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)

Excellent book...

I’ve read several books about Apollo and the race to the moon. This is so far the most comprehensive and wellwritten account of the Apollo missions and Astronauts , in particular Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, which I’m certain I’ll be re-reading sometime soon.

Amazing!!!

Great book! Wonderful historic and personal accounts of the the evolution of the rocket and of space travel.

DeJavous

I was 31 when Apollo 11 launched. Listening to this remarkable work and all the detail is like being there again. Wonderfully writtern and very well read, made me chuckle several times just knowing what was between the lines and having heard many interviews with the astronauts and other personnel at Johnson.

Very information and well told

This book puts "human flesh" on how we reached the moon. I found the book enjoyable, informative and rich in details. For me, it answered why we haven't gone further with our space program than we have. The book is a collection of biographies of many people.

Terrific!

Terrific book and narration. I enjoyed this audio book immensely. I wish there were more audio books in this vein. (Aerospace).

A little disjointed.

Perhaps my interest can be traced to my boyhood, where a launch could stop school. We'd assemble in the library and watch the launch on a color TV set, when seeing TV in color was still exciting. The narrative does meander a bit which can be confusing at times, as stories are introduced out of sequence. The are a number of places in the narrative where the author appears to have made some glaring factual errors. A google search can find you reviews which list a number of them. Those errors did impact my overall impression of the book. Once you get far enough in the book, the narrative begins to smooth out and take fewer jags and so the sequence is much more smooth. I appreciate his descriptions of Aldrin and Armstrong. I'm not sure what he adds to the existing literature. It's an enjoyable book, it just may not be all the reliable.

Out of this world

Wow, for someone who is a space cadet from the age of 4 an been to Space Camp multiple times as a kid this book has as many details as there are stars. The narration is fantastic!!

PaulM

i thought it started off a bit slow but picked up pace and became so very interesting. The recount of the Apollo 11 mission brought me back in time and I felt the excitement and nail biting moments experienced by the people who actually lived it. This makes me optimistic and excited about putting humans on Mars by 2029.

In-depth accounts / details make this interesting.

With all the various documents made available for the writing of this book, you get the insights of many people associated with the US space program from many different perspectives. Sometimes "too much" detail, but it all makes for a compelling story.

There's always more to learn

I was an avid follower of the the Apollo program in it's day, even though I was very young, and even today if the networks aired coverage of space launches in more detail, I'd be watching them. I've watched "From the Earth to the Moon" countless times, and I pretty much know the script to the movie Apollo 13. I've listened to Neil Armstrong's memoir (as an audiobook) and Wally Schira's - among others. So, while skeptical that this would offer anything new, I still bought it. In many ways, it does recount many of the same stories - it would be impossible not to; but there is always an opportunity for fresh material and a fresh perspective. I'm not a nitpicker when it comes to details, and the minutiae of technology tend to bore me - so, while others could possibly find errors that might annoy them (I'm not saying there are any), I enjoyed the fact that this is one more popular telling of the of the Apollo program. If you enjoy hearing stories of the space program, even if you've heard them many times, then you should enjoy this. The narration is very well done, and there was fresh material and interesting perspectives to keep me engaged.