Great autobio from someone deep in the space program from the beginning.
4 stars
Great autobiography and history of the pre-shuttle space program. I think the biggest and most useful part of this book--other than the awesome behind-the-scenes feel of these guys behind the astronauts and their missions--is the amount of time dedicated to the Gemini program. Most laypeople know of the Apollo missions, Mercury too, but they forget Gemini. That kept me glued to the pages (always wanted to know more about Gemini).
And there was a lot about Gemini that was right and wrong and so much that they learned to make the upcoming Apollo missions, and then the moon landing for 11.
I've been a fan of Gene Kranz as a person (and loved Apollo 13 when it came out and every day since), and have seen him on the local news when there's something going on at NASA and they bring the "old timers" back to talk. He's just a …
Great autobiography and history of the pre-shuttle space program. I think the biggest and most useful part of this book--other than the awesome behind-the-scenes feel of these guys behind the astronauts and their missions--is the amount of time dedicated to the Gemini program. Most laypeople know of the Apollo missions, Mercury too, but they forget Gemini. That kept me glued to the pages (always wanted to know more about Gemini).
And there was a lot about Gemini that was right and wrong and so much that they learned to make the upcoming Apollo missions, and then the moon landing for 11.
I've been a fan of Gene Kranz as a person (and loved Apollo 13 when it came out and every day since), and have seen him on the local news when there's something going on at NASA and they bring the "old timers" back to talk. He's just a guy who wanted to do his best and learn all he can. And it's neat to read a history of someone not an astronaut while helping others get into space. He'd never gone to astronaut training for himself. He'd come out of the Air Force and wanted to test aircraft or help with systems, then became part of what would later dominate the landscape as NASA. I just think it's a very cool way to look at the space program, rather like "Hidden Figures" exposed the science and math and ladies who were never going into space themselves.
