Rocket Men Audiobook By Craig Nelson cover art

Rocket Men

The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon

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Rocket Men

By: Craig Nelson
Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
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A richly detailed and dramatic account of one of the greatest achievements of humankind.

At 9:32 A.M. on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 rocket launched in the presence of more than a million spectators who had gathered to witness a truly historic event. It carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins to the last frontier of human imagination: the moon.

Rocket Men is the thrilling story of the moon mission, and it restores the mystery and majesty to an event that may have become too familiar for most people to realize what a stunning achievement it represented in planning, technology, and execution.

Through interviews, 23,000 pages of NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA documents on the space race, Craig Nelson re-creates a vivid and detailed account of the Apollo 11 mission. From the quotidian to the scientific to the magical, readers are taken right into the cockpit with Aldrin and Armstrong and behind the scenes at Mission Control.

Rocket Men is the story of a 20th-century pilgrimage, a voyage into the unknown motivated by politics, faith, science, and wonder that changed the course of history.

©2009 Craig Nelson (P)2009 Penguin Aeronautics & Astronautics Americas Astronomy Astronomy & Space Science History History & Culture Military Physics Science United States US Air Force Air Force

Critic reviews

"Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and declassified CIA material, Nelson has produced a magnificent, very readable account of the steps that led to the success of Apollo 11." ( Booklist)
Fascinating History • Detailed Accounts • Powerful Smooth Voice • Compelling Storytelling • Human Perspective
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The best narrative of the Apollo missions I ever heard or read. Spell-binding even though you know how it turns out.

Outstanding

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Would you consider the audio edition of Rocket Men to be better than the print version?

I don't knows since I read technical stuff.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Rocket Men?

Of course Apollo 11 is the most memorable. While the book essentially starts with the launch of the moon-landing mission, it digresses a number of times to cover tangential elements, facts, and stories. Deciding the most memorable moment is like deciding the most memorial moment of you child’s birth.

A+ If You're A Space Groupie

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Very informative with a good narrator. The story is well structured and has plenty of value to read multiple times.

Great book

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The history of the Apollo program is fascinating. However the story was let down somewhat by technical mistakes (confusion of orbital velocity with escape velocity, garbled description of max-Q, etc.) The ending, discussing the status of the space program, is also a bit dated. But overall a worthwhile listen.

Nice history marred by technical mistakes

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There are many books on the space program but this one captures the heart and soul and takes you there!

I get a peculiar reaction to really great outstanding books, I pace back and forth. my enthusiasm, and wonder overflows my inner cup and I'm simply yet ecstatically overwhelmed. needless to say this listen fits into that coveted category.

What an amazingly unique challenge this was for mankind! What an adventure the whole planet held its breath for. All of those enormous probably catastrophic risks laid out on live tv. For many it was before their time, for others its grandeur forgotten, and for everyone, the behind the scenes opera never known till now

So this book is very special because it succeeds in translating all that forgotten glory that was in the public eye and more importantly most of which was kept secret .

It is SO well researched and written ,providing a more than complete history that reads like a thriller. Whether your interested in the space program or not you will find this an amazing experience.

TRULY OUTSTANDING

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I have read other Apollo/NASA books but this one stands on its own. Really enjoyed the discussion of the "space race" and the engineering feats it took to take the US to the Moon first. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in what it took to get to the Moon.

Very Enjoyable Book

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I really, really love this book. I have read it and reread many parts over and over, boy, this is great. I will refer back to this book many times and reread it again and again. I was project engineer for 22-years on the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors and wish had I had known this much about the whole program. I knew a lot of this stuff but not all of it in the detail that this book covers. Wow, what a great read.

I really love this book...

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So entertainingly and interestingly told, it reminds me of a conductor-friend who said, about a pop singer, "It can't be "good", because it's too "catchy"!
While entirely educational, Rocket Men is so interesting and fun, you don't notice you're learning about the whole era of early space travel!

This is a beautiful, self-contained "course" on the early space program.

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If you're a space nut this is the book for you. However, even for a space nut like me I only gave it 4 stars. The main reason is the many annoying inaccuracies - like constantly calling the moon a planet! Even with these problems the book does provide a lot of detail about the race to the moon. Probably too much detail for somebody with just a passing interest.

Great for Space Nuts

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I was totally obsessed with the space program during the time of Apollo and thought I knew everything about it and NASA. This fascinating book and very good narration reveals the real story of the politics involved during the space race and gives the feeling of being present behind the scenes during the critical parts of the space program and the moon landing. It was a true reality check as most of what I believed to be true was the sanitized version allowed out to the media. I had always thought of Kennedy as the main promoter of the space program. I discovered, to my surprise, that Lyndon Johnson was more knowledgable and the program's primary champion and Kennedy had many reservations about it. Much of the information in this book was revealed by the release of classified and suppressed data that was not available in prior years. That, and the personal anecdotes and conversations of the astronauts and ground crew held me spellbound.

Quite a reality check!

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