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Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft
- Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight
- Narrated by: Douglas R Pratt
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
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Publisher's summary
Ambassadors from Earth relates the story of the first unmanned space probes and planetary explorers - from the Sputnik and Explorer satellites launched in the late 1950's to the thrilling interstellar Voyager missions of the '70's - that yielded some of the most celebrated successes and spectacular failures of the space age.
Keep in mind that our first mad scrambles to reach orbit, the moon, and the planets were littered with enough histrionics and cliffhanging turmoil to rival the most far-out sci-fi film. Utilizing original interviews with key players, journal excerpts, and primary source documents, Jay Gallentine delivers a quirky and unforgettable look at the lives and legacy of the Americans and Soviets who conceived, built, and guided those unmanned missions to the planets and beyond. Of special note is his in-depth interview with James Van Allen, the discoverer of the rings of planetary radiation that now bear his name.
Ambassadors from Earth is an engaging bumper-car ride through a fog of head-banging uncertainty, bleeding-edge technology, personality clashes, organizational frustrations, brutal schedules, and the occasional bright spot. Confessed one participant, “We were making it up as we went along”.
The book is published by University of Nebraska Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
Critic reviews
An intriguing and essential read on the history of unmanned space programs..." (Journal for the History of Discoveries)
Many space buffs, especially young ones, should find this a satisfying narrative." (Publishers Weekly)
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5 out of 5 stars
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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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Apollo 11
- The Inside Story
- By: David Whitehouse
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
In the most authoritative book ever written about Apollo, David Whitehouse reveals the true drama behind the mission, telling the story in the words of those who took part - based around exclusive interviews with the key players. This enthralling book takes us from the early rocket pioneers to the shock America received from the Soviets' launch of the first satellite, Sputnik; from the race to put the first person into space, through President Kennedy's enthusiasm and later doubts, to the astronauts' intense competition to leave the first footprint.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Space Race Revivalism
- By Doug on 06-14-19
By: David Whitehouse
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Apollo 13
- By: Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,332
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,178
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,174
In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great story but a terrible narrator
- By Nicci on 01-29-20
By: Jim Lovell, and others
-
Beyond
- The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space
- By: Stephen Walker
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 186
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 185
Travelling at almost 18,000 miles per hour - 10 times faster than a rifle bullet - Yuri Gagarin circles the globe in just 106 minutes. From his windows, he sees the Earth as nobody has before, crossing a sunset and a sunrise, crossing oceans and continents, witnessing its beauty and its fragility. While his launch begins in total secrecy, within hours of his landing, he has become a world celebrity - the first human to leave the planet. Beyond tells the thrilling story behind that epic flight on its 60th anniversary.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A remarkable story on many levels
- By Dipam on 03-22-22
By: Stephen Walker
-
Selected by Extraterrestrials: My Life in the Top Secret World of UFOs, Think-Tanks and Nordic Secretaries
- By: William Mills Tompkins
- Narrated by: David Godfrey
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 265
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 225
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 220
Bill Tompkins was embedded in the world of secrecy as a teenager, when the navy took his personal ship models out of a Hollywood department store because they showed the classified locations of the radars and gun emplacements. He was present at the “Battle of LA”, when 1,430 rounds were fired at UFOs, and one of the Nordic craft selected him to be their rep in the evolving aerospace race. This book is a partial autobiography about his life to about 1970 including some of his early work for TRW.
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1 out of 5 stars
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No one takes UFOs seriously thanks to you!
- By David on 05-11-19
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First Man
- The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
- By: James R. Hansen
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 813
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 738
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 736
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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2 out of 5 stars
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Not really 'unabridged'
- By A Reader on 06-06-18
By: James R. Hansen
-
Apollo 8
- The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon
- By: Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,701
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,551
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,550
In August 1968 NASA made a bold decision: In just 16 weeks, the United States would launch humankind's first flight to the moon. Only the year before, three astronauts had burned to death in their spacecraft, and since then the Apollo program had suffered one setback after another. Meanwhile, the Russians were winning the space race, the Cold War was getting hotter by the month, and President Kennedy's promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade seemed sure to be broken.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great history of NASA and Apollo 8: a must listen
- By J on 11-17-17
By: Jeffrey Kluger
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The Burning Blue
- The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger Disaster
- By: Kevin Cook
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
On January 28, 1986, NASA's space shuttle Challenger exploded after blasting off from Cape Canaveral. Christa McAuliffe, America's "Teacher in Space", was instantly killed, along with the other six members of the mission. At least that's what most of us remember. Kevin Cook tells us what really happened on that ill-fated, unforgettable day. He traces the pressures - leading from NASA to the White House - that triggered the fatal order to launch on an ice-cold Florida morning.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not bad, but not much new either
- By Dave on 07-27-22
By: Kevin Cook
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Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program
- By: Pat Duggins
- Narrated by: Pat Duggins
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
Journalist Pat Duggins, National Public Radio's resident "space expert", chronicles the planning stages of the Space Shuttle program in the early 1970s, the thrill of the first flight in 1981, construction of the International Space Station in the 1990s, and the decision in the early 2000s to shut the program down.
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3 out of 5 stars
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End of the Shuttle
- By Jean on 09-25-14
By: Pat Duggins
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The Last Stargazers
- The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers
- By: Emily Levesque
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Humans from the earliest civilizations were spellbound by the night sky - craning their necks each night, they used the stars to orient themselves in the large, strange world around them. Stargazing is a pursuit that continues to fascinate us: from Copernicus to Carl Sagan, astronomers throughout history have spent their lives trying to answer the biggest questions in the universe. Now, award-winning astronomer Emily Levesque shares the stories of modern-day stargazers.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Searching for Stuff in the Darkness
- By Warpedland on 10-11-22
By: Emily Levesque
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Moon Shot
- The Inside Story of America's Apollo Moon Landings
- By: Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton, Jay Barbree, and others
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 470
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 411
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Story5 out of 5 stars 408
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation's most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA's effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the 20th century's greatest feat - landing humans on another world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Definitive Summary of Our Manned Space Missions
- By Robert on 08-15-19
By: Alan Shepard, and others
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Rise of the Rocket Girls
- The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars
- By: Nathalia Holt
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,068
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 973
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 976
In the 1940s and '50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Struggles In Space Exploration
- By Sara on 06-11-16
By: Nathalia Holt
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Rocket Men
- The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Ray Porter, Robert Kurson
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,519
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,277
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,272
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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5 out of 5 stars
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The Men Who Saved 1968
- By Gillian on 04-04-18
By: Robert Kurson
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Moon Shot
- The Inside Story of Man's Greatest Adventure
- By: Dan Parry
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 209
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 183
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
‘It didn’t matter that they were now three miles beyond their target site, that communications were dropping out and that they were running low on fuel. All that mattered to Neil as he searched for a safe spot to land was that boulders littered the surface below. “Thirty seconds,” called mission control. In truth, the flight controllers were now no more than spectators, just like everybody else. No more needed to be said. It was down to Armstrong
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow.
- By Shellbin on 02-04-12
By: Dan Parry
-
Into the Black
- The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her
- By: Rowland White, Richard Truly
- Narrated by: Eric Meyers
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 559
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 510
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 508
Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and recently declassified material, Into the Black pieces together the dramatic untold story of the Columbia mission and the brave people who dedicated themselves to help the United States succeed in the age of space exploration. On April 12, 1981, NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral. It was the most advanced, state-of-the-art flying machine ever built, challenging the minds and imagination of America's top engineers and pilots.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Story About a Flawed Spacecraft
- By John on 12-04-16
By: Rowland White, and others
-
The Right Stuff
- By: Tom Wolfe
- Narrated by: Dennis Quaid
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,549
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,036
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,011
Millions of words have poured forth about man's trip to the moon, but until now few people have had a sense of the most engrossing side of the adventure: namely, what went on in the minds of the astronauts themselves - in space, on the moon, and even during certain odysseys on earth. It is this, the inner life of the astronauts, that Tom Wolfe describes with his almost uncanny empathetic powers that made The Right Stuff a classic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Righteous Book, Righteous Narrator, Righteous MEN!
- By Gillian on 02-08-18
By: Tom Wolfe
-
The Department of Mad Scientists
- Inside DARPA, the Path-Breaking Government Agency You've Never Heard Of
- By: Michael Belfiore
- Narrated by: Michael Belfiore
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 169
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 91
The first-ever inside look at DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - the maverick and controversial group whose futuristic work has had amazing civilian and military applications, from the Internet to GPS to driverless cars
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2 out of 5 stars
-
meh
- By Patrick on 12-22-09
By: Michael Belfiore
-
Unacknowledged
- An Exposé of the World’s Greatest Secret
- By: Steven M. Greer MD
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,800
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,575
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,574
The biggest lie in history is about to be shattered. UFOs are real. In late June of 1947, three extraterrestrial craft were downed outside Roswell Air Force Base. Many more followed, revealing dozens of ET species and a Rosetta Stone to a new physics, an energy generation and propulsion system responsible for interstellar space travel. This new system could have easily replaced oil, gas, coal, and nuclear plants - and with them, the entire geopolitical and economic order on our planet. But a cabal of bankers, the military-industrial complex, and Big Oil stopped it.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
One Of Those Must Buy Phenomenal Rare Books
- By Vitaly on 11-09-17
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- Challenging the Privatization of Space
- By: Peter Ward
- Narrated by: Gary Galone
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
If humans and their private wealth have made such a mess of Earth, who can say we won’t do the same in space? In The Consequential Frontier, business and technology journalist Peter Ward is raising this vital question before it’s too late. Interviewing tech CEOs, inventors, scientists, lobbyists, politicians, and future civilian astronauts, Ward sheds light on a whole industry beyond headline-grabbing rocket billionaires like Bezos and Musk and introduces the new generation of activists trying to keep it from rushing recklessly into the cosmos.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Play it on 1.5 to 2x speed
- By B. Williams on 12-06-19
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In the Shadow of the Moon
- A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969
- By: Francis French, Colin Burgess
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- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
In the Shadow of the Moon tells the story of the most exciting and challenging years in spaceflight, with two superpowers engaged in a titanic struggle to land one of their own people on the moon. Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting book for space afficionados
- By Leslie F. on 04-21-16
By: Francis French, and others
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Beyond
- The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space
- By: Stephen Walker
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 223
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 186
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Story5 out of 5 stars 185
Travelling at almost 18,000 miles per hour - 10 times faster than a rifle bullet - Yuri Gagarin circles the globe in just 106 minutes. From his windows, he sees the Earth as nobody has before, crossing a sunset and a sunrise, crossing oceans and continents, witnessing its beauty and its fragility. While his launch begins in total secrecy, within hours of his landing, he has become a world celebrity - the first human to leave the planet. Beyond tells the thrilling story behind that epic flight on its 60th anniversary.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A remarkable story on many levels
- By Dipam on 03-22-22
By: Stephen Walker
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How to Make a Spaceship
- A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of Private Spaceflight
- By: Julian Guthrie, Richard Branson - preface, Stephen Hawking - afterword
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 364
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The story of the bullet-shaped SpaceShipOne and the other teams in the hunt is an extraordinary tale of making the impossible possible. It is driven by outsized characters - Burt Rutan, Richard Branson, John Carmack, Paul Allen - and obsessive pursuits. In the end, as Diamandis dreamed, the result wasn't just a victory for one team; it was the foundation for a new industry and a new age.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Fun and Thrilling Ride
- By Gillian on 09-28-16
By: Julian Guthrie, and others
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Space 2.0
- How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age
- By: Rod Pyle, Buzz Aldrin - foreword
- Narrated by: Jack de Golia
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Speaking with key leaders of the latest space programs and innovations, Rod Pyle shares the excitement and promise of this new era of exploration and economic development. From NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, to emerging leaders in the private sector, Space 2.0 examines the new partnerships that are revolutionizing spaceflight and changing the way we reach for the stars.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Basically a really long Wikipedia entry
- By Reuben on 03-03-19
By: Rod Pyle, and others
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Gus Grissom
- The Lost Astronaut (Indiana Biography Series)
- By: Ray E Boomhower
- Narrated by: Douglas R Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
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Story5 out of 5 stars 7
In the most comprehensive biography on the subject yet, Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut offers a more personal side and fuller picture of Grissom’s life and character. Author Ray E. Boomhower explores Grissom’s life from his days as a child to his service as a combat pilot. He delves into the process by which NASA selected its original seven Mercury astronauts, the jostling for position to be the first American in space, and Grissom’s near-fatal Liberty Bell 7 flight that haunted his subsequent space career.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding book!
- By Steve on 09-01-21
By: Ray E Boomhower
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The Consequential Frontier
- Challenging the Privatization of Space
- By: Peter Ward
- Narrated by: Gary Galone
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
If humans and their private wealth have made such a mess of Earth, who can say we won’t do the same in space? In The Consequential Frontier, business and technology journalist Peter Ward is raising this vital question before it’s too late. Interviewing tech CEOs, inventors, scientists, lobbyists, politicians, and future civilian astronauts, Ward sheds light on a whole industry beyond headline-grabbing rocket billionaires like Bezos and Musk and introduces the new generation of activists trying to keep it from rushing recklessly into the cosmos.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Play it on 1.5 to 2x speed
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting book for space afficionados
- By Leslie F. on 04-21-16
By: Francis French, and others
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Beyond
- The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space
- By: Stephen Walker
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 223
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 186
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Story5 out of 5 stars 185
Travelling at almost 18,000 miles per hour - 10 times faster than a rifle bullet - Yuri Gagarin circles the globe in just 106 minutes. From his windows, he sees the Earth as nobody has before, crossing a sunset and a sunrise, crossing oceans and continents, witnessing its beauty and its fragility. While his launch begins in total secrecy, within hours of his landing, he has become a world celebrity - the first human to leave the planet. Beyond tells the thrilling story behind that epic flight on its 60th anniversary.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A remarkable story on many levels
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How to Make a Spaceship
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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1 out of 5 stars
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Basically a really long Wikipedia entry
- By Reuben on 03-03-19
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Gus Grissom
- The Lost Astronaut (Indiana Biography Series)
- By: Ray E Boomhower
- Narrated by: Douglas R Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
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Story5 out of 5 stars 7
In the most comprehensive biography on the subject yet, Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut offers a more personal side and fuller picture of Grissom’s life and character. Author Ray E. Boomhower explores Grissom’s life from his days as a child to his service as a combat pilot. He delves into the process by which NASA selected its original seven Mercury astronauts, the jostling for position to be the first American in space, and Grissom’s near-fatal Liberty Bell 7 flight that haunted his subsequent space career.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding book!
- By Steve on 09-01-21
By: Ray E Boomhower
-
Never Panic Early
- An Apollo 13 Astronaut's Journey
- By: Fred Haise
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
In the gripping Never Panic Early, Fred Haise, Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 13, offers a detailed firsthand account of when disaster struck three days into his mission to the moon. An oxygen tank exploded, a crewmate uttered the now iconic words, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and the world anxiously watched as one of history’s most incredible rescue missions unfolded. Haise brings listeners into the heart of his experience on the challenging mission—considered NASA’s finest hour—and reflects on his life and career as an Apollo astronaut.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Phoned it in
- By BondoA6 on 09-20-22
By: Fred Haise
-
Rocket Billionaires
- Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race
- By: Tim Fernholz
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 203
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 169
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 169
For the larger-than-life personalities now staking their fortunes on the development of rocket ships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity - or the key to humanity's salvation. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take center stage in this fast-paced narrative as they attempt to disrupt the space economy, feed their own egos, and maybe even save the world.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting book; hard to listen to
- By K. Thai on 04-12-18
By: Tim Fernholz
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SpaceX Starship
- Elon Musk's Rocket to Mars
- By: Jon Binder
- Narrated by: Brennen Blotner
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the mission of making humans a multiplanetary species. In the coming years, SpaceX will launch a crew of 24 people through space and onto Mars, in a new kind of rocket called Starship. Over 80 million miles away, Mars is both desolate, and at the same time, full of limitless potential. Mars holds limitless possibilities. Since the ideal alignment for Earth and Mars only happens once every two years, there is only a small window to get everything right.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
How unremarkable
- By DJ on 01-05-24
By: Jon Binder
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Liftoff
- Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX
- By: Eric Berger
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,206
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,914
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,906
The dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX - and Elon Musk - from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent. Would make a good movie.
- By Andrew Dodson on 03-04-21
By: Eric Berger
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Across the Airless Wilds
- The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings
- By: Earl Swift
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 90
In this astonishing rediscovery of the final Apollo moon landings, the acclaimed author of Chesapeake Requiem reveals that these extraordinary yet overshadowed missions - distinguished by the use of the revolutionary lunar roving vehicle - deserve to be celebrated as the pinnacle of human adventure and exploration.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Insights into the development and use of the rover
- By Douglas H. Holly on 07-19-21
By: Earl Swift
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Chasing New Horizons
- Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
- By: Alan Stern, David Grinspoon
- Narrated by: Alan Stern, David Grinspoon
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 452
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 411
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Story5 out of 5 stars 410
On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than three billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long-mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great Topic ... not great coverage
- By Stuff Reviewer on 06-19-18
By: Alan Stern, and others
What listeners say about Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 01-11-23
Oh, I Love This Book
Born in the latter 1940s I grew up and recognize these names and I saw their achievements. This is a grand book for anyone interested but we know about outer space.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel N. Miller
- 05-14-20
Amazing listen!
Fascinating listen about the history and evolution of unmanned space probes and exploration. Douglas R. Pratt's crystal clear narration is absolutely superb and really brings the story to life. I learned so much.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Reticulator
- 07-01-20
The original space program
Manned space missions got a lot of headlines, understandably enough, but were almost a sideshow to the scientific program. I'm old enough to remember Sputnik, but a lot of this story of unmanned missions passed me by as it was happening. I read headlines and not a whole lot more. So this book was a great way to get caught up, and also to learn about the tussle between the manned and unmanned space projects. It follows the careers and personal lives of people like James van Allen and his student George Ludwig to help one see how the programs intersected with their lives. Very well done all around.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rick B
- 11-16-21
Space Travel History to the Max!
WOW, this was a ride of a lifetime. You actually feel like your part of each JPL, NASA & ESA missions. From the development to the final solutions for each planetary voyage, you are there! I particularly enjoyed the science of the "Grand Voyage" and it's gravity assists for reaching the outer planets and beyond the Kuiper belt and to the limits of the Heliosphere the end of the Sun's influence on our Solar System. I have re-listened to this audio book multiple times and it has enforced how unique and dangerous space flight is. If you appreciate history, space & science, then this is your book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- i am she
- 06-02-20
Fun
Such a fun book, with a great reader. Very interesting, informative, amusing. Highly recommended book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Michael N. Wells
- 11-22-23
An intriguing account of early space exploration. Fantastic.
This book provides an excellent introduction to early space exploration and the men who took their vision and executed some of the most remarkable missions into space.
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