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Failure Is Not an Option
- Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
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Publisher's summary
Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director's role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s.
Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.)
In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids - still in their twenties, only a few years out of college - who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success.
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By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the moon - in just four months.
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The Men Who Saved 1968
- By Gillian on 04-04-18
By: Robert Kurson
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Neil Armstrong
- A Life of Flight
- By: Jay Barbree
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Much has been written about Neil Armstrong, America's modern hero and history's most famous space traveler. Yet, shy of fame and never one to steal the spotlight, Armstrong was always reluctant to discuss his personal side of events. Here for the first time is the definitive story of Neil's life of flight he shared for five decades with a trusted friend - Jay Barbree.
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A Profound Personal Impact
- By Michael on 08-21-14
By: Jay Barbree
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SR-71, the Blackbird, Q&A
- By: Terry Pappas
- Narrated by: Chris Abell
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Higher, farther, faster - what every real aviator aspires to. The SR-71 was the epitome of this dream for three decades. The only way to beat the SR-71 was to rocket into space, and every astronaut in the office with me in the 1960s would have loved to have flown the Blackbird. In many ways it placed greater demand on piloting proficiency than any spacecraft.
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Great in sight on life and times of Blackbird crew
- By J Bo on 11-11-15
By: Terry Pappas
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Apollo
- By: Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
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Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
- By JDM on 10-29-19
By: Charles Murray, and others
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Topgun Days
- Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks
- By: Dave "Bio" Baranek
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dave Baranek (callsign "Bio") was one of 451 young men to receive his Wings of Gold in 1980 as a naval flight officer. Four years later, seasoned by intense training and deployments in the tense confrontations of the Cold War, he became the only one of that initial group to rise to become an instructor at the navy's elite Fighter Weapons School. As a Topgun instructor, Bio was responsible for teaching the navy's and Marine Corps' best fighter pilots how to be even better. He schooled them in the classroom and then went head-to-head with them in the skies.
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Top Gun or Topgun
- By Randy on 02-19-13
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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
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Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
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Tanker Pilot
- Lessons from the Cockpit
- By: Mark Hasara, Rush Limbaugh - foreword
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Get a glimpse of life in the pilot's seat and experience modern air warfare directly from a true American hero. Lt. Col Mark Hasara - who has 24 years of experience in flying missions around the world - provides keen and eye-opening insights on success and failure and emphasizes the importance of always being willing to learn. He provides 12 essential lessons based on his wartime experience and his own personal photographs from his missions during the Cold War, Gulf War, and Iraq War.
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NKAWTG! Nobody!
- By David Stefano on 11-10-17
By: Mark Hasara, and others
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Vulcan Boys
- From the Cold War to the Falklands: True Tales of the Iconic Delta V Bomber
- By: Tony Blackman
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Vulcan, the second of the three V bombers built to guard the UK during the Cold War, has become an aviation icon like the Spitfire, its delta shape instantly recognizable, as is the howling noise it makes when the engines are opened for takeoff. Vulcan Boys is the first Vulcan book recounted completely firsthand by the operators themselves.
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a compelling work but slow to start
- By Josh Boyle on 08-06-16
By: Tony Blackman
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The Last Man On the Moon
- By: Eugene Cernan
- Narrated by: Eugene Cernan
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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This is the story of a unique American hero who came of age as an astronaut during the few dramatic years when man reached the moon. Cernan's career spanned the entire Apollo program, from the tragic fire that killed three of his comrades on Apollo 1, through the moment when he left man's last footprint on the moon as commander of Apollo 17.
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Yet Another Perspective
- By Shellbin on 12-28-12
By: Eugene Cernan
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Come Up and Get Me
- An Autobiography of Colonel Joe Kittinger
- By: Joe Kittinger, Craig Ryan
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....
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A rewarding read
- By Andrew Braddick on 03-25-13
By: Joe Kittinger, and others
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Flying from the Black Hole
- The B-52 Navigator-Bombardiers of Vietnam
- By: Robert O. Harder
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress. Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian bombing sorties would have been impossible.
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Today I learned something new.
- By Rob Wilson on 02-20-21
By: Robert O. Harder
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The Dream Machine
- The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey
- By: Richard Whittle
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When the Marines decided to buy a helicopter-airplane hybrid "tiltrotor" called the V-22 Osprey, they saw it as their dream machine. The tiltrotor was the aviation equivalent of finding the Northwest Passage: an aircraft able to take off, land, and hover with the agility of a helicopter yet fly as fast and as far as an airplane. Many predicted it would reshape civilian aviation. The Marines saw it as key to their very survival. Opponents called it one of the worst boondoggles in Pentagon history.
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Innovation runs into government
- By Cx30 on 09-25-10
By: Richard Whittle
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Lunar Discovery
- Discovery Series, Book 1
- By: Salvador Mercer
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What lies on the dark side of the moon could change the course of humanity forever. When a Chinese rover discovers an alien technology on the dark side of the moon, it is up to Richard "Rock" Crandon and his NASA team of scientists and engineers to devise a way to return before the Chinese and Russians. Forced to deal with bureaucratic oversight and a complex team of personalities, Rock Crandon pushes his team to their limits.
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Tech savvy people beware
- By Gordon on 10-27-16
By: Salvador Mercer
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Audie Award, History/Biography, 2016. On the night of July 20, 1969, our world changed forever when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Based on in-depth interviews with 23 of the 24 moon voyagers, as well as those who struggled to get the program moving, A Man on the Moon conveys every aspect of the Apollo missions with breathtaking immediacy and stunning detail.
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The Men Who Saved 1968
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Without John C. Houbolt, a mid-level engineer at NASA, Apollo 11 would never have made it to the moon. Top NASA engineers on the project, including Werner Von Braun, strongly advocated for a single, huge spacecraft to travel to the moon, land, and return to Earth. It's the scenario used in 1950s cartoons and horror movies about traveling to outer space. Houbolt had another idea: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. LOR would link two spacecraft in orbit while the crafts were travelling at 3,600 miles an hour around the moon. His plan was ridiculed and considered unthinkable.
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At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969, time stood still throughout the world, as thousands converged at the Kennedy Space Center and millions tuned in on live television. At that instant, the first rumbles began to shake the ground, as a small spacecraft attached to the giant Saturn V rocket, several hundred feet tall, started lifting off. Apollo 11 was on its way to a historic first landing on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin: The Lives and Careers of the First Men on the Moon profiles both astronauts and the most memorable space mission in history.
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In 1978, the first group of space shuttle astronauts was introduced to the world - 29 men and six women who would carry NASA through the most tumultuous years of the space shuttle program. Among them was USAF Colonel Mike Mullane, who, in his memoir Riding Rockets, strips the heroic veneer from the astronaut corps and paints them as they are - human.
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Ask an Astronaut
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Sally Ride
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A member of the first astronaut class to include women, NASA chose her for the seventh shuttle mission, inspiring several generations of women. After a second flight, Ride served on the panels investigating the Challenger explosion and the Columbia disintegration that killed all aboard. In both instances, she faulted NASA's rush to meet mission deadlines and its organizational failures. She also cofounded a company promoting science and education for children, especially girls.
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Neil Armstrong
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Much has been written about Neil Armstrong, America's modern hero and history's most famous space traveler. Yet, shy of fame and never one to steal the spotlight, Armstrong was always reluctant to discuss his personal side of events. Here for the first time is the definitive story of Neil's life of flight he shared for five decades with a trusted friend - Jay Barbree.
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A Profound Personal Impact
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A stunning memoir from the astronaut who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station - a candid account of his remarkable voyage, of the journeys off the planet that preceded it, and of his colorful formative years. A natural storyteller and modern-day hero, Kelly has a message of hope for the future that will inspire for generations to come. Here, in his personal story, we see the triumph of the human imagination, the strength of the human will, and the boundless wonder of the galaxy.
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Great insights with bad audio quality
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Safely to Earth
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In this one-of-a-kind memoir, Jack Clemons - a former lead engineer in support of NASA - takes listeners behind the scenes and into the inner workings of the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs during their most exciting years. Discover the people, the events, and the risks involved in one of the most important parts of space missions: bringing the astronauts back home to Earth. Clemons joined Project Apollo in 1968, a young engineer inspired by science fiction and electrified by John F. Kennedy's challenge to the nation to put a man on the moon.
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Jack Clemons has all the right stuff in this book
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First Man
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When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over 50 hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this "magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon.
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Not really 'unabridged'
- By A Reader on 06-06-18
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The Astronaut Maker
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One of the most elusive and controversial figures in NASA's history, George W. S. Abbey was called "the Dark Lord", "the Godfather", and "UNO" (unidentified NASA official) by those within NASA. Yet Abbey had more influence on human spaceflight than almost anyone in history. From young pilot and wannabe astronaut to engineer, bureaucrat, and finally director of the Johnson Space Center, Abbey's story has never been fully told - until now. The Astronaut Maker takes listeners inside NASA to learn the real story of how Abbey rose to power and wielded it out of the spotlight.
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Excellent Book for Space Enthusiasts
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What listeners say about Failure Is Not an Option
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bill
- 02-05-18
Great book poor performance
Overall great book but the performance was very poor. Pronouncing delta v as delta five and not delta vee. GUIDO as gweedo and not GUY DOUGH. TELMU as TELL MOO and not TELM U.
Do some research first this stuff is very easy to find and mispronouncing it is unacceptable to anyone who has any knowledge.
Great Book, highly recommended
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- Al
- 08-06-18
Excellent story and narration
wonderfully written story of gene and his account of the American space program... excellent narration!
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- abbyroad
- 12-30-16
Inspiring
Wonderful story of the amazing mission controllers who were essential to the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.
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- Kindle Customer
- 05-18-17
fantastic work!
excellent! well written and read. it is a great telling of one of The United States' greatest accomplishments!
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- Kayce Cover
- 07-08-17
I was a little girl at Cape Canaveril...
...and I watched the Mercury launches from the beach. This book captured this magical epoch and magnified it. I loved every minute, including every insight and technical detail.
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- Bryce
- 12-16-16
Great story told well.
Story after story that blew my mind about the space race and subsequent close of the moon exploration era. Great book.
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- G. London
- 04-27-18
I've never cried so much while reading a book
Probably the most inspiring true story ever. A riveting ground-level account of a time when we reached for the stars and caught them.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-30-16
Excellent
Very captivating story and narrator. I'm glad it was recommended to me. I will look for other books by the author and narrator.
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- KOS
- 07-29-19
Immensely rewarding book.
A brilliantly articulated account of the what arguably is the greatest human endeavors of the twentieth century. Highest praise to Gene Kranz for sharing his experiences, insights and personal perspectives with such such selfless honesty and candor.
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- Brian
- 12-23-13
Inspiring Leadership and Technical Problem Solving
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
For any scientist or engineer, this book takes you to the front lines of test pilots and the inherent danger s of spaceflight...from the view of the brainiacs in mission control who are the necessary and incredibly important partners of the astronauts in those tiny capsules.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Of course, Gene Kranz -- demonstrating authentic leadership in the midst of adversity.
What does Danny Campbell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I've read the book. The reading is exceptionally well done and I can put Kranz's face on the voice of the narrator.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It makes me wish we were still pushing for human space flight.
Any additional comments?
This is a great book for aficionados of engineering, science, operations, spaceflight, and pushing technology. But, it is best a book of leadership and companionship required to push the boundaries of human endeavor.
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