Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon |  | Author: Craig Nelson
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
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Seller: cherrybooks
Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 39735
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.4
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.4540973
ASIN: B002VPE85K
Publication Date: June 25, 2009
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Product Description
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, twenty-three thousand 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 twentieth-century pilgrimage; a voyage into the unknown motivated by politics, faith, science, and wonder that changed the course of history.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
 A must-read classic history June 28, 2009
Fred Bortz "Dr. Fred" (Pennsylvania)
17 out of 40 found this review helpful
This is a shortened version of a detailed review posted at my Science Shelf book review archive. (Guess the URL--all lower-case--and you'll be right.)
It was a time not unlike our own. A newly elected young president with a flair for inspirational rhetoric and ambitious goals challenged the United States to re-establish its world leadership.
Addressing Congress on May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy declared, "I believe that this nation, should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth."
Eight years later, on July 20, 1969, a rapt world watched grainy black-and-white analog broadcast television images as Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon.
Today we watch elaborately produced retrospectives of the Apollo 11 moon landing in crisp, full-color, high-definition, digital format. But as Craig Nelson notes in his new book Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, the mythology surrounding the accomplishment is the same as it was when Armstrong took that "one small step" four decades ago.
The feat was technological, but its goal was clearly political and rooted in the Cold War....
The book is filled with in-their-own-words descriptions drawn from NASA's transcripts and oral history archive. These place readers on the scene with the astronauts, their families, and the launch and mission control teams.
Its centerpiece, of course, is the Apollo 11 mission, [but its historical insights go far beyond that one flight]....
"The standard version of the history of NASA has always been that, alarmed and deflated by Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin, the United States created a wholly civilian agency that, through the vital legacy of its youngest president, won the Space Race 'in peace for all mankind.' Besides the fact that almost all these assertions are either misleading or expressly false,... [t]he actual story is much richer and the achievements more profound."
[For example:] in the final days of World War II ... Operation Paper Clip ... brought Wernher von Braun and his brilliant team of ex-Nazi rocket scientists to the United States rather than Russia. Their moral ambiguity and engineering excellence are on display side-by-side. Nelson never falls into the trap of either lionizing or demonizing these problematic but important figures--including one who was eventually revealed to be a war criminal, stripped of U.S. citizenship, and deported, but not before he made important contributions to NASA rocketry....
In many ways, Nelson's task in presenting this history is as daunting as NASA's original challenge. But he rises to the occasion with meticulous research, skillful storytelling rich in detail, and a narrative arc as stimulating and disciplined as Apollo 11's own trajectory through space and history....
The book closes with a poignant and thought-provoking discussion of the biggest question faced by the astronauts and agency alike: What do you do after you've been to the moon?
Most dramatic story is Buzz Aldrin's....
Today, the future of manned spaceflight is in doubt. In the 21st century, NASA is much less willing to take risks than it was in the Apollo years.
Will the agency ever be willing to chance a human mission to Mars? ...Nelson thinks it might....
Rocket Men could have been written simply to exploit the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11 for commercial success, but Craig Nelson has produced something far better. It is that rare combination of a definitive history and a "great read." When the centennial of mankind's giant leap is celebrated, readers will be hard pressed to find anything better.
Physicist and author of science books for young readers Fred Bortz dedicated his most recent title, Astrobiology (Cool Science), to "the first Earthlings on Mars, who may be reading this book."
Great Review of History February 26, 2010
Richard S. Bird (Louisiana)
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
Written 40 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, it captures how great a leap was made in the formative space age years 1959-1969. Now that we are winding down our prescence in manned space, it help us define what goals meant in our history and how the administration has dropped the ball , leaving the U.S. a second rate
space power after so much work.
A great read if you enjoy space exploration and especially the moon. July 14, 2009
Deborah Verlen (Chicago, IL USA)
6 out of 23 found this review helpful
If you were fascinated by the movie Apollo 13, this tale of Apollo 11 and the events that led up to the first moon walk will be just as dramatic especially since we are nearing the 40th anniversary of that feat!
The first few chapters were a bit slow, but the book picks up speed and suddenly you are transported to a time in history and science where faith, fate, luck, science, and hard work all came together for the historic landing on the moon.
The book contains a combination of meticulously researched history along with excerpts from written words of those that worked the mission whether they were astronauts, engineers, or staff. It is a fascinating glimpse into an era spearheaded by the vision of a young president, John F. Kennedy. Nelson also covers some of the history of how the United States program got to this point. This is blending of science and history that has you reliving the wonderment of those that saw that first step on the moon's surface.
Having spent a weekend at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama it was a thrill to read about some of the science experienced in the program as well as the history and science behind many of development of the rocket ships that litter the museum/academy grounds.
The book reminded me once again of how absolutely incredible this achievement was for us as a country and for us as humans.
Could not put it down February 25, 2010
R. Starkman (West Los Angeles, CA)
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
As someone who grew up watching many space launches, I found this book to be incredibly fascinating. We learn about the many details required to put a man on the moon and the bravery and heroism of the astronauts. Landing the lunar module on the moon had to be the most challenging flying ever, in a craft that had never been flown before in 1/6 gravity, landing in a place that had never been landed, on unknown terrain, and with only enough fuel for one chance to land.
Lighten Up!! January 28, 2010
P. Totten (Milwaukee)
1 out of 14 found this review helpful
First off, I thought this was a great read in spite of the few technical and grammatical errors I did come across. If you're planning on launching a rocket to the moon from your backyard anytime soon, you probably ought not rely on this book as a how-to technical manual. If you're interested in the moon race and the personalities behind the project, this is a must read. I thought it was a great story. To all the negative reviewers (rocket scientists and engineers), get off Nelson's back and go back to your slide rule. It does not matter to me if Nelson incorrectly stated the required escape velocity from Earth. All I really need to know is that I must peddle my bicycle really, really hard to escape the earth's gravitation pull to make it to the moon. What? You're now going to argue with me that I can't ride my bicycle to the moon?
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
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