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Bold They Rise
- The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986
- Narrated by: Gary L Willprecht
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's summary
After the Apollo program put 12 men on the moon and safely brought them home, anything seemed possible. In this spirit, the team at NASA set about developing the space shuttle, arguably the most complex piece of machinery ever created. The world's first reusable spacecraft, it launched like a rocket, landed like a glider, and carried out complicated missions in between. Bold They Rise tells the story of the space shuttle through the personal experiences of the astronauts, engineers, and scientists who made it happen - in space and on the ground, from the days of research and design through the heroic accomplishments of the program to the tragic last minutes of the Challenger disaster. In the participants' own voices, we learn what so few are privy to: what it was like to create a new form of spacecraft, to risk one's life testing that craft, to float freely in the vacuum of space as a one-man satellite, to witness a friend's death. A "guided tour" of the shuttle - in historical, scientific, and personal terms - this book provides a fascinating, richly informed, and deeply personal view of a feat without parallel in the human story.
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Story
Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and recently declassified material, Into the Black pieces together the dramatic untold story of the Columbia mission and the brave people who dedicated themselves to help the United States succeed in the age of space exploration. On April 12, 1981, NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral. It was the most advanced, state-of-the-art flying machine ever built, challenging the minds and imagination of America's top engineers and pilots.
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Great Story About a Flawed Spacecraft
- By John on 12-04-16
By: Rowland White, and others
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SR-71, the Blackbird, Q&A
- By: Terry Pappas
- Narrated by: Chris Abell
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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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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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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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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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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Ready for Launch
- An Astronaut's Lessons for Success on Earth
- By: Scott Kelly
- Narrated by: Scott Kelly
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In this insightful and funny book, Scott Kelly shares how a distracted student with poor grades became a record-breaking astronaut and commander of the International Space Station. People think that astronauts are always perfect. "Failure's not an option", right? But as Scott shares in his deeply intimate book, he believes that it's our mistakes and challenges that have the potential to lead to greatness.
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amazing
- By Amazon Customer on 06-05-22
By: Scott Kelly
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Selected by Extraterrestrials: My Life in the Top Secret World of UFOs, Think-Tanks and Nordic Secretaries
- By: William Mills Tompkins
- Narrated by: David Godfrey
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Bill Tompkins was embedded in the world of secrecy as a teenager, when the navy took his personal ship models out of a Hollywood department store because they showed the classified locations of the radars and gun emplacements. He was present at the “Battle of LA”, when 1,430 rounds were fired at UFOs, and one of the Nordic craft selected him to be their rep in the evolving aerospace race. This book is a partial autobiography about his life to about 1970 including some of his early work for TRW.
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No one takes UFOs seriously thanks to you!
- By David on 05-11-19
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The Right Stuff
- By: Tom Wolfe
- Narrated by: Dennis Quaid
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Millions of words have poured forth about man's trip to the moon, but until now few people have had a sense of the most engrossing side of the adventure: namely, what went on in the minds of the astronauts themselves - in space, on the moon, and even during certain odysseys on earth. It is this, the inner life of the astronauts, that Tom Wolfe describes with his almost uncanny empathetic powers that made The Right Stuff a classic.
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Righteous Book, Righteous Narrator, Righteous MEN!
- By Gillian on 02-08-18
By: Tom Wolfe
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Rocket Men
- The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Ray Porter, Robert Kurson
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the moon - in just four months.
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The Men Who Saved 1968
- By Gillian on 04-04-18
By: Robert Kurson
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The Burning Blue
- The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger Disaster
- By: Kevin Cook
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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On January 28, 1986, NASA's space shuttle Challenger exploded after blasting off from Cape Canaveral. Christa McAuliffe, America's "Teacher in Space", was instantly killed, along with the other six members of the mission. At least that's what most of us remember. Kevin Cook tells us what really happened on that ill-fated, unforgettable day. He traces the pressures - leading from NASA to the White House - that triggered the fatal order to launch on an ice-cold Florida morning.
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Not bad, but not much new either
- By Dave on 07-27-22
By: Kevin Cook
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Beyond
- The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space
- By: Stephen Walker
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Travelling at almost 18,000 miles per hour - 10 times faster than a rifle bullet - Yuri Gagarin circles the globe in just 106 minutes. From his windows, he sees the Earth as nobody has before, crossing a sunset and a sunrise, crossing oceans and continents, witnessing its beauty and its fragility. While his launch begins in total secrecy, within hours of his landing, he has become a world celebrity - the first human to leave the planet. Beyond tells the thrilling story behind that epic flight on its 60th anniversary.
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A remarkable story on many levels
- By Dipam on 03-22-22
By: Stephen Walker
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Legacy
- Stellar Heritage, Book 1
- By: Bob Mauldin
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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When Simon and Katherine Hawke stumble upon an alien shuttle that has landed on earth, it’ll not only change the course of their lives, but of the entire world. Taking the shuttle into orbit, they discover a much larger ship left adrift with no one on board. Commandeering it, they confirm that we’re not alone in the universe and must prepare the human race for what is about to come. Recruiting from all over the world, they begin to expand their fleet and build a federation to give humans a foothold in the galaxy.
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Childish Writer Rant
- By Brutis on 10-25-20
By: Bob Mauldin
What listeners say about Bold They Rise
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Josh
- 10-17-17
good
would have preferred a more technical explanation of designing the shuttle. most of the book focused on the missions.
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- cbspock
- 08-29-21
To boldly go…
I’m glad I decided to read this book. I enjoyed hearing the stories from the astronauts and people involved in the program’s early days. As a kid I would follow the shuttle missions. This book is a great follow on read to Into The Black about the development of the shuttle and the first flight of Columbia. I’m reading “truth lies and o-rings “ next then onto “Wheels Stop” to cover the rest of the shuttle program
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- Lomeraniel
- 03-23-17
The first years of the shuttle in a nice format
Any additional comments?
I have received a copy of this book in audio format by the narrator in exchange for an honest review.
This book narrates the first years of the Space Shuttle program from the point of view of the astronauts.
The program was launched by Nixon wanting to have a different approach to traveling to space, more on a budget and with reusable space crafts. One of the program's goals was to have quite an amount of missions per year, which would reduce the per-mission cost. In the end this cost was not reduced as much as it was expected due to parts that could not be reused. Primarily the space shuttle missions were related to satellite launching and investigation in zero G, but then the intention was making it accessible to people not related to the program. The last part of the book is dedicated to the Challenger, what caused the accident, and how this changed the vision of the shuttle program. The missions were maybe overlooked and lightly taken, and from then onwards things needed to be taken more strictly to avoid future disasters. The story continues in 'Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986-2011', which also promises to be an interesting read.
This is quite a long book, over thirteen hours, but it is really amazing. I knew about the shuttle program but I ignored some of the historical details. Here they are all compiled in a nice format that will delight everybody. The book is full of anecdotes told by the astronauts and technicians. There is a little of tech babble but not too much, making it accessible to everybody. I think it would be useful to take a look at some pictures during the technical descriptions, just to have an idea about what goes where, but it is not strictly necessary.
Gary L. Willprecht made an amazing job narrating this book, slightly changing voices when delivering someone's speech. It was like watching a documentary, and despite the great length of the book and the hundreds of details, Willprecht was able to hold my attention from beginning to end.
This book was a great listen, and I would recommend it to anyone who is a bit curious about NASA and their projects. I will definitely want to listen to other books of this series.
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- J. Ritt
- 08-15-17
The best of the series.
Where does Bold They Rise rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I've read several books on NASA and its history, but I still loved this one and learned a great deal. (Particularly about how the shuttle ended up with the form it had, and all the politicking that went into it.) For those who want to look at how it really got built.) Hearing the thoughts of the early shuttle crews was fascinating. (And listening to the story of Challenger made me angry all over again, particularly given my familiarity with the Columbia tragedy seventeen years later.)
Who was your favorite character and why?
Mike Mullane
What about Gary L Willprecht’s performance did you like?
He does an excellent job of narrating it, making it very clear when he's quoting what others said in interviews without trying to give each person a different voice. It sounded like there were two different people narrating - one who narrated things that were going on and a different one for when he was speaking in first person. It threw me at first when he read "Wheels Stop", but I expected and even enjoyed it this time. He does a great job!
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Hearing the other astronauts speak of losing Challenger and her crew so absolutely needlessly.
Any additional comments?
Highly recommend this for NASA geeks. If you're not particularly interested in the shuttle program or NASA's inner workings, it likely won't hold your attention.
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- Boom Depleter
- 04-18-17
Fantastic and interesting, start to finish
Essential read/listen for any Shuttle die hard. It ends very abruptly and I wish it had been more technical about the STS early concepts and design process. I'm still hoping for a book that dives even deeper than Bold They Rise. Regardless of what it is not, it IS excellent for people hoping to learn about the more human aspects of creating and operating the now-sadly-retired Space Shuttle Transport System.
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- Ms. Carrie S. Rostollan
- 04-20-19
Different voices are impeccable.
This book is compellingly read by a talented reader -- or I should say actor.
With many different people directly quoted in the text, each gets a unique twist of vocal pitch, tone, and even raspiness to distinguish one from another. I could detect different characters from the slightest of changes.
What a delight to listen to!
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- Elizabeth Pep
- 10-06-23
Not great
After listening to Apollo, I was really excited about this…but the narration is almost intolerable and to be honest, the story was pretty boring. Take it with a grain of salt.
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- Oliver Blodgett
- 12-05-19
No direction
Seemingly random collection of first hand anecdotes transcribed verbatim. No clear narrative, does not adhere to any sort of timeline. I just finished Apollo which was fantastic so I may be being to picky, but I was unable to get through an hour of this. Very disappointed.
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- Glenn
- 09-11-19
Less About the Shuttle, More About the Experiences
Less About the Shuttle, More About the Experiences - Call it ‘Shuttle Lite’
Perhaps I hadn’t read the description very carefully, but this is not the book that I was expecting - or perhaps hoping for.
The description includes, “In this spirit, the team at NASA set about developing the space shuttle, arguably the most complex piece of machinery ever created. The world's first reusable spacecraft, it launched like a rocket, landed like a glider, and carried out complicated missions in between.” It adds, “from the days of research and design through the heroic accomplishments of the program.…what it was like to create a new form of spacecraft.” You might think the book was about the Space Shuttle. It’s not. It about the people involved with the Space Shuttle.
I was hoping for a more technical look at the Shuttle’s inception, development, construction, and use. Rather, this was a compilation of oral recordings pieced together in roughly chronological order. Very little about the Shuttle hardware itself and more about the experience of being involved with the Shuttle program. If what you want to hear are stories and experiences, then this is the book for you. But if you are looking for a technical look at the history of the Shuttle, then you might be disappointed as I was.
There are plenty of books and documentaries about the Apollo program and hardware, and the people involved. But surprisingly very little about the Shuttle Program. Sure, there are biographies of Shuttle astronauts and their experiences from the 1980’s and on. But very little about the Shuttle itself between the periods of the 1960’s and 1980’s when it finally launched. I had hoped this book had filled that gap, particularly since the title specifically calls out “1972-1986”. And while there is some of that, it was really Shuttle Lite.
Being composed of oral accounts, the content sometimes felt like filler and fluff. Of course, when you are dealing with peoples recollections, the way it’s conveyed can take twice as much time and half as much information than the words of a documentarian author. And much of what was said in the 2nd half of the book about each flight has already been covered in the many astronaut biographies and video documentaries out there. If someone was entirely unfamiliar with the Shuttle Program and the early flights, then this might be a good cursory overview for the uninitiated. Unfortunately, I lost interest, didn’t finish it, and returned it.
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2 people found this helpful