juggle radio frequencies to retrieve faint radio signals from unimaginable distances.

Forget science fiction, forget Apollo 13, forget The Dish. This is the real thing, told with a real sense of wonder by someone who knows his stuff and wants to share his feelings, his knowledge with you. If you care about space travel, about the greatest adventure of all time, this book belongs on your bookshelf, on your bedside table, in your hands. It's a thriller.

This book is both a superb introduction to the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo/Skylab programs and a valuable addition to the collection of any space enthusiast. It contains a few errors, but none of any consequence.

Lindsay's discussion of such episodes as the Gemini VIII emergency, the Apollo 11 launch, and the Apollo 13 accident are among the best I have ever read. Importantly, the book tells the story from the perspective of the Australians who built and operated the various tracking/communications stations that supported the missions. Their stories help us understand the dedication and resourcefulness of the people, worldwide, who made the moon landings possible. Hamish Lindsay was one of those people and, in part, the joy of his book is the feeling one gets for how justifiably proud the Apollo veterans are of their contributions.

This book would be a great introduction for anyone who hasn't read any previous biographies/details of the Apollo or NASA histories. However for those who have, the book may turn out to be a real disappointment. I'm Australian and was looking forward to a detailed Aussie perspective on the spaceflight industry, but this seems to me to be too brief. Only glimpses are shown of the development of Honeysuckle Creek/Carnarvon tracking stations etc, which may please international readers but not this Aussie!

The book seems to be trying to gain an international audience by overviewing the entire NASA spaceflight chronology, but after a few chapters some of the quotes and phraseology started to appear disturbingly familiar. Why do I get the impression the author has read every other book on the subject and just cut and pasted from each of them? The reference to Al Shepard as 'Smiling Al'/'Icy Commander' will be VERY familiar to some, and is only one example of a number of apparent ... which start to annoy after a while and eventually to the point where I gave up reading. (And why the strange purple print?)There are also some inaccuracies in the text which point to the author not having done original research, but these are not major, only adding to my irritation.

It's not really revelatory except in some brief instances, and won't contain much you haven't read before if you are a space buff. The book is rather shallow and as a previous reviewer found, does not take a definite perspective, which I found a big letdown. I felt it tried too hard to be all things to everyone, and would have been better to have concentrated on a particular aspect such as the birth of the Australian spaceflight industry with an analysis of the attendant federal/state politicking and development of local spaceflight industry, and appealed to a niche market instead of trying to capitalise on the mainstream space market.

However a good read if you are starting out in spaceflight history, and there are some very nice colour plates.

I was looking forward to this one and was somewhat disappointed. It's a straightforward telling of the history of manned space flight, exceeding Chaikin's From the Earth to the Moon in only a few respects, specifically the coverage of Skylab and in its behind-the-scenes addressing of the ground system and tracking station issues associated with each mission.

There are some unnerving inaccuracies, though, the most glaring of which is misquoting some of Grissom's last words before the Apollo 1 fire. (He said, "How can we get a man to the moon when we can't even talk between two buildings?" not "How do you expect to get us to the Moon if you people can't even hook us up with a ground station?" As always, the glitches seem minor but reduce confidence in everything else.

On the other hand, the book is copiously illustrated with diagrams and color pictures, which are interspersed with the text rather than, as is usually the case, confined to their own separate section.

I was also pleased to see quotes from two of my former coworkers at Goddard, Bob Stanley and Robert Burns, in a section talking about setting up the tracking stations for Apollo, an effort they were closely involved with.

The title of this book is somewhat misleading leading the reader to believe that is it only about the Apollo tracking program. Instead it is a brilliant history of the manned space program from 1957 until 1975 as well as the author's experiences working for one of the Australian tracking stations used by NASA for their manned space flights. The author has used his own inside knowledge as well as that of his colleagues and the books on Apollo that have profilated in later years. Many of the pictures have not been seen before which is unusual as the same old pictures are used in every book. I recommend this book to any space buff and to anyone who wants to learn about an era that will never happen again.

This is a fantastic history of the American space program up to the end of the ASTP program, with some coverage of important Soviet missions/developments during the time period. It covers all the missions in detail and has heaps of photos. Despite the title, the tracking material is less than five percent of the book but it is very interesting because it is one area that is not covered in other histories. The author uses lots of quotes from astronauts, and others, making you feel as if you are really there. All in all, this is the best overall history of the early space program on the market; quite an achievement considering all the other books out there.

"Tracking Apollo to the Moon" arrived today. Absolutely no hassles and in exactly the pristine condition as described. Great job guys, keep it up.

I have read numerous books regarding the space program and just when you think that there can't be anything new to learn along comes a good book. Tracking Apollo to the Moon is that book. It not only gives you insight into how those signals travelled across the 240,000 mile vastness of space but an appreciation for the efforts not only of those in the United States but in Australia and other countries as well. Kudos to the editorial staff that reviewed this book before publication as it is one of the few books I have read without glaring factual errors. If you enjoy reading about manned space history this is one book you must have for your collection