Across the Airless Wilds
The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings
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Narrated by:
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Adam Verner
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By:
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Earl Swift
About this listen
“Earl Swift lays out this great unsung saga with verve and magisterial sweep." (Hampton Sides)
In this astonishing rediscovery of the final Apollo moon landings, the acclaimed author of Chesapeake Requiem reveals that these extraordinary yet overshadowed missions - distinguished by the use of the revolutionary lunar roving vehicle - deserve to be celebrated as the pinnacle of human adventure and exploration.
December 12, 1972, 8:36 p.m. EST: Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt braked to a stop alongside Nansen Crater, keenly aware that they were far, far from home. They had flown nearly a quarter-million miles to the man in the moon’s left eye, landed at its edge, and then driven five miles in to this desolate, boulder-strewn landscape. As they gathered samples, they strode at the outermost edge of mankind’s travels. This place, this moment, marked the extreme of exploration for a species born to wander.
A few feet away sat the machine that made the achievement possible: an electric go-cart that folded like a business letter, weighed less than 80 pounds in the moon’s reduced gravity, and muscled its way up mountains, around craters, and over undulating plains on America’s last three ventures to the lunar surface.
In the decades since, the exploits of the astronauts on those final expeditions have dimmed in the shadow cast by the first moon landing. But Apollo 11 was but a prelude to what came later: While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trod a sliver of flat lunar desert smaller than a football field, Apollos 15, 16, and 17 each commanded a mountainous area the size of Manhattan. All told, their crews traveled 56 miles, and brought deep science and a far more swashbuckling style of exploration to the moon. And they triumphed for one very American reason: They drove.
In this fast-moving history of the rover and the adventures it ignited, Earl Swift puts the listener alongside the men who dreamed of driving on the moon and designed and built the vehicle, troubleshot its flaws, and drove it on the moon’s surface. Finally shining a deserved spotlight on these overlooked characters and the missions they created, Across the Airless Wilds is a celebration of human genius, perseverance, and daring.
©2021 Earl Swift (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Moon Shot
- The Inside Story of Man's Greatest Adventure
- By: Dan Parry
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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‘It didn’t matter that they were now three miles beyond their target site, that communications were dropping out and that they were running low on fuel. All that mattered to Neil as he searched for a safe spot to land was that boulders littered the surface below. “Thirty seconds,” called mission control. In truth, the flight controllers were now no more than spectators, just like everybody else. No more needed to be said. It was down to Armstrong
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Wow.
- By Shellbin on 02-04-12
By: Dan Parry
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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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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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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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The Department of Mad Scientists
- Inside DARPA, the Path-Breaking Government Agency You've Never Heard Of
- By: Michael Belfiore
- Narrated by: Michael Belfiore
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The first-ever inside look at DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - the maverick and controversial group whose futuristic work has had amazing civilian and military applications, from the Internet to GPS to driverless cars
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meh
- By Patrick on 12-22-09
By: Michael Belfiore
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Moon Shot
- The Inside Story of America's Apollo Moon Landings
- By: Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton, Jay Barbree, and others
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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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
- By Robert on 08-15-19
By: Alan Shepard, and others
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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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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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Not really 'unabridged'
- By A Reader on 06-06-18
By: James R. Hansen
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Our Robots, Ourselves
- Robotics and the Myth of Autonomy
- By: David A. Mindell
- Narrated by: David Chandler
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In Our Robots, Ourselves, David Mindell offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the cutting edge of robotics today, debunking commonly held myths and exploring the rapidly changing relationships between humans and machines. Drawing on firsthand experience, extensive interviews, and the latest research from MIT and elsewhere, Mindell takes us to extreme environments-high atmosphere, deep ocean, and outer space - to reveal where the most advanced robotics already exist.
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MUST READ
- By ryan salcido on 10-01-16
By: David A. Mindell
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The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
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Somewhat less than perfect
- By enya keshet on 06-19-18
By: Simon Winchester
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Ingenious
- A True Story of Invention, Automotive Daring, and the Race to Revive America
- By: Jason Fagone
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced that it would give $10 million to anyone who could build a safe, mass-producible car that could travel one hundred miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of gas. The challenge attracted more than one hundred teams from all over the world, including dozens of amateurs. Many designed their cars entirely from scratch, rejecting decades of thinking about what a car should look like.
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Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels.
- By Shamu from New York on 12-07-13
By: Jason Fagone
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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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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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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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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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The Dream Machine
- The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey
- By: Richard Whittle
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Marines decided to buy a helicopter-airplane hybrid "tiltrotor" called the V-22 Osprey, they saw it as their dream machine. The tiltrotor was the aviation equivalent of finding the Northwest Passage: an aircraft able to take off, land, and hover with the agility of a helicopter yet fly as fast and as far as an airplane. Many predicted it would reshape civilian aviation. The Marines saw it as key to their very survival. Opponents called it one of the worst boondoggles in Pentagon history.
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Innovation runs into government
- By Cx30 on 09-25-10
By: Richard Whittle
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Sealab
- America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor
- By: Ben Hellwarth
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Sealab is the underwater Right Stuff: the compelling story of how a U.S. Navy program sought to develop the marine equivalent of the space station - and forever changed man's relationship to the sea. While NASA was trying to put a man on the moon, the U.S. Navy launched a series of daring experiments to prove that divers could live and work from a sea-floor base.
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An excellent story of adventure and discovery.
- By R. Smith on 08-11-15
By: Ben Hellwarth
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Excellent
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On February 20, 1945, the second day of the assault on Iwo Jima - one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific theater in World War II - Private Jack Lucas, who was only 17, and three other Marines engaged in a close-proximity firefight with Japanese soldiers. When two enemy grenades landed in their trench, Lucas jumped on one and pulled the other under his body to save the lives of his comrades. Lucas was blown into the air as his body was torn apart by 250 entrance wounds. He was so severely wounded that his team left him for dead. Miraculously, he survived.
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The Greatest Story Ever Told - So Far
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In this grand poetic vision of the universe, Lawrence Krauss tells the dramatic story of the discovery of the hidden world that underlies reality - and our place within it. Reality is not what you think or sense - it’s weird, wild, and counterintuitive, and its inner workings seem at least as implausible as the idea that something can come from nothing. With his trademark wit and accessible style, Krauss leads us to realms so small that they are invisible to microscopes, to the birth and rebirth of light, and into the natural forces that govern our existence.
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Mean spirited rant against religion
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The Sword and the Shield
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This book reveals the most complete picture ever of the KGB and its operations in the United States and Europe. It is based on an extremely top secret archive which details the full extent of its worldwide network. Christopher Andrew is professor of modern and contemporary history and chair of the history department at Cambridge University, a former visiting professor of national security at Harvard, a frequent guest lecturer at other United States universities, and a regular host of BBC radio and TV programs.
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Great book on the history of the KGB
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I Marched with Patton
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Now a spry 94 years old, Frank Sisson looks back at his life and his service in the Third Army. Born in rural Oklahoma, Frank grew up fatherless during the Great Depression. In 1944, at age 18, he enlisted and was deployed to France where he marched with Patton, taking part in many of the key Allied movements of the war. Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge, nearly died crossing the Rhine with Patton, and was among the first American soldiers who liberated the notorious Dachau concentration camp.
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I really hate rating this so low.
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Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, A People’s Tragedy follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship. Drawing on vast original research, Figes conveys above all the shocking experience of the revolution for those who lived it, while providing the clearest and most cogent account of how and why it unfolded.
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It would be 5 stars
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Chesapeake Requiem
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A brilliant, soulful, and timely portrait of a 200-year-old crabbing community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay as it faces extinction from rising sea levels - part natural history of an extraordinary ecosystem, starring the beloved blue crab; part paean to a vanishing way of life; and part meditation on man’s relationship with the environment - from the acclaimed author, who reported this story for more than two years.
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Great reporting, fascinating story, sloppy narrating
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One Giant Leap
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The New York Times best-selling, "meticulously researched and absorbingly written" (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission. It’s a story filled with surprises - from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today.
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The Apollo Program in Historical Context
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Iron, Fire and Ice
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A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Learning of his father’s death, the adolescent, dashing and charismatic and descended from the old kings of the North, vows to avenge him. He is supported in this war by his mother, who has spirited away her two younger sons to safety. Against them is the queen, passionate, proud, and strong-willed and with more of the masculine virtues of the time than most men. She too is battling for the inheritance of her young son, not yet fully grown but already a sadist who takes delight in watching executions.
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Fun history for all -not just Game of Thrones fans
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By: Ed West
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The Infinite Machine
- How an Army of Crypto-Hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum
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- Unabridged
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The story of Ethereum begins with Vitalik Buterin, a supremely gifted 19-year-old autodidact who saw the promise of blockchain when the technology was in its earliest stages. He convinced a crack group of coders to join him in his quest to make a super-charged, global computer. The Infinite Machine introduces Vitalik’s ingenious idea and unfolds Ethereum’s chaotic beginnings. It then explores the brilliant innovation and reckless greed the platform has unleashed and the consequences that resulted as the frenzy surrounding it grew.
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sensationalist hero worship by parties that have investment in ETH
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By: Camila Russo
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Cleopatra
- The Queen Who Challenged Rome and Conquered Eternity
- By: Alberto Angela
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- Unabridged
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One of Italy’s most revered cultural figures reconstructs the extraordinary life of the legendary Cleopatra at the height of her power in this epic story of passion, intrigue, betrayal, and war.
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This should be listed under the historical romance category not history.
- By Mickie on 09-10-24
By: Alberto Angela
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Chasing the Sun
- How the Science of Sunlight Shapes Our Bodies and Minds
- By: Linda Geddes
- Narrated by: Linda Geddes
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- Unabridged
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Informed by cutting-edge scientific research and sparkling with memorable characters - from the modern druids who worship at Stonehenge each solstice to the Amish farmers who may have the right idea about healthy sleep patterns - Linda Geddes’s Chasing the Sun analyzes all aspects of our relationship to the sun. The fascinating stories, innovative science, and unique perspectives in this book make it clear that the ancients were right to put the sun at the center of our world and that it is crucial that we remember this bond as we shape our lives today.
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Interesting and easy listen
- By Emily Pearce on 01-06-20
By: Linda Geddes
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Truth Worth Telling
- By: Scott Pelley
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- Unabridged
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A 60 Minutes correspondent and former anchor of the CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley writes as a witness to events that changed our world. In moving, detailed prose, he stands with firefighters at the collapsing World Trade Center on 9/11, advances with American troops in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and reveals private moments with presidents (and would-be presidents) he’s known for decades. Pelley also offers a resounding defense of free speech and a free press as the rights that guarantee all others.
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A great listen... worth your time
- By Christina on 05-26-19
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What listeners say about Across the Airless Wilds
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- R. Frost
- 10-16-24
Not great, but I found it interesting
First off, I'm an engineer, so I liked the book. People who aren't into making things probably won't find it as interesting.
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- John
- 08-27-24
Good Book for Apollo Program Junkies
This book is quite interesting, covering an overlooked niche of the Apollo program: The lunar rover, or space buggy. The story of how industry and NASA brought the rover from concept to fruition in an astonishingly short period makes be admire all that NASA was in those days.
It also is in stark contrast to the dithering and lack of direction of NASA at the current moment (late August 2024), when two astronauts are left stranded for months on an aging space station that seems to serve no real purpose. Sad.
It's a good book, especially for space junkies.
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- Rick B
- 12-20-21
History without comparison
Earl Swift has hit a home run with "Across the Airless Wilds". This is an unbelievable journey across not only the Moon, but our Earth history from the last century and the12 Americans who walked the surface of that Regolith. 49 years ago, we left the moon and have since not returned American's back to its surface. Our political & financial decisions have chosen not to continue that story with Apollo 17 being the last of the Apollo missions retuning to Earth on December 19th,1972.
I found this story amazing, detailed and highly accurate. The narrator, Adam Verner does an excellent job making you feel as much a part of the story and its major players. I felt like I was there, in the development labs, on the launch pad and yes even on the Moon with the Astronauts. The banter on the Moon and especially concerning the LRV 1, 2 & 3 make this a must listen to. I was so impressed, I not only listened to it more than once, but then purchased the book for the amazing photographs. After listening or reading this book, you will never look at another GM product the same.
The one historical fact that I appreciated the most was that Earl Swift the author did not cover up the fact that the only reason we got to Moon was for the science adapted from Hitler's Nazi rocket program and its designer and mentor Wernher Von Braun, who during World War 2 was a member of the notorious SS. Through a secret cover up program call "Operation Paper Clip", German engineering brought the V2 rockets to Texas after the war, as well as all of its1,600 scientists, engineer's & technicians placed around the US. These men were placed in top military & civilian facilities to continue the development of the ballistic missile program which eventually led to the creation on the mighty Saturn 5 that took us to the Moon on July 16th, 1969, with a first landing 4 days later. President John F. Kennedy's proposal to congress on May 25th, 1961 to safely land a man on the Moon and return safely to Earth before the end of the decade became the driving force for the entire nation an endeavor larger than the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb in 1945.
The story is how NASA and all the private contractors, created, tested and deployed the LRV's for Apollo 15,16 & 17. The author walks you through a now historical musem in Huntsville, Alabama the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, while in pursuit of the real LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) there on display. While there he is looking for one of its major creators Sonny Morea. To reiterate, again I felt like I was standing there with Earl & Sonny has he described this fantastic machine, much more than a rover, really a space vehicle. I give this author and narrator 5 stars in all categories. If you are interested in science and history and especially the geology of the Moon, then I know you too will give this a high rating. It is history without comparison!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Andy
- 08-11-24
Another fantastic book about one of the less-known parts of the Apollo program.
Another fantastic book about one of the less-known parts of the Apollo program. I learned so much about the Rovers. I didn’t know that so many companies submitted bids and ideas that were rejected- many of which were very creative. I’m so impressed that the Rover’s design apparently worked flawlessly once it got to the moon. It was human error that caused any issues. Such an amazing listen. Highly recommend!!!
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- cbspock
- 10-12-24
What an amazing vehicle
I decided to give this book a listen after hearing how good it was, and in addition I needed something to listen to while I was building the LEGO Lunar Rover. I figured I would learn more about the vehicle I was building. It was really interesting and I appreciated the details on the development and production of the LRV. It was interesting to learn how it actually worked.
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- Brent
- 09-07-21
Entertaining and under appreciated story
it is amazing how U.S engineers created this vehicle and made history. A great read.
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- T
- 08-27-23
Exactly what it should be
Tight and focused on the subject matter, great ending chapters focused on performance on the moon.
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- Edward M. Shelburne
- 10-06-23
The lunar rover
Great hearing about what it was like to ride the Rover on the moon. It’s also nice to hear about the early part of the Apollo program.
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- Douglas H. Holly
- 07-19-21
Insights into the development and use of the rover
This book does a good job of telling the story behind the development of the lunar rover. It also provides interesting background on many of the key players. If you have worked on challenging projects or are an engineer you will enjoy learning about the technical and business conflicts and challenges the program faced. The lunar rover development is an impressive example of a project done under intense time pressure with significant technical challenges.
The narration was good, but did seem to put some unnecessary/overdone inflection at times.
I would have added a star to the Audible Story if it had included the diagrams and images as it does for many other books. This book screams for visuals. The author does an impressive job of describing technical features but nothing beats a picture or a drawing. You can go to Amazon and view many of the pictures on the preview. It provides a much richer appreciation, particularly for the imaginative concepts early designers came up with.
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6 people found this helpful
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- John
- 01-12-22
Great Read!
I love history, especially space history. I'm so glad someone wrote such a great book about the Lunar Rover!
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