Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon

✍ Scribed by Nelson, Craig

• Book ID: 106875218
• Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: en-GB
• Weight: 389 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780143117162

✦ Synopsis

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, historian Nelson offers a compelling account of the Apollo 11 mission, creating such an authentic retelling that listeners will find themselves sweating the outcome right until the very moment that Neil Armstrong sets foot on the lunar surface. Richard McGonagle delivers a rich and layered performance as he navigates through the mix of interviews, anecdotes and declassified documents and renders the central figures as endearing and heroic as they were in their heyday. A fascinating and compulsive listening experience. A Viking hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 20). (June)
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From

Starred Review Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA material, Nelson has produced a magnificent, very readable account of the steps that led to the success of Apollo 11. In the 40 years since the first moon landing and the 52 years since Sputnik was launched, it isn’t always remembered now what an experiment the Apollo program was, nor that the space race was as much a military as a scientific campaign. The space program was launched using the knowledge of rockets available at the end of World War II and former Third Reich scientists working in both American and Soviet programs. When it came to sending men into orbit and beyond, routines and equipment had to be invented and tested in minute increments. Nelson’s descriptions take us back, showing the assorted teams and how they worked together. We meet the astronauts and find out why they were eager to take on this mission, and we also meet the hypercareful technicians, without whom neither men nor craft would have left the ground. Nelson shows, too, how the technology and the politics of the times interrelated. Leslie Fish, songwriter, summed it up perfectly, “To all the unknown heroes, sing out to every shore / What makes one step a giant leap is all the steps before.” Nelson brightly illuminates those steps. --Frieda Murray