Failure Is Not an Option
Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
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Narrated by:
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Danny Campbell
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By:
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Gene Kranz
About this listen
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. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director's role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s.
Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.)
In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids - still in their twenties, only a few years out of college - who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success.
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Higher, farther, faster - what every real aviator aspires to. The SR-71 was the epitome of this dream for three decades. The only way to beat the SR-71 was to rocket into space, and every astronaut in the office with me in the 1960s would have loved to have flown the Blackbird. In many ways it placed greater demand on piloting proficiency than any spacecraft.
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Great in sight on life and times of Blackbird crew
- By J Bo on 11-11-15
By: Terry Pappas
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Apollo
- By: Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
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Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
- By JDM on 10-29-19
By: Charles Murray, and others
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Topgun Days
- Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks
- By: Dave "Bio" Baranek
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dave Baranek (callsign "Bio") was one of 451 young men to receive his Wings of Gold in 1980 as a naval flight officer. Four years later, seasoned by intense training and deployments in the tense confrontations of the Cold War, he became the only one of that initial group to rise to become an instructor at the navy's elite Fighter Weapons School. As a Topgun instructor, Bio was responsible for teaching the navy's and Marine Corps' best fighter pilots how to be even better. He schooled them in the classroom and then went head-to-head with them in the skies.
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Top Gun or Topgun
- By Randy on 02-19-13
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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
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Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
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Tanker Pilot
- Lessons from the Cockpit
- By: Mark Hasara, Rush Limbaugh - foreword
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Get a glimpse of life in the pilot's seat and experience modern air warfare directly from a true American hero. Lt. Col Mark Hasara - who has 24 years of experience in flying missions around the world - provides keen and eye-opening insights on success and failure and emphasizes the importance of always being willing to learn. He provides 12 essential lessons based on his wartime experience and his own personal photographs from his missions during the Cold War, Gulf War, and Iraq War.
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NKAWTG! Nobody!
- By David Stefano on 11-10-17
By: Mark Hasara, and others
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Vulcan Boys
- From the Cold War to the Falklands: True Tales of the Iconic Delta V Bomber
- By: Tony Blackman
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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The Vulcan, the second of the three V bombers built to guard the UK during the Cold War, has become an aviation icon like the Spitfire, its delta shape instantly recognizable, as is the howling noise it makes when the engines are opened for takeoff. Vulcan Boys is the first Vulcan book recounted completely firsthand by the operators themselves.
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a compelling work but slow to start
- By Josh Boyle on 08-06-16
By: Tony Blackman
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Come Up and Get Me
- An Autobiography of Colonel Joe Kittinger
- By: Joe Kittinger, Craig Ryan
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....
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A rewarding read
- By Andrew Braddick on 03-25-13
By: Joe Kittinger, and others
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Flying from the Black Hole
- The B-52 Navigator-Bombardiers of Vietnam
- By: Robert O. Harder
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress. Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian bombing sorties would have been impossible.
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Today I learned something new.
- By Rob Wilson on 02-20-21
By: Robert O. Harder
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Lunar Discovery
- Discovery Series, Book 1
- By: Salvador Mercer
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What lies on the dark side of the moon could change the course of humanity forever. When a Chinese rover discovers an alien technology on the dark side of the moon, it is up to Richard "Rock" Crandon and his NASA team of scientists and engineers to devise a way to return before the Chinese and Russians. Forced to deal with bureaucratic oversight and a complex team of personalities, Rock Crandon pushes his team to their limits.
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Tech savvy people beware
- By Gordon on 10-27-16
By: Salvador Mercer
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Apollo 13
- By: Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
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Great story but a terrible narrator
- By Nicci on 01-29-20
By: Jim Lovell, and others
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Hunter Killer
- Inside America's Unmanned Air War
- By: T. Mark Mccurley, Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The first-ever inside look at the US military’s secretive Remotely Piloted Aircraft program - equal parts techno-thriller, historical account, and war memoir. Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), commonly referred to by the media as drones, are a mysterious and headline-making tool in the military’s counterterrorism arsenal. Their story has been pieced together by technology reporters, major newspapers, and on-the-ground accounts from the Middle East, but it has never been fully told by an insider.
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No political Bias. Just a narration of modern soldier's perspective.
- By Irfan M. Ibrahim on 11-17-15
By: T. Mark Mccurley, and others
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Before Topgun Days
- The Making of a Jet Fighter Instructor
- By: Dave Bio Baranek
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Before becoming an instructor in the Navy's Topgun program, Dave "Bio" Baranek was just another kid with a dream. Upon graduating from college, he joined the Navy with the goal of becoming a fighter pilot. But, his eyesight waning, he knew that he would never be able to reach that goal. Undaunted, he plowed ahead and found his niche as a radar intercept operator in the backseat of the sleek, new Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
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SHB
- By Kindle Customer on 06-10-23
By: Dave Bio Baranek
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Apollo 11
- The Inside Story
- By: David Whitehouse
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the most authoritative book ever written about Apollo, David Whitehouse reveals the true drama behind the mission, telling the story in the words of those who took part - based around exclusive interviews with the key players. This enthralling book takes us from the early rocket pioneers to the shock America received from the Soviets' launch of the first satellite, Sputnik; from the race to put the first person into space, through President Kennedy's enthusiasm and later doubts, to the astronauts' intense competition to leave the first footprint.
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Space Race Revivalism
- By Doug on 06-14-19
By: David Whitehouse
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In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
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Great story but a terrible narrator
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Moon Shot
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On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation's most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA's effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the 20th century's greatest feat - landing humans on another world.
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Apollo
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Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
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Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
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Never Panic Early
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In the gripping Never Panic Early, Fred Haise, Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 13, offers a detailed firsthand account of when disaster struck three days into his mission to the moon. An oxygen tank exploded, a crewmate uttered the now iconic words, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and the world anxiously watched as one of history’s most incredible rescue missions unfolded. Haise brings listeners into the heart of his experience on the challenging mission—considered NASA’s finest hour—and reflects on his life and career as an Apollo astronaut.
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Phoned it in
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In the Shadow of the Moon
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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.
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Interesting book for space afficionados
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Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
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On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory. In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center.
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Couldn’t finish...
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By: Allan J. McDonald, and others
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Apollo 13
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In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
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Great story but a terrible narrator
- By Nicci on 01-29-20
By: Jim Lovell, and others
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Moon Shot
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- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
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On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation's most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA's effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the 20th century's greatest feat - landing humans on another world.
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A Definitive Summary of Our Manned Space Missions
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Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
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Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
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By: Charles Murray, and others
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Never Panic Early
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- By: Fred Haise
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
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In the gripping Never Panic Early, Fred Haise, Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 13, offers a detailed firsthand account of when disaster struck three days into his mission to the moon. An oxygen tank exploded, a crewmate uttered the now iconic words, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and the world anxiously watched as one of history’s most incredible rescue missions unfolded. Haise brings listeners into the heart of his experience on the challenging mission—considered NASA’s finest hour—and reflects on his life and career as an Apollo astronaut.
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Phoned it in
- By BondoA6 on 09-20-22
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In the Shadow of the Moon
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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.
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On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory. In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center.
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The Space Race
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A century ago very few people dreamed of space travel. Today it is the most daring and technologically sophisticated quest ever undertaken, being driven not just by government agencies such as NASA and ESA, but also by visionaries such as Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic), Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin). To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, this major drama-documentary series charts the definitive story of the past, present and future of humankind’s exploration of space. The Space Race is narrated by Kate Mulgrew and features a full cast.
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All Nonfiction Parts GREAT but Fiction Bad
- By Catherine Puma on 03-18-20
By: Colin Brake, and others
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Red Moon Rising
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On October 4, 1957, a time of Cold War paranoia, the Soviet Union secretly launched the Earth's first artificial moon. No bigger than a basketball, the tiny satellite was powered by a car battery. Yet, for all its simplicity, Sputnik stunned the world.
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awesome
- By Thomas on 06-25-09
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Apollo 8
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- By: Jeffrey Kluger
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Overall
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Performance
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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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Great history of NASA and Apollo 8: a must listen
- By J on 11-17-17
By: Jeffrey Kluger
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Quantum
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Quantum theory is weird. As Niels Bohr said, if you aren’t shocked by quantum theory, you don’t really understand it. For most people, quantum theory is synonymous with mysterious, impenetrable science. And in fact for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves. In this tour de force of science history, Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly written account of this fundamental scientific revolution.
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Biographic facts not explanations.
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Apollo 11
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- By: David Whitehouse
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the most authoritative book ever written about Apollo, David Whitehouse reveals the true drama behind the mission, telling the story in the words of those who took part - based around exclusive interviews with the key players. This enthralling book takes us from the early rocket pioneers to the shock America received from the Soviets' launch of the first satellite, Sputnik; from the race to put the first person into space, through President Kennedy's enthusiasm and later doubts, to the astronauts' intense competition to leave the first footprint.
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Space Race Revivalism
- By Doug on 06-14-19
By: David Whitehouse
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The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
- By: Todd Zwillich
- Narrated by: Todd Zwillich, Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
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Story
Without John C. Houbolt, a mid-level engineer at NASA, Apollo 11 would never have made it to the moon. Top NASA engineers on the project, including Werner Von Braun, strongly advocated for a single, huge spacecraft to travel to the moon, land, and return to Earth. It's the scenario used in 1950s cartoons and horror movies about traveling to outer space. Houbolt had another idea: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. LOR would link two spacecraft in orbit while the crafts were travelling at 3,600 miles an hour around the moon. His plan was ridiculed and considered unthinkable.
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Caveat Emptor: Bone to Pick
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By: Todd Zwillich
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How Apollo Flew to the Moon
- Springer Praxis Books
- By: W. David Woods
- Narrated by: Todd Belcher
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Stung by the pioneering space successes of the Soviet Union - in particular, Gagarin being the first man in space - the United States gathered the best of its engineers and set itself the goal of reaching the moon within a decade. In an expanded second edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, David Woods tells the exciting story of how the resulting Apollo flights were conducted by following a virtual flight to the moon and its exploration of the surface.
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Easy read
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By: W. David Woods
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A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
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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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Long, comforting book on moon exploration
- By Mark on 06-17-16
By: Andrew Chaikin
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Yeager
- An Autobiography
- By: Chuck Yeager
- Narrated by: Chris Browning, Pamela Dillman, David Stifel, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
General Chuck Yeager was the greatest test pilot of them all - the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound...the World War II flying ace who shot down a Messerschmitt jet with a prop-driven P-51 Mustang...the hero who defined a certain quality that all hotshot fly-boys of the postwar era aimed to achieve: the right stuff. Now he tells his whole incredible life story with the same “wide-open, full throttle” approach that has marked his astonishing career.
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Just an Amazing Life
- By John on 05-08-20
By: Chuck Yeager
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A Vulnerable System
- The History of Information Security in the Computer Age
- By: Andrew J. Stewart
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Andrew J. Stewart convincingly shows that emergency software patches and new security products cannot provide the solution to threats such as computer hacking, viruses, software vulnerabilities, and electronic spying. Profound underlying structural problems must first be understood, confronted, and then addressed.
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Interesting overview but incredulous adoption of U.S. official propaganda
- By Kindle Customer FB on 04-24-24
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Kelly
- More Than My Share of It All
- By: Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Maggie Smith, Brig. Gen. Leo P. Geary USAF - ret. - foreword
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed "Skunk Works" cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.
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Memoir of a Legend
- By Jean on 08-26-19
By: Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, and others
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Quantum Physics
- What Everyone Needs to Know
- By: Michael G. Raymer
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know, quantum physicist Michael G. Raymer distills the basic principles of such an abstract field, and addresses the many ways quantum physics is a key factor in today's science and beyond. The book tackles questions as broad as the meaning of quantum entanglement and as specific and timely as why governments worldwide are spending billions of dollars developing quantum technology research. Raymer's list of topics is diverse, and showcases the sheer range of questions and ideas in which quantum physics is involved.
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Where are the figures..?
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What listeners say about Failure Is Not an Option
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bill
- 02-05-18
Great book poor performance
Overall great book but the performance was very poor. Pronouncing delta v as delta five and not delta vee. GUIDO as gweedo and not GUY DOUGH. TELMU as TELL MOO and not TELM U.
Do some research first this stuff is very easy to find and mispronouncing it is unacceptable to anyone who has any knowledge.
Great Book, highly recommended
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8 people found this helpful
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- Al
- 08-06-18
Excellent story and narration
wonderfully written story of gene and his account of the American space program... excellent narration!
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- abbyroad
- 12-30-16
Inspiring
Wonderful story of the amazing mission controllers who were essential to the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.
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- Kindle Customer
- 05-18-17
fantastic work!
excellent! well written and read. it is a great telling of one of The United States' greatest accomplishments!
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- Kayce Cover
- 07-08-17
I was a little girl at Cape Canaveril...
...and I watched the Mercury launches from the beach. This book captured this magical epoch and magnified it. I loved every minute, including every insight and technical detail.
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- Bryce
- 12-16-16
Great story told well.
Story after story that blew my mind about the space race and subsequent close of the moon exploration era. Great book.
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- G. London
- 04-27-18
I've never cried so much while reading a book
Probably the most inspiring true story ever. A riveting ground-level account of a time when we reached for the stars and caught them.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-30-16
Excellent
Very captivating story and narrator. I'm glad it was recommended to me. I will look for other books by the author and narrator.
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- KOS
- 07-29-19
Immensely rewarding book.
A brilliantly articulated account of the what arguably is the greatest human endeavors of the twentieth century. Highest praise to Gene Kranz for sharing his experiences, insights and personal perspectives with such such selfless honesty and candor.
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- Brian
- 12-23-13
Inspiring Leadership and Technical Problem Solving
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
For any scientist or engineer, this book takes you to the front lines of test pilots and the inherent danger s of spaceflight...from the view of the brainiacs in mission control who are the necessary and incredibly important partners of the astronauts in those tiny capsules.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Of course, Gene Kranz -- demonstrating authentic leadership in the midst of adversity.
What does Danny Campbell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I've read the book. The reading is exceptionally well done and I can put Kranz's face on the voice of the narrator.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It makes me wish we were still pushing for human space flight.
Any additional comments?
This is a great book for aficionados of engineering, science, operations, spaceflight, and pushing technology. But, it is best a book of leadership and companionship required to push the boundaries of human endeavor.
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