Moon Rush

The New Space Race

By: Leonard David, Cassandra de Cuir - producer

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

A veteran space journalist digs into the science and technology - past, present, and future - central to our explorations of Earth's only satellite, the space destination most hotly pursued today.

In this rich audiobook, veteran science journalist Leonard David explores the moon in all its facets, from ancient myth to future "Moon Village" plans. David offers inside information about how the United States, allies, and competitors, as well as key private corporations like Moon Express and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, plan to reach, inhabit, and even harvest the moon in the decades to come. 

Spurred on by the Google Lunar XPRIZE - $30 million for the first to get to the moon and send images home - the 21st-century space race back to the moon has become more urgent, and more timely, than ever. Accounts of these new strategies are set against past efforts, including stories never before told about the Apollo missions and Cold War plans for military surveillance and missile launches from the moon. Timely and fascinating, this book sheds new light on our constant lunar companion, offering reasons to gaze up and see it in a different way than ever before.

©2019 Leonard David (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

History of Moon Race, not much new

I expected from the title this would be largely focused on current efforts but most of the book was history of the Apollo program and only a brief overview of space efforts since then. When it finally got to the discussion of future missions it became very repetitive seeming to emphasize the same few points of the benefit over and over. It isn't a bad review of the history but there are far more comprehensive examinations than this. I found it became tedious but I wanted to see what he had for the current "race" and honestly the lack of detail was disappointing.

The facts were good, the opinions were trash

Not sure why the performer chose such gruff "manly" voices for the astronaut quotes. And the authors outright simping for President Trump's unrealized plans for a return to the moon were extremely off-putting. This did not age well, even from 2018 to 2021. The factual reporting of past missions was a highlight here. The areas where opinions and conjecture were included had an unreasonable amount of bias.

Slow burn

If you love the moon and space history you will love this book but it does start rough. Get through the first chapter and it will start moving along smoothly. That and some of the readers pronunciations are the only reason I didn’t give it a full 5 stars

A little thin

Details were given but it was a little thin in places. Commentary comes from a place that’s a little dated too. Opening chapters included guidelines for a new global space capital in Houston, including all countries “even China.” Yes, that’s what global means.

Interesting and Engaging

I came looking for an in-depth look at the past and future of moon exploration, and that is what I got! If you are looking for something similar, then this one's for you...a really enjoyable peek at the subject, albeit one rendered in more or less layman's terms and for an entry-level audience. Still, the writing is sound and the delivery on the narration is superb, so I recommend this book to any lovers of the space sciences & their history

Pretty standard, ultimately forgettable

I stay up to date with the space industry and am used to a little lag time when reading a state-of-the-industry book like this, but although this one was uniquely focused on the moon, anything outside of the last two chapters could have been written 10-15 years ago.
The work is competent if a little paint-by-numbers (he has the required Zubrin quote where he acts like a child pouting that no one on the playground wants to play a game his way), and ultimately it’s just very flat.
The one caveat I’ll give it is that if you don’t know anything about the reasons why planetary scientists are interested in the moon and you’re completely new to this, then it is worth your time if just to learn some easy basics.

Dry

If you're looking for a book with a lot of facts to write a report, then this might be good. Apart from that purpose, I found it a bit dry (both in narration and narrative). The tone is comparable to a public high school history textbook. Though, Dan read it in such a way that it did have that kind of NatGeo epicness voice (minus the background music). I read along with the print copy and noticed almost every chapter had a word read differently. This may only be a big deal in one part where the number of months was off by two months. Those listening will also miss the image sections in the book that help recap the text. Overall, I am grateful to have an Audible version available, but its storytelling (i.e. plot) was dry. I know it's non fiction, but plot isn't exclusive to fiction.

Great overview written in 2019

But so much has changed just in the last year and a half that it could lose relevance quickly. great for historical reference. Debatable on if it's predictions will come true. if you like SpaceX over Blue Origin you might chafe at these predictions.

Pretty poor really.

Couldn’t quite finish it. Tried very hard to but the text seemed to be nothing more than an unsubstantiated wish list of things to do on the moon, droning narration and an American just give us your cash and do as we say strategy to cooperative missions. Did I mention the droning narration?

Nice overview of lunar exploration history&future

A very good yet brief overview of lunar exploration in all its facets, including history, future possibilities, actors (public and private, etc), science and technology. Also has thoughts on the normative approaches to re-engaging with the Moon.