Rocket Men

The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon

By: Craig Nelson

Narrated by: Richard McGonagle

Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

A richly detailed and dramatic account of one of the greatest achievements of humankind.

At 9:32 A.M. on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 rocket launched in the presence of more than a million spectators who had gathered to witness a truly historic event. It carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins to the last frontier of human imagination: the moon.

Rocket Men is the thrilling story of the moon mission, and it restores the mystery and majesty to an event that may have become too familiar for most people to realize what a stunning achievement it represented in planning, technology, and execution.

Through interviews, 23,000 pages of NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA documents on the space race, Craig Nelson re-creates a vivid and detailed account of the Apollo 11 mission. From the quotidian to the scientific to the magical, readers are taken right into the cockpit with Aldrin and Armstrong and behind the scenes at Mission Control.

Rocket Men is the story of a 20th-century pilgrimage, a voyage into the unknown motivated by politics, faith, science, and wonder that changed the course of history.

©2009 Craig Nelson (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

"Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA material, Nelson has produced a magnificent, very readable account of the steps that led to the success of Apollo 11." ( Booklist)

A Must for Space Cadets

This is one of the best accounts of the moon landingn of Apollo 11 I have every experienced. You will marvel at the size of the task and the committment of hundreds of thousands of people. You will experience the pressure of developing this program within a 10 year time period. You will feel the danger of the launch, and the stress and elation of lunar landing. You will cheer when they are able to launch off the moon to return to moon orbit.

It provides lots of very interesting stories about the space program that I had never heard before. It also gives a good picture of the type of men Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were. The author is able to include technical details that embellish the story without bogging it down with technobabble. The first part of the book covers from Sputnik to Apollo 10 and the second part is pretty much about Apollo 11. The stories of how the russians used Sputnik for political gain and how Kennedy responded lay the foreground for goal of landing a man on the moon and safely returning them to earth. The story of what happens to these astronauts after they return to earth is also interesting and moving. If you are at all interested in the space program - this book is a must read.

Harrowing & Heartbreaking

This is a fascinating story taking you through the nuts and bolts of mans most ambitious adventure. The true magnitude of this event will only ever be grasped by those who lived through the frigid race in atomic weapons and access to space that dominated the cold war. Craig Nelson does as good a job as any of including the magnitude of this 9 year undertaking and the science behind the machines that brought man to the moon.

The story itself reads like something out of science fiction but is written in a way that is accessible to readers of nearly any age. The ending is where it switches from harrowing to heartbreaking. For what do you with the rest of your life once you've gone to the moon? What disturbed me even further and I believe to be the most important part of the book is the sad state of NASA after the moon mission.

Perhaps it's not NASA but the public's support of NASA waning after the moon missions that saddens me most. As we've continued down the rabbit-hole of knowledge we've become more conservative, avoiding the risks on the edge of what we consider to be possible. This not only hampers our current knowledge but limits what could be giant leaps for mankind into a series of small steps for man.

Good Book About Apollo

This is a good book for anyone interested in the Apollo program. It does cover a lot of ground that has probably been covered more elegantly (A Man on the Moon, by Andrew Chaikin) or with more first hand information (Failure Is Not an Option, by Gene Kranz). Still, it is a very good account.

Be aware that the book focuses on Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. Other missions are not really covered. The descriptions of the flight crews of both missions are quite compelling.

One thing the book covers very well is the aftermath of Apollo 11, including the quarantine, Congressional appearance, and appearances world wide. The book does not gloss over the burden imposed on the crew.

Well researched. The narration is sound.

Good Book

What made the experience of listening to Rocket Men the most enjoyable?

The narration was excellent (which is key for audio books). Its the old story of the lunar landing but with a depth look into the characters and how everything fitted within the context of the cold war.

Have you listened to any of Richard McGonagle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

Great hiztprical read

I loved this book but was saddened by the outcome of the space program heros

Good read for space nerds

For people in to space and the Apollo era in particular, this is worth the listen. There are a few minor mistakes, whether it’s the narrator or the author I don’t know.

A lot of this you’ll have heard already if you’ve watched Discovery’s When We Left Earth or listened to the mission audio, but a lot of it was pretty new to me.

My only complaint is the book itself could be organized better. It’s not completely chronological, but a lot of it is.

Amazing book, even my wife liked it!!!

I bought this book because of the impending retirement of the space shuttle orbiter program and I thought this would be a great book to get perspective on the beginnings of our space race. Wow, what an amazing read! The 1960s as an era are fascinating in themselves, but the technology, the resources the dedication of these astronauts is amazing. I loved how the book is written with the launching of Apollo 11 (first moon landing) as stories interweaved through the chronological development of the space race from the early 1960s to the Apollo program and beyond. My wife and I listened to this on a road trip and even she liked it (that in itself should give this book 5 stars). I also found all the aspects of Neil Armstrong's inputs and perspective to be fascinating. What a fascinating individual. Specifically, I found the last chapter of the book to be the most fascinating where Armstrong discusses a concept of world changing events like putting a man on the moon occur when there are peaks in a society (high peak of peace, strong economy, political/social will, & competition?) intersect like they did in the 1960s to produce the space race and the achievement of putting a man on the moon. Probably something we will not see again in our lifetimes.

Must listen for anyone interested in space

This is a fascinating book about the beginning of the space race through Apollo 11. Great insight into the thoughts of those involved in space exploration as well as the lives that were changed because of it. This book is centered around Apollo 11, but a lot of it has to do with the creation of the rocket and the missions leading up to Armstrong and Aldrin walking on the moon. Narration is great and the information is really intriguing.

Great read

If you loved the space program this is a must read. From the early days of space to Apollo 11 the story is fascinating.

Next level audiobook

very interesting and original
best narrator of all time
dense content (I plan to re-listen).