The Space Race

An Audible Original

De: Colin Brake, Patrick Chapman, Richard Hollingham, Richard Kurti, Sue Nelson, Helen Quigley, Andrew Mark Sewell

Narrado por: Kate Mulgrew

Winner of the Gold Science & Technology trophy at the 2020 New York Festivals Radio Awards

The 1960s space race captured our imaginations and our dreams. Today’s efforts to revitalize and expand space travel is being driven not just by government agencies such as NASA, but also by visionaries such as Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic), Elon Musk (SpaceX), and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin).

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, this major documentary-drama series brings to life the past, present, and future of man’s exploration of space. Between 1969 and 1972, twelve Americans walked on the moon. You’ll get to experience the thrill of that era and much, much more.

Narrated by Kate Mulgrew (Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominee for Orange Is the New Black; Obie Award winner for Iphigenia 2.0); TV: Star Trek: Voyager, film: Star Trek: Nemesis), The Space Race uses actual audio, original interviews, dramatic reconstructions, and first-hand accounts to tell the story of mankind’s first amazing steps off our world and onto the lunar surface.

With unprecedented access, The Space Race takes listeners to Virgin Galactic’s space program in the Mojave Desert, features conversations with Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Sergei Krikalev, Tim Peake, and numerous key players at mission control. This Audible Original and takes you behind the scenes to see how these exciting adventures in outer space came to be.

©2019 Audible, Ltd (P)2019 Audible, Ltd

Just okay

It goes through the history pretty well, then goes in to the hypothetical future. It’s kind of frustrating in the historical parts that they mix actual historic audio with actors portrayals of historical quotes.

The information is good. I’m usually not big in to the full cast productions on audible, but overall this one was okay. Overall I would say worth a credit if you’re into spaceflight.

Good but...

Lots of interesting history and some things that I had never heard before. I just wonder why the narrator could pronounce complicated Russian names but consistently pronounced NASA as a city in the Bahamas.

Loved it

I found it really interesting! The only complaint I have is with the narrator. Wouldn’t have been my first choice. And when the rest of the country pronounces NASA as Nass-uh, why does she keep calling it Nass-ah, like Nassau? That was annoying. But the story was very Interesting

Some Good, Some Not so Good

The Space Race for me was equal parts review, fascinating, and irritating. The ten chapters cover the history of the space race from the early days (the Nazis' V-2 rocket) to recent history and the privatization of human space flight.

The review for me was the history of the US space program, pre-NASA to NASA to the current private space race. There was very little I didn't know in these sections. Still, it was neat to hear interviews with actual astronauts.

The "fascinating" was the history of the Soviet space program, some of which I knew but most of which was new to me. Especially interesting was how the Russians were absorbed in to the international space "club" after being so secretive and independent for decades during the Cold War. They made significant contributions to the International Space Station (ISS) and until last week their Soyuz rockets were the sole means for humans to get a ride to the ISS. They were always the experts at operating space stations as they successfully operated Mir in orbit long before the ISS.

The "irritating" for me were the audio dramas and the science fiction generation ship story. Even some of the American history was told via actors with fictionalized dialogue. I couldn't buy it. The Russian audio dramas were performed by actors speaking English in Russian accents, just like Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova communicated with their ground control comrades during their famous flights. Not. The audio drama about the future generation ship heading to Proxima B (HEY, I JUST READ A STEPHEN BAXTER BOOK SET ON PROXIMA B!) was topped off with a son and mother arguing about whether there should be religion on the new planet or not. Weren't there other more pressing issues we could debate on the way out of the solar system?

The Space Race was narrated by Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) so that was a plus. This is definitely worth listening to if you have any interest in all in human space flight. Perhaps you will even enjoy the audio dramas, they were well produced I'll give them that.

Great history lesson with eye on the future.

Really love the actual audio of the early space missions. Great insight in the space programs and the future we might be heading to

Eye opener and brain food

I learned alot about the history of space exploration and the things they dont teach you at school, i specially liked the last chapter, which tackled philosophical questions and speculated about what may be in the future for space exploration.

History... and beyond!

This Audible comes alive with interviews of astronauts, imaginations of the future and overall a great listen!

An entertaining 9+ hours

Enjoyed this audiobook from the start to finish. It was entertaining, informative, interesting and kept my attention for the full 9+ hours.

History of space

Anyone looking to learn more about space programs this is a good listen to understand where the space program started and where it Is maybe going to go.

loved it couldn't put it on pause hahaha

great book and definitely recommend it I will re listen to it again and again, why do I need 15 words here????