Customer Reviews

The Unbroken Chain: Apogee Books Space Series 20

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In his new book, 'The Unbroken Chain', Guenter Wendt, with co-author Russell Still, recounts his years working on the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and early Space Shuttle programs, capturing an aspect that other books have missed - the invaluable contributions of the army of workers "in the trenches," as he is fond to say.

Guenter's wonderful (and often hilarious) anecdotes and personal encounters only add to the interwoven theme of The Unbroken Chain - that it takes a 'chain' of tens of thousands of individuals to accomplish just one successful space mission.

'The Unbroken Chain' features an added bonus - alone worth the cover price - a CD-ROM disk that takes the reader on a virtual computer tour of the Cape Canaveral launch facilities, narrated by Guenter Wendt and filled with his colorful tales of the early days of space exploration. The disk also includes a 360-degree panoramic sweep of several historic launch pads as they appear today and an impressive collection of personal references from a veritable "Who's Who' of the Moon race.

'The Unbroken Chain' is a winner and a perfect addition to any library. It will bring a smile to the face of any reader even marginally interested in the Race to the Moon.

The man at the top of the launch tower, the supervisor, the captain of the pad - Guenter Wendt was the boss man around the actual launch vehicle. His unique perspective is well reflected in this collection of stories about the first days of the space age.

In an astonishing odyssey, Guenter was there from the very first days of Mercury when they were still sending chimps up (and yes, he's got a few yarns about Ham and Enos) to the post-Challenger shuttle flights. His was the last face the crew saw before leaving earth and it must have given every astronaut the feeling that they were in safe hands.

Guenter was a hard man in a difficult job and he made a few enemies along the way, but he did it all in the name of safety. He enforced the rules and it didn't matter who was breaking them, they got short shrift from the pad leader. As it should be.

But he wasn't the unsmiling fuehrer some liked to portray him as. In this book his humour shines through on every page. He always had an eye for a practical joke and he could see the funny side of every situation.

This is a memoir of the space program that is more concerned with the men than the machines and systems. It's not that he doesn't describe the hardware and the missions, it's that he has a different take on it, a perspective focused up close and personal, rather than the view from Mission Control or one of the prime contractors in Long Island or California. He was there talking to the astronauts as their final straps were tightened and they reached out to clasp his hand before the hatch was sealed.

You know, I never get tired of hearing the grand story of Apollo, and Guenter's book fills in one of the empty corners very nicely. Not a book for those who love jargon and hardware and the voices of the heroes as they guide their craft through the void. Nor a book about goals and objectives and milestones and missions. No, this is a book about people, written by someone who cared.

Memoirs are in vogue for the pioneers of the space age. In the last few years memoirs have appeared by astronauts Gene Cernan, John Glenn, Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra, Alan Bean, Deke Slayton, Alan Shepard, Gene Cernan, Jim Lovell, Apollo flight directors Gene Kranz and Chris Kraft, Marshall Space Flight Center engineer Homer Hickam, Jr., and Lunar Module designer Tom Kelly. This is another memoir from the heroic era of human space flight, but one from a unique vantagepoint. Guenter Wendt was the legendary "pad leader" for all of the human space launches from the first Mercury mission in 1961 through the last Apollo flights.

German born, with a rich accent that remains to the present, as a McDonnell and later North American Rockwell employee Guenter Wendt held responsibility for capsule test, checkout, and launch operations at America's spaceport at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In that capacity he crossed paths with every astronaut and many of NASA's senior officials in a career that ended with his retirement in 1989. This memoir, co-written with Russell Still, is filled with dozens of such stories about those interactions-some classic, many never revealed before, a few embarrassing, even more humorous-about the astronauts, technicians, engineers and other officials Wendt interacted with for three decades.

Wendt describes in this book a relentless pursuit of excellence, safety, and security both for his team and the mission under his care. Astronauts respectfully called him "Pad Fuhrer," a term not always used with affection. Wendt's emphasis on successfully completing the mission, ensuring the safety of the astronauts, and creatively sidestepping bureaucracy earned the admiration of many. His determined approach to the work, and the way in which he took personal responsibility for what happened on his launch pad became legendary along Florida' Space Coast. Many astronauts recall how Wendt strapped them into their capsules, shook their hands, offered words of support, and closed the hatch, the last person seen before their trip into space. In those moments, they were thankful for his abrasive attention to detail and his forceful leadership on the launch pad.

Wendt's memoir is replete with good-natured stories, and some that are not so good-natured, many of which are the stuff of legend. It should come as no surprise to anyone that many astronauts had a wild, devil-may-care side to their personalities. From Gus Grissom's sexual peccadilloes to Alan Shepard's practical jokes to John Glenn's stuffed shirt persona that wasn't, Wendt adds several wild new chapters to the antics of the astronauts.

What can I say, except WOW!? This beauty is chock FULL of interesting stories and insider information that only someone like the author can provide. Guenter Wendt tells the story of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle eras of NASA like no one else has, or could. Only he was there from the very beginning through to the Shuttle era, and he tells it like it was, with no sugar coating and plenty of new and fresh stories. His unique perspectives on the astronauts really brings their personalities out like nothing I've read before. There's so much new and interesting to read in this book that I will have to reread it several times to absorb it all. I met the author at a book signing in Los Angeles and he is a wonderful man. Later on, when I read the book, I couldn't help but feel like I was still at the book signing, listening to terrific tales of Mercury Gemini and Apollo. If you get a chance to meet him in person, you really must. If you can't meet him in person, you couldn't do any better than to buy this book, because he's in there, accent and all. Like other books by Apogee Press, this one comes with a CD-ROM which has awesome quicktime videos of Guenter giving a personal tour of the launch pads and other areas at the Cape! You can hear his stories in his own words! It's got lots of other goodies, like personal letters to Guenter from dozens of astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, John Young, Jim Irwin, and many more. What an incredible journal, documenting the fantastic voyages and voyagers of NASA. I rank it right up there with "Carrying The Fire" as a valuable and treasured insiders history of NASA. You won't be disappointed with this one, check it out at www.padleader.com too, for future events and signings.

Anyone who has ever read a book about the space program or watched any of the launches of the 1950's through the 1980's knows that Guenter Wendt was the last person to tuck the astronauts into their couches and shake their hands before shutting the hatch. The man was there and saw and heard it all.

Guenter takes us on a journey from 1955 until his retirement in 1989. He spins tales about the astronauts and their ungoing "gotcha's", troubles with various contractor managers, monkey business with Ham and Enos, and the world's perception of the US Space Program during its hayday.

Not since Gene Kranz wrote "Failure Is Not An Option" have we been treated to so many behind the scenes stories and anecdotes. We get to hear the stories of someone wanting to shoot the MR-1 launch vehicle with a 30.06 when it refused to take off, Alan Shepard's pad antics involving a German army helmet, feces throwing chimpanzees, and the ongoing battle to keep the entire pad area safe from all the toxic gas and explosives that surrounded that area.

Guenter and Russ explain that one little break in "the chain" could have disasterous effects. This proved true during the Apollo 13 explosion in space as well as the Challenger launch disaster.

Guenter is a man of great passion about his job, the space program in general, and the country he adopted back in 1955 when he became a US Citizen.

This book is well worth reading. You won't be able to put it down until you've finished. The addition of a CD-ROM with many of Guenter's stories is a real asset to the book. You'll enjoy every minute of it.

As an engineer who grew up on the back gate of NASA-JSC, I really enjoyed reading Guenter's Story. I enjoyed the easy to read format, the larger print, and the funny stories that Guenter tied in, especially the one on the CB radio out in the Mojave desert where the operator on the receiving end asked Guenter, "what's your handle?" Guenther replied, "Col. Klink." The operator said, "you've got that accent down pat. You sound just like him!"

Seriously, the one thing that strikes me about several books out about the early days of the space race are the long hours, dedication, and committment that many engineers, scientists, technicians, and astronauts put in to reach the nation's goal of getting to the moon before 1970. Guenter described in detail the operations of the former McDonnell Corporation, and more companies today NEED to be organized the way James McDonnell (Mr. Mac) was back in the old days where things got DONE. The old McDonnell Corporation ran efficiently, and with very little (if any) beaurocratic "B.S." Mr. Mac would appoint someone in McDonnell to have full authority over one area and make decisions independently (this was Guenter Wendt), and he gave that single person control over the budget (the petty cash fund was sometimes used for sandwiches and coffee when Guenter and his crew were working late nights). Mr. Mac put QUITE A BIT OF TRUST IN HIS EMPLOYEES!! Mr. Mac would send them to school (Guenter took engineering classes in St. Louis), and Mr. Mac would even invite the astronauts over to his home for dinner (Guenter did the same thing - astronauts would go out on his boat or sleep on his couch). Mr. Mac was a man who treated his employees with respect and trust. He helped them learn and invested in them.

It was great to read a different story from a man involved in the early days of space flight. Guenter Wendt was a good leader, he would jump through hoops to get things done (such as the flag at the back entrance of the cape), and I loved the story about the painting that went on at Edwards AFB. There are other stories about problem solving, and getting around the beaurocratic "BS".

The epilogue gives insights for the public on getting back into space more aggressively. Congress-take these into consideration. Smaller projects from private investments, such as the X-Prize projects, is a good start. Let's go back now. I'm game for designing a nuclear powered rocket, a smaller shuttle, or a single stage to orbit launch vehicle.

Thanks for your insights, Mr. Guenter Wendt. More engineers and administrators are needed like you and James McDonnell (Mr. Mac) more than ever today.

I received my book yesterday and have already read it. I just could not put it down once I opened it up.

I have read most all of the books out by former and current Astronauts and this is one is the best so far. The story is told by a man that saw and lived through all of the early programs. Guenter Wendt was the last person to speak to and shake hands with each astronaut before closing the hatch on each mission and has some killer stores to tell about the going ons at the pad as well as in the various lives of all involved in the "chain".

I learned many things that I had not heard before about the inner workings of the space program as well as some great "inside" stories about the astronauts and their families.

Russell Still has done a wonderful job of relating Guenters story. The book uses nice fonts and is formatted so as to make it an easy read. The cover photography is awesome as well as the many pages of photography inside of the book. Just the CD (included with the book) is worth the cover price alone.

I would highly recommend. Well done!

While I agree that a chapter about Guenter's pre-NASA life really would have been a Good Thing, this book is fabulous.

I have read about 10 memoirs/books on apollo/gemini/mercury. This stands out in the following ways:

- very good at getting the feel of the human beings and personalities, and a feel for Guenter himself.

- wonderful humor and jokes scattered across.

- details on pre-flight launch pad testing and procedures that are hard to find elsewhere.

Fans of the Tom Hanks/HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" - particuarly the Apollo 7 episode - will recognize some of the stories from this wonderful book. "Unbroken Chain" combines a large collection of delightful stories from Wendt's long career the U.S. space program with a well-written, carefully researched description of the overall space program by his collaborator, Russell Still. In addition to stories about the astronauts, there are some very interesting tales about managers - good and bad - and how things got done on the front line. Not to be missed.

Once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down. I know Bob Crippen and to read about the jokes they played on each other to break the monotony up was great. Guenter did a great job with this book. For any Space History buff this is a great addtion to the library.