Nonfiction | 14-Adult
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the historical first landing of humans on the moon, it’s the perfect time to delve deeply into the science and the story behind that astonishing feat of human endeavour. I was alive but not even five years old when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the moon while Mike Collins piloted the orbiting command module, so I don’t actually remember this event. Despite that, it’s definitely part of my cultural history, as I’ve spent my life looking toward the stars and planets. This book is the story of the American space mission from Mercury through to Apollo 11; in fact, of the 400 pages of the actual narrative (there’s another 50 pages for addenda and index), only about 65 pages are devoted to the Apollo 11 voyage itself from launch to return. So if all you want is the Apollo 11 story, you’ll want to look elsewhere.
But Apollo 11 happened as the result of all the work before it. None of us accomplishes a damn thing on this earth without the help of others, and this book emphasizes that in spades. Donovan’s research is meticulous and exhaustive, examining the science, the politics, and the people behind the entire space race. The book opens with the 1957 launch of a Russian ball of metal and radio equipment named Sputnik, then reaches still further back to Werner von Braun’s birth and childhood in Germany. It was the Nazis’ scientific edge in rocket research that spawned the space race between the United States and the U.S.S.R, as each country poached their share of the scientists at the end of World War II. Von Braun and his team helped the American develop the technology that would eventually power the flight to the moon, the immense Saturn V rocket. In Donovan’s skilled hands, the reader experiences the events of 1957-1969 as it must have felt in real time. We learn about the technology but just as importantly, the people who made this happen, from the young computer scientists to the grizzled all-male team in a smoky Mission Control, where ashtrays were emptied at the start of every shift. The astronauts’ wives get some attention, and one trifling mention of the women “computers” as revealed in Hidden Figures, but otherwise it’s all about the men. Really, Mr. Donovan? Despite this snub of female contributions, I give the book 4 stars out of 5. The writing is tension-filled and real as we witness the highs and lows, the dangers and the successes. An entire chapter is devoted to the Apollo 1 fire that devastated the public as well as the NASA program. There are three sets of photo pages, both black and white and colour, which offer another view of that historic time. Addenda include endnotes, an extensive bibliography, and an adequate index. There is a copy of this book at the Grand Forks & District Public Library. My thanks to Little, Brown publishers for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40696945

I absolutely loved this book. The authors research sowed through in how personal his information was developed. There are several books coming out this summer discussing various aspects of the Apollo program, This one will be difficult to top

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was exciting from the very beginning. If you are interested in the space program, particularly the early days of NASA, this book is for you. I would recommend it to friends and parody buffs alike. I will be re-reading this one for sure.

4*

I received a complimentary ARC copy of this book from through NetGalley from Little, Brown, & Company. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a really thoroughly searched book! If you want details and some really cool nuggets of information on the space program and it’s astronauts then this book is definitely worth the read.

The book describes the entire history of of the US Space program from before Mercury thru the Apollo missions. It gives much insight into the USSR program as well and the space race that occurred. My favorite part was how the astronauts lives and backgrounds were discussed. I would’ve liked to hear about how their children and wives coped a little more.

Ultimately, gave this book 4 stars because personally it got overly technical at times. However, some may enjoy the technical aspects of the equipment and computers that was elaborated on in the book. For me though, that one aspect of the book was little dry but overall the book was very well researched and written!

A fascinating look behind the scenes of the NASA space program. It brings to life the characters, the problems and puzzles that NASA engineers had to reckon with and it will make you cheer at the success of the moon landing (especially when realizing they did it with less technology than we now have in our cell phones) and root for NASA to continue in its great work. I loved this book.