Team Moon

How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon

By: Catherine Thimmesh

Narrated by: Andy Paris

Length: 1 hr and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

When three heroic men traveled aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft bound for the moon, the entire world sat glued to their television sets in suspense. But few knew just how much it took to get that far. To put a man on the moon, thousands of people diligently worked behind the scenes. Countless preparations had to be made and no detail, however small, could be overlooked - the lives of the crewmen were at stake.

From the seamstresses who wove the multi-layered materials for the spacesuits, to the computer experts who designed and tested the flight software, the combined efforts of many little-known heroes helped make this monumental endeavor a success.

Based on NASA transcripts and national archives, this 2007 ALA Best Book for Young Adults by Catherine Thimmesh received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

©2006 Catherine Thimmesh (P)2008 Recorded Books, LLC

A pet peeve

I've read many books on space exploration and have noticed an all too common error that faces this book and others. Seeing has how some might find it offensive, I offer this correction here in hopes that future versions/books are corrected.

At MOCR (Mission Operations Control Room), what is commonly called "mission control" there are many controllers, all of whom have titles and shorthand abbreviations. For instance, "CapCom" would be the capsule communicator (the guy who talks to the spacecraft), "booster" the person responsible for the launch vehicle, "FIDO" (pronounced like the dog's name) who is the flight dynamics officer. Well, one of the positions is that of the guidance officer. His call-sign is "GUIDO". It should be pronounced "Guide-Oh" and not (as this and other books do) "Guido" as in a disparaging term for someone of Italian descent.

Written for kids, but would they keep listening?

For me as an adult it was an interesting read/listen. But it was meant for kids. I know my kids (ages 11 and under) would be bored - I don’t know about others.

Speaking from an adult perspective, the book combined well the details of the mission with facts about all the preparation involved. It wasn’t too dry. The author went back and forth between the exciting steps of the lunar landing and the more boring parts about preparation for each step, so it was well tied-together.

Pictures make it better in print

It starts a little slowly, but when they actually get to the moon launch and landing, it is fascinating. This book also tells of the problems that popped up on the mission that you don't usually hear about. This is really interesting.

But mainly, it is lauding the hundreds of thousands of people who made it happen, not just the main engineers and command team, but also the seamstresses who sewed the space suits, painters, carpenters, caterers, secretaries, and everyone in between. The book has many photos of many of these humbler positions, which you lose in the audio version. The last bit, naming quite a few people is very anticlimactic, and helps the book lose a star.

The narration suffers only from long pauses, which make the book boring in the beginning. Later, it seems to smooth out. His voice is nice for the telling.

Kinda Slow...

It was a very entertaining book. I love how they make sure to ad quotes to make it more interesting. The only downside was how he read it so slowly. Overall... 4/5

It's ok...

I'll start by saying that Team Moon is definitely a kids book. I was hoping for something much more in depth. This wasn't really a book about how we managed to do it, but it was more a book about the timeline with some basically laid out details. The book basically reads out how the synopsis for the book is written, just lacking depth.

For example, I would've loved to hear about what they actually *did* on the moon. But that wasn't even covered. There was no mention about the previous missions.

That said, it was enjoyable after about half-way through during the climax of the narrative; I even got a little teary eyed thinking of it all. But to be honest, if I were a kid, I'd still think there just weren't enough details!

Ah well, it's a nice listen for anyone who doesn't already know the story, and probably great for the under 10 year olds who want to know about the moon.