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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
There are a handful of must-read astronaut books, this is the only one written by an astronaut without a ghost writer.
The story of Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 crew member that didn’t land on the moon is well-written. Collins knows how to tell a story without crusty military jargon or massive ego.
In my mind this book is right up there with “The Right Stuff” and “Rocket Men” and a step above “Lost Moon/Apollo 13” and “The Six.” This is high praise given that I love all five of these books.
The story of Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 crew member that didn’t land on the moon is well-written. Collins knows how to tell a story without crusty military jargon or massive ego.
In my mind this book is right up there with “The Right Stuff” and “Rocket Men” and a step above “Lost Moon/Apollo 13” and “The Six.” This is high praise given that I love all five of these books.
adventurous
challenging
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
a delightfully personable account of astronaut selection, training, and missions. (aside from a few era-typical descriptions with sexist/racist overtones)
Solid, fascinating history of the space program. Filled with facts, anecdotes and opinion, this comes across as the real deal and a great summation of what was good, what was great and the rest as well. Highly recommended!!
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Bro liked talking about his little pink body and he was super horny.
adventurous
medium-paced
Really good overview of his life and the space program!
Michael Collins was the third man on the mission to the moon, the one who stayed on the command module in lonely lunar orbit so Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could come back to earth. With his death earlier this year, and the present unfolding of a new era of spaceflight after decades of stagnation, it seemed an appropriate time to read his much-heralded memoir of the beginning of human space exploration. It's an awe-inspiring window into the challenges and victories of sending humans into space, carried along by Collins' humorous wit and self-deprecating talent, albeit marred by some outdated sexism.
The book starts a little slow, with technical details of Collins' jet-flying days - though I'm sure it's fascinating to pilots, and the relevance of his experience to astronaut training is made abundantly clear. It picks up with his acceptance into NASA, including wry commentary on some of the absurdities of the rigorous training (I laughed out loud more than once). The space missions are riveting - the famous Apollo 11, obviously, but even more so Collins' precursor flight on Gemini 10, involving some complex spacewalking activity in Earth orbit, with the suspenseful tension of things not always going according to plan, and death being one potential mistake or malfunction away. "Space is hard," as they say, and we come to appreciate the effort required to understand orbital mechanics, take precise constellation measurements to feed into primitive computers, or handle unexpected system failures under pressure. I found it interesting that a disproportionate amount of training, simulating, and contingency planning involved not so much figuring out how to get people to the moon but in making sure we could get them back (like practicing the rendezvous and docking of two different vehicles going at different speeds).
Collins expressed regret at the lack of African-American astronaut candidates, if perhaps with some naivety at the obstacles many may have faced in the Civil Rights era. More jarring was his relief at the lack of women, because, you see, defecating next to a man in space was bad enough, and besides, they would have had to completely redesign the spacesuits for women to urinate! (He described ongoing redesigns of their man-suits with no apparent sense of irony. Apparently such hindrances were not insurmountable for Sally Ride and the other women who followed at NASA a few years later.) Throw in enthusiastic accounts of pictures of "voluptuous" Playboy Bunnies sneaked aboard a spaceflight, or awkward (if slightly classier) descriptions of the attractiveness of an astronaut's widow, and it gives the impression that early NASA was a bit of an "old boy's club" where women were routinely objectified. (Apparently Collins' revulsion at pooping next to a woman in space didn't stop him from fantasizing about the anatomy of a squadron of female astronauts.) Perhaps a few decades ago it was considered humorous to write about "ogling the honies" in one paragraph while writing about your wife in the next, but I can at least naively hope it isn't anymore. Not that these critiques mean I think the book shouldn't be read; indeed, it's important for understanding the culture of the day.
I agree with Collins' conclusion that we don't have to choose between going to space and solving problems here on Earth; perhaps the things we learn exploring the heavenly expanse can even lend important perspective and impetus to our lives on this miraculous ball. Space is hard, but it's also glorious. At any rate, I'll be watching with interest to see what happens next.
The book starts a little slow, with technical details of Collins' jet-flying days - though I'm sure it's fascinating to pilots, and the relevance of his experience to astronaut training is made abundantly clear. It picks up with his acceptance into NASA, including wry commentary on some of the absurdities of the rigorous training (I laughed out loud more than once). The space missions are riveting - the famous Apollo 11, obviously, but even more so Collins' precursor flight on Gemini 10, involving some complex spacewalking activity in Earth orbit, with the suspenseful tension of things not always going according to plan, and death being one potential mistake or malfunction away. "Space is hard," as they say, and we come to appreciate the effort required to understand orbital mechanics, take precise constellation measurements to feed into primitive computers, or handle unexpected system failures under pressure. I found it interesting that a disproportionate amount of training, simulating, and contingency planning involved not so much figuring out how to get people to the moon but in making sure we could get them back (like practicing the rendezvous and docking of two different vehicles going at different speeds).
Collins expressed regret at the lack of African-American astronaut candidates, if perhaps with some naivety at the obstacles many may have faced in the Civil Rights era. More jarring was his relief at the lack of women, because, you see, defecating next to a man in space was bad enough, and besides, they would have had to completely redesign the spacesuits for women to urinate! (He described ongoing redesigns of their man-suits with no apparent sense of irony. Apparently such hindrances were not insurmountable for Sally Ride and the other women who followed at NASA a few years later.) Throw in enthusiastic accounts of pictures of "voluptuous" Playboy Bunnies sneaked aboard a spaceflight, or awkward (if slightly classier) descriptions of the attractiveness of an astronaut's widow, and it gives the impression that early NASA was a bit of an "old boy's club" where women were routinely objectified. (Apparently Collins' revulsion at pooping next to a woman in space didn't stop him from fantasizing about the anatomy of a squadron of female astronauts.) Perhaps a few decades ago it was considered humorous to write about "ogling the honies" in one paragraph while writing about your wife in the next, but I can at least naively hope it isn't anymore. Not that these critiques mean I think the book shouldn't be read; indeed, it's important for understanding the culture of the day.
I agree with Collins' conclusion that we don't have to choose between going to space and solving problems here on Earth; perhaps the things we learn exploring the heavenly expanse can even lend important perspective and impetus to our lives on this miraculous ball. Space is hard, but it's also glorious. At any rate, I'll be watching with interest to see what happens next.
Collins was a gifted writer. He was able to mix the technical with the human facts about being an astronaut on Apollo 11, which went to the moon. As a child, I remember watching every bit of this trip to space from liftoff to splashdown. It was very interesting reading the behind the scenes stories of his training, his flight on Gemini 10, his solo time while Armstrong and Aldrin were on the surface of the moon and his life after NASA.
What I didn't care for was his chauvinistic comments about women that were sprinkled throughout the book. Granted this book was written in 1974, way before the MeToo movement. He did say though that "women in space would cause a problem." Fortunately NASA didn't share that sentiment. But he wrote about the pinup picture that was placed in his room in crew quarters while quarantined before the flight. And he mentioned "ogling the honeys" from behind the glass of the quarantine unit they occupied after splashdown. There were other comments that I just found offensive.
What I didn't care for was his chauvinistic comments about women that were sprinkled throughout the book. Granted this book was written in 1974, way before the MeToo movement. He did say though that "women in space would cause a problem." Fortunately NASA didn't share that sentiment. But he wrote about the pinup picture that was placed in his room in crew quarters while quarantined before the flight. And he mentioned "ogling the honeys" from behind the glass of the quarantine unit they occupied after splashdown. There were other comments that I just found offensive.
This book has a reputation as the best of the astronauts' memoirs. It matches it with ease.
Written in 1974, it has the benefit of being recent history but Collins (and it is him; no ghostwriters are involved) brings an easy humour alongside the detail you'd expect from his background and an objective eye for comment on colleagues and the project as a whole.
As mentioned, there is plenty of detail but Collins has a gift for being able to explain things in understandable terms for the layman, or to reassure that he was occasionally just as baffled.
As a child of Apollo, I feel a tad guilty having taken so long to get to this book but immensely pleased to have done so.
Written in 1974, it has the benefit of being recent history but Collins (and it is him; no ghostwriters are involved) brings an easy humour alongside the detail you'd expect from his background and an objective eye for comment on colleagues and the project as a whole.
As mentioned, there is plenty of detail but Collins has a gift for being able to explain things in understandable terms for the layman, or to reassure that he was occasionally just as baffled.
As a child of Apollo, I feel a tad guilty having taken so long to get to this book but immensely pleased to have done so.