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**As per all of my reviews, I like to preface by saying that I listened to this book in audiobook format. This does indeed slightly skew my rating. I have found that audiobooks, give me a better "relationship" with the characters if done well, but also kills the book for me if narrated poorly. Also due to the nature of listening to the text, names and places may be spelled incorrectly here as I often do not have the physical volume in front of me.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
This is really going to scratch an itch I've had to dive into the more 'nitty gritty' of our NASA early space flight program. I'm hoping this is a pretty thorough retelling of the events. My only concern is that since this is written by only Gene Krantz, we'll only have the history that he was apart of. I'm hoping he takes the time to flesh out the parts that were in his periphery at the time.
Love the description of the Flight Control teams with the astronauts
Description of the humble humble beginnings
The way the missions are described, as someone who doesn't know the success / failure of each of the early Mercury Missions, each description was thrilling.
I love the pacing here as it steps through each situation and you can feel and appreciate the lessons learned from each failure.
The youth, eagerness and the stereotypical "hot shot pilot" cliché comes through
So far, very thorough back history of the program. And it seems to be pretty broad, not just in his immediate scope of work. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was written by him going and gathering other sources of information, because the depth of scope is pretty wide. I love the descriptions of the environment and mood during the early days in Mission Control. There seemed to be quite a lot of comraderies. And even anecdotes about jokes being played on other team members, while sort of "flat" sounding, is great fun to know that these things went on. We also get big background, cultural events like the assassination of Kennedy, which shook the nation to it's core. Seeing these types of events and their ramifications really sets the tone.
We shown the build up really from Mission Controls (very) humble start and the description that they basically had to learn on the fly. The room of men had to basically start from nothing and learn as they went along. Each mission is almost vital it seems like. The competition with the Russians is front and center for much of the opening, and it plays heavily into the shotgun style approach in how they researched, and learned. I dare say that NASA had an almost SpaceX style bullishness to their turnaround times. Each mission program, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, had a very specific goal in mind, and i loved the idea and how Krantz shows the progression of each mission. How the lessons learned from each slip up and mistake, planned into the next, and how the missions built off of the previous.
Of course this also delves into the personal lives of the crew.
You know reading this book, sort of puts things in perspective. You know you're reading a good book when it really challenges your own outlook on your current life. I'm currently in the middle of asking for a raise because I feel as though I've taken more responsibilities and have put in time that I'm not really being compensated for. Well… I just read the chapter involving "Fire on the Launchpad". Three men were put into a capsule, locked in, and due to faulty wiring, the inside of the chamber pretty much imploded. All three men burned alive. I just think about the crew that had to open that hatch afterward, and find them there, charred and burnt and having to remove the bodies and take apart the capsule. And of course the three men who went up there. And here I complain about my work from home job with my cup of warm coffee and teleconference calls, and yet I demand more money.
Krantz does an amazingly, sobering job in describing the grief that griped NASA during the first Apollo failure. They felt like they let the three astronaunts down. And I love how they used that to reinvigorate themselves and push through. There's a tremendous since of pride that comes though the writing here. It makes me want to stop bitching and whining and doing half ass work myself, and literally put everything into doing the best job that I can muster.
One aspect which I would have liked to have been bettered detailed is that while Krantz does a splendid job in breaking down each of the missions, I wish though he would have been more clear about the purpose and overall goal of the mission was. For example, the Apollo Missions and Gemini missions, while he states what the overall goal of each program is, we're left to sort of interpret what the individuals missions are trying to accomplish.
Gene Krantz seems to make no qualms about his pride in the American victory over the Soviets. Towards the end of the book it gets a tad preachy, and I can imagine him waving the banner of the United States with Superman standing behind him. But that's fine, that feeling of pride and deep love of the country was pretty much baked into the ideals at the time. Emerging from the heightened tense end of WWII, this cold war rivalry and fear of the "Menace in the East" brought out perhaps the best and the worst of the nation. But I love how we definitely get the best of it in this contained bubble. We were beaten to the starting blow of the first man in space, and the Russians had us lapped for much of the beginning of the program. But it's aw-inspiring, and this is what I can imagine Mr. Krantz was feeling, is that with dedication, a common, related goal, and given a task, we can really pull together to do anything. But it takes that common unification. Something I don't see really happening again. It was such a time when the nation still had a one "profile". And while I know diversity is a VERY good thing, when a nation is too fractured with differing ideals and stubborn viewpoints, nothing gets shared in common, and the pulling together of the common good cannot happen. Anyway I blamed Krantz for getting preachy at the end of this book and I do the same here… So Overall I really liked this book. I've read a few scientific auto-re-tellings of events, and not all capture the sense of urgency and immediate learning and adapting at it does here.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
This is really going to scratch an itch I've had to dive into the more 'nitty gritty' of our NASA early space flight program. I'm hoping this is a pretty thorough retelling of the events. My only concern is that since this is written by only Gene Krantz, we'll only have the history that he was apart of. I'm hoping he takes the time to flesh out the parts that were in his periphery at the time.
Love the description of the Flight Control teams with the astronauts
Description of the humble humble beginnings
The way the missions are described, as someone who doesn't know the success / failure of each of the early Mercury Missions, each description was thrilling.
I love the pacing here as it steps through each situation and you can feel and appreciate the lessons learned from each failure.
The youth, eagerness and the stereotypical "hot shot pilot" cliché comes through
So far, very thorough back history of the program. And it seems to be pretty broad, not just in his immediate scope of work. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was written by him going and gathering other sources of information, because the depth of scope is pretty wide. I love the descriptions of the environment and mood during the early days in Mission Control. There seemed to be quite a lot of comraderies. And even anecdotes about jokes being played on other team members, while sort of "flat" sounding, is great fun to know that these things went on. We also get big background, cultural events like the assassination of Kennedy, which shook the nation to it's core. Seeing these types of events and their ramifications really sets the tone.
We shown the build up really from Mission Controls (very) humble start and the description that they basically had to learn on the fly. The room of men had to basically start from nothing and learn as they went along. Each mission is almost vital it seems like. The competition with the Russians is front and center for much of the opening, and it plays heavily into the shotgun style approach in how they researched, and learned. I dare say that NASA had an almost SpaceX style bullishness to their turnaround times. Each mission program, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, had a very specific goal in mind, and i loved the idea and how Krantz shows the progression of each mission. How the lessons learned from each slip up and mistake, planned into the next, and how the missions built off of the previous.
Of course this also delves into the personal lives of the crew.
You know reading this book, sort of puts things in perspective. You know you're reading a good book when it really challenges your own outlook on your current life. I'm currently in the middle of asking for a raise because I feel as though I've taken more responsibilities and have put in time that I'm not really being compensated for. Well… I just read the chapter involving "Fire on the Launchpad". Three men were put into a capsule, locked in, and due to faulty wiring, the inside of the chamber pretty much imploded. All three men burned alive. I just think about the crew that had to open that hatch afterward, and find them there, charred and burnt and having to remove the bodies and take apart the capsule. And of course the three men who went up there. And here I complain about my work from home job with my cup of warm coffee and teleconference calls, and yet I demand more money.
Krantz does an amazingly, sobering job in describing the grief that griped NASA during the first Apollo failure. They felt like they let the three astronaunts down. And I love how they used that to reinvigorate themselves and push through. There's a tremendous since of pride that comes though the writing here. It makes me want to stop bitching and whining and doing half ass work myself, and literally put everything into doing the best job that I can muster.
One aspect which I would have liked to have been bettered detailed is that while Krantz does a splendid job in breaking down each of the missions, I wish though he would have been more clear about the purpose and overall goal of the mission was. For example, the Apollo Missions and Gemini missions, while he states what the overall goal of each program is, we're left to sort of interpret what the individuals missions are trying to accomplish.
Gene Krantz seems to make no qualms about his pride in the American victory over the Soviets. Towards the end of the book it gets a tad preachy, and I can imagine him waving the banner of the United States with Superman standing behind him. But that's fine, that feeling of pride and deep love of the country was pretty much baked into the ideals at the time. Emerging from the heightened tense end of WWII, this cold war rivalry and fear of the "Menace in the East" brought out perhaps the best and the worst of the nation. But I love how we definitely get the best of it in this contained bubble. We were beaten to the starting blow of the first man in space, and the Russians had us lapped for much of the beginning of the program. But it's aw-inspiring, and this is what I can imagine Mr. Krantz was feeling, is that with dedication, a common, related goal, and given a task, we can really pull together to do anything. But it takes that common unification. Something I don't see really happening again. It was such a time when the nation still had a one "profile". And while I know diversity is a VERY good thing, when a nation is too fractured with differing ideals and stubborn viewpoints, nothing gets shared in common, and the pulling together of the common good cannot happen. Anyway I blamed Krantz for getting preachy at the end of this book and I do the same here… So Overall I really liked this book. I've read a few scientific auto-re-tellings of events, and not all capture the sense of urgency and immediate learning and adapting at it does here.