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Infinity Beckoned
- Adventuring Through the Inner Solar System, 1969-1989
- Narrated by: Michael Burnette
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
Infinity Beckoned illuminates a critical period of space history when humans dared an expansive leap into the inner solar system. Jay Gallentine conveys the trials and triumphs of the people on the ground who conceived and engineered the missions that put robotic spacecraft on the heavenly bodies nearest our own. Based on numerous interviews, Gallentine delivers a rich variety of stories involving the men and women, American and Russian, responsible for such groundbreaking endeavors as the Mars Viking missions of the 1970s and the Soviet Venera flights to Venus in the 1980s. From the dreamers responsible for the Venus landing who discovered that dropping down through heavy clouds of sulfuric acid and 900-degree heat was best accomplished by surfing to the five-man teams puppeteering the Soviet moon rovers from a top-secret, off-the-map town without a name, the people who come to life in this book persevered in often trying, thankless circumstances. Their legacy is our better understanding of our own planet and our place in the cosmos.
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Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
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Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
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Rise of the Rocket Girls
- The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars
- By: Nathalia Holt
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1940s and '50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible.
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Struggles In Space Exploration
- By Sara on 06-11-16
By: Nathalia Holt
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The Last Man On the Moon
- By: Eugene Cernan
- Narrated by: Eugene Cernan
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
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This is the story of a unique American hero who came of age as an astronaut during the few dramatic years when man reached the moon. Cernan's career spanned the entire Apollo program, from the tragic fire that killed three of his comrades on Apollo 1, through the moment when he left man's last footprint on the moon as commander of Apollo 17.
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Yet Another Perspective
- By Shellbin on 12-28-12
By: Eugene Cernan
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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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Neil Armstrong
- A Life of Flight
- By: Jay Barbree
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Much has been written about Neil Armstrong, America's modern hero and history's most famous space traveler. Yet, shy of fame and never one to steal the spotlight, Armstrong was always reluctant to discuss his personal side of events. Here for the first time is the definitive story of Neil's life of flight he shared for five decades with a trusted friend - Jay Barbree.
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A Profound Personal Impact
- By Michael on 08-21-14
By: Jay Barbree
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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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Apollo
- By: Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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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
- By JDM on 10-29-19
By: Charles Murray, 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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Space Chronicles
- Facing the Ultimate Frontier
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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With his signature wit and thought-provoking insights, Neil deGrasse Tyson - one of our foremost thinkers on all things space - illuminates the past, present, and future of space exploration and brilliantly reminds us why NASA matters now as much as ever. As Tyson reveals, exploring the space frontier can profoundly enrich many aspects of our daily lives, from education systems and the economy to national security and morale.
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The least helpful review of Space Chronicles.
- By Joshua Kring on 06-17-15
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Space Odyssey
- Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece
- By: Michael Benson
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Regarded as a masterpiece today, 2001: A Space Odyssey received mixed reviews. Despite the success of Dr. Strangelove, director Stanley Kubrick wasn't yet recognized as a great filmmaker, and 2001 was radically innovative, with little dialogue and no strong central character. Author Michael Benson explains how 2001 was made, telling the story primarily through the two people most responsible for the film, Kubrick and science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke. Benson interviewed Clarke many times, and has also spoken at length with Kubrick's widow, Christiane.
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A Book Wholly Equal to its Subject
- By Reggie on 04-17-19
By: Michael Benson
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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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Rust
- The Longest War
- By: Jonathan Waldman
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In Rust journalist Jonathan Waldman travels from Key West, Florida, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to meet the colorful and often reclusive people concerned with corrosion. He sneaks into an abandoned steelworks with a brave artist and nearly gets kicked out of Can School. Across the Arctic he follows a massive high-tech robot, hunting for rust in the Alaska pipeline.
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Almost too geeky for geeks
- By Norman B. Bernstein on 03-26-15
By: Jonathan Waldman
What listeners say about Infinity Beckoned
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Marcel-Jan
- 02-22-18
Stories about unmanned spaceflight never heared
There are some interesting stories about missions to the moon, Venus, Mars and Haley's comet that I had never heared. It's refreshing to hear what happened to the Soviet missions as well. The book does have some weird buckaroo-type of American slang, but if you can look beyond that, it's a worthwhile listen.
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