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Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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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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At first glance, it looks like just another auditorium in just another government building. But among the talented men (and later women) who worked in mission control, the room located on the third floor of Building 30—at what is now Johnson Space Center—would become known by many as "the Cathedral." These members of the space program were the brightest of their generations, making split-second decisions that determined the success or failure of a mission.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, with some interesting insights
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Carrying the Fire
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In Carrying the Fire, Michael Collins conveys, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humor of the adventure of reaching the moon. He also traces his development from his first flight experiences in the air force, through his days as a test pilot, to his Apollo 11 spacewalk, presenting an evocative description of the joys of flight as well as a new perspective on time, light, and movement from someone who has seen the fragile Earth from the other side of the moon.
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NASA's history is a familiar story, culminating with the agency successfully landing men on the moon in 1969. But NASA's prehistory is a rarely told tale, one that is largely absent from the popular space-age literature but that gives the context behind the incredible lunar program. America's space agency wasn't created in a vacuum; it was assembled from preexisting parts, drawing together some of the best minds the non-Soviet world had to offer.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An enthralling and concise look at the birth of the space race!
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In the Shadow of the Moon
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- By: Francis French, Colin Burgess
- Narrated by: Gary L. Willprecht
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
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Footprints in the Dust
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
The flight of Apollo 11 was a triumph of human endeavor, persistence, and technology, one of the greatest achievements in human history. This book begins with the mission that sent Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin to the moon, then follows American spaceflight through the harrowing rescue of Apollo 13 before moving on to the successful joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Meh
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Rocket Men
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 882
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 826
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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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5 out of 5 stars
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The Men Who Saved 1968
- By Gillian on 04-04-18
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Go, Flight!
- The Unsung Heroes of Mission Control, 1965–1992 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight)
- By: Rick Houston, J. Milt Heflin
- Narrated by: John Gagnepain
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
At first glance, it looks like just another auditorium in just another government building. But among the talented men (and later women) who worked in mission control, the room located on the third floor of Building 30—at what is now Johnson Space Center—would become known by many as "the Cathedral." These members of the space program were the brightest of their generations, making split-second decisions that determined the success or failure of a mission.
-
4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, with some interesting insights
- By Joe on 12-29-17
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Carrying the Fire
- An Astronaut's Journeys
- By: Michael Collins, Charles A. Lindbergh - foreword
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 188
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 179
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Story5 out of 5 stars 178
In Carrying the Fire, Michael Collins conveys, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humor of the adventure of reaching the moon. He also traces his development from his first flight experiences in the air force, through his days as a test pilot, to his Apollo 11 spacewalk, presenting an evocative description of the joys of flight as well as a new perspective on time, light, and movement from someone who has seen the fragile Earth from the other side of the moon.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Not a boring moment
- By Yon on 07-10-17
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Breaking the Chains of Gravity
- The Story of Spaceflight Before NASA
- By: Amy Shira Teitel
- Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 415
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 396
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 394
NASA's history is a familiar story, culminating with the agency successfully landing men on the moon in 1969. But NASA's prehistory is a rarely told tale, one that is largely absent from the popular space-age literature but that gives the context behind the incredible lunar program. America's space agency wasn't created in a vacuum; it was assembled from preexisting parts, drawing together some of the best minds the non-Soviet world had to offer.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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An enthralling and concise look at the birth of the space race!
- By Jonathan on 10-28-15
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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
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,063
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 999
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 998
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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Fabulous Book
- By Jack Mueller on 06-24-17
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Failure Is Not an Option
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- By: Gene Kranz
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,367
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,175
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,173
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A wonderful story told beautifully.
- By Albert Sjoberg (PA) on 06-05-15
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Bold They Rise
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- Narrated by: Gary L Willprecht
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
After the Apollo program put 12 men on the moon and safely brought them home, anything seemed possible. In this spirit, the team at NASA set about developing the space shuttle, arguably the most complex piece of machinery ever created.
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5 out of 5 stars
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good
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The Astronaut Maker
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- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 13
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Story4 out of 5 stars 13
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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Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986-2011
- Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Space
- By: Rick Houston
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 17 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 252
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 234
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 233
Humanity's first reusable spacecraft and the most complex machine ever built, NASA's space shuttle debuted with great promise and as a dependable source of wonder and national pride. But with the Challenger catastrophe in 1986, the whole space shuttle program came into question, as did NASA itself, so long an institution that was seemingly above reproach. Wheels Stop tells the stirring story of how, after the Challenger disaster, the space shuttle not only recovered but went on to perform its greatest missions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Finished it in three days!
- By Ken on 01-07-16
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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 242
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
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Story5 out of 5 stars 223
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
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The Space Barons
- By: Christian Davenport
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 463
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 403
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 400
The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons - most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen - are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel and send humans even further than NASA has gone.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Incredible Modern Story Well Told
- By Greg Autry on 04-06-18
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The X-15 Rocket Plane
- Flying the First Wings into Space
- By: Michelle L. Evans
- Narrated by: Gary L. Willprecht
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 163
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 149
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Story4 out of 5 stars 149
With the Soviet Union's launch of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957, the Cold War soared to new heights as Americans feared losing the race into space. The X-15 Rocket Plane tells the enthralling yet little-known story of the hypersonic X-15, the winged rocket ship that met this challenge and opened the way into human-controlled spaceflight. Drawing on interviews with those who were there, Michelle Evans captures the drama and excitement of, yes, rocket science.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A Facinating Topic But Mediocre Presentation
- By Glenn on 01-06-16
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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
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 358
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 337
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 336
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
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A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
- By: Andrew Chaikin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 23 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,768
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,576
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,563
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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4 out of 5 stars
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Long, comforting book on moon exploration
- By Mark on 06-17-16
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Fallen Astronauts
- Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon
- By: Colin Burgess, Kate Doolan
- Narrated by: Mark Sando
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 9
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 7
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7
Near the end of the Apollo 15 mission, David Scott and fellow moonwalker James Irwin conducted a secret ceremony unsanctioned by NASA: they placed on the lunar soil a small tin figurine called The Fallen Astronaut, along with a plaque bearing a list of names. By telling the stories of those sixteen astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the quest to reach the moon between 1962 and 1972, this book enriches the saga of humankind's greatest scientific undertaking, Project Apollo, and conveys the human cost of the space race.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great History Lesson!
- By Kay M Hawklee on 03-26-18
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The Fifties
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story5 out of 5 stars 72
The Fifties is a sweeping social, political, economic, and cultural history of the 10 years that Halberstam regards as seminal in determining what our nation is today. Halberstam offers portraits of not only the titans of the age: Eisenhower, Dulles, Oppenheimer, MacArthur, Hoover, and Nixon; but also of Harley Earl, who put fins on cars; Dick and Mac McDonald and Ray Kroc, who mass-produced the American hamburger; Kemmons Wilson, who placed his Holiday Inns along the nation's roadsides; and more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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one of the very best
- By Portsman on 09-25-18
Publisher's Summary
It was a time of bold new technology, historic moments, and international jousting on the final frontier. But it was also a time of human drama, of moments less public but no less dramatic in the lives of those who made the golden age of space flight happen.
These are the moments and the lives that Into That Silent Sea captures, a book that tells the intimate stories of the men and women, American and Russian, who made the space race their own and gave the era its compelling character. These minutes chronicle a varied and riveting cavalcade of human stories, including a look at Yuri Gagarin's harrowing childhood in war-ravaged Russia and Alan Shepard's firm purchase on the American dream. It also examines the controversial career of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, and the remarkable struggle and ultimate disappointment of her American counterparts. It tries to uncover the truth behind the allegations that shadowed Gus Grissom and Scott Carpenter and then allows the listener to share the heart-stopping suspense of Alexei Leonov's near-fatal first spacewalk.
Through dozens of interviews and access to Russian and American official documents and family records, the authors bring to life the experiences that shaped the lives of the first astronauts and cosmonauts and forever changed their world and ours.
The book is published by University of Nebraska Press.
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- Amy
- SF Bay Area
- 09-07-18
A Treasure of Information
Fascinating and rich stories which kept me very engaged. Lots of info. I would recommend this book over an internet search for the same info. Much more detailed and colorful.
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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
- A. DONALDSON
- 09-26-18
Very informative and engaging
Loved this book. A very informative and engaging listen about the early American and Soviet space pioneers