
Safely to Earth
The Men and Women Who Brought the Astronauts Home
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Narrated by:
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Tom Perkins
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By:
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Jack Clemons
About this listen
In this one-of-a-kind memoir, Jack Clemons - a former lead engineer in support of NASA - takes listeners behind the scenes and into the inner workings of the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs during their most exciting years. Discover the people, the events, and the risks involved in one of the most important parts of space missions: bringing the astronauts back home to Earth.
Clemons joined Project Apollo in 1968, a young engineer inspired by science fiction and electrified by John F. Kennedy's challenge to the nation to put a man on the moon. He describes his experiences supporting the NASA engineering team at what is now the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he played a pivotal role in designing the reentry and landing procedures for Apollo astronauts. He went on to work on Skylab and the Space Shuttle program, eventually assuming leadership for the entire integrated software system on board the Space Shuttle.
Through personal stories, Clemons introduces listeners to many of the unsung heroes of the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions - the people who worked side-by-side with NASA engineers supporting reentry and landing for each Apollo mission, and the software team who fashioned the computer programs that accompanied the crews on the Space Shuttle. Clemons worked closely with astronauts who relied on him and his fellow engineers for directions to their destination, guidance on how to get there, control of their fate during their journeys, and a safe return. He reveals problems, challenges, and near-disasters previously unknown to the public and offers candid opinions on the failures that led to the loss of 14 astronauts in the Challenger and Columbia tragedies.
Highlighting the staggering responsibility and the incredible technological challenges that Clemons and his colleagues took on in the race to reach the moon and explore the mysteries of space, this book is a fascinating insider's view of some of the greatest adventures of the 20th century.
©2018 Jack Clemons (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"The main story is economically and briskly told, bolstered by a thoughtful, helpful appendix, as well as a collection of direct questions ('Did Apollo 10 Almost Crash into the Moon?') and frank answers." (Publishers Weekly)
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Not bad, but not much new either
- By Dave on 07-27-22
By: Kevin Cook
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Failure Is Not an Option
- Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
- By: Gene Kranz
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Excellent Book!
- By Kevin on 02-19-13
By: Gene Kranz
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Nuclear Folly
- A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Nearly 30 years after the end of the Cold War, today's world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis. Serhii Plokhy offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground.
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A Must Read
- By Robert from Brookline on 08-22-21
By: Serhii Plokhy
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Chandra's Cosmos
- Dark Matter, Black Holes, and Other Wonders Revealed by NASA's Premier X-Ray Observatory
- By: Wallace H. Tucker
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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On July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the most powerful X-ray telescope ever built, was launched aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Since then, Chandra has given us a view of the universe that is largely hidden from telescopes sensitive only to visible light. In Chandra's Cosmos, Wallace H. Tucker uses a series of short, connected stories to describe the telescope's exploration of the hot, high-energy face of the universe.
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Excellent
- By MGGGK9 on 12-08-23
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Red Moon Rising
- Sputnik and the Hidden Rivals That Ignited the Space Age
- By: Matthew Brzezinski
- Narrated by: Charles Stransky
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Bringing Columbia Home
- The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew
- By: Michael D. Leinbach, Jonathan H. Ward, Robert Crippen - foreward, and others
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated on reentry before the nation's eyes, and all seven astronauts aboard were lost. Author Mike Leinbach was a key leader in the search and recovery effort as NASA, FEMA, the FBI, the US Forest Service, and dozens more federal, state, and local agencies combed an area of rural east Texas the size of Rhode Island for every piece of the shuttle and her crew they could find. Assisted by hundreds of volunteers, it would become the largest ground search operation in US history.
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Consider What You’re Looking For
- By Jeff Scott on 05-11-18
By: Michael D. Leinbach, and others
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Black Hole
- How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved
- By: Marcia Bartusiak
- Narrated by: Randye Kaye
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than half a century, physicists and astronomers engaged in heated dispute over the possibility of black holes in the universe. The weirdly alien notion of a space-time abyss from which nothing escapes - not even light - seemed to confound all logic. This engrossing audiobook tells the story of the fierce black hole debates and the contributions of Einstein, Hawking, and other leading thinkers who completely altered our view of the universe.
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Great into to black holes
- By serine on 01-23-16
By: Marcia Bartusiak
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Restricted Data
- The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States
- By: Alex Wellerstein
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on troves of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time through the author's efforts, Restricted Data traces the complex evolution of the US nuclear secrecy regime from the first whisper of the atomic bomb through the mounting tensions of the Cold War and into the early 21st century. A compelling history of powerful ideas at war, it tells a story that feels distinctly American: rich, sprawling, and built on the conflict between high-minded idealism and ugly, fearful power.
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Alright. Some interesting facts
- By Dustin C. on 07-28-24
By: Alex Wellerstein
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The Space Race
- An Audible Original
- By: Colin Brake, Patrick Chapman, Richard Hollingham, and others
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Original Recording
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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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The Death of the USS Thresher
- The Story Behind History's Deadliest Submarine Disaster
- By: Norman Polmar
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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When she first went to sea in April of 1961, the US nuclear submarine Thresher was the most advanced submarine at sea, built specifically to hunt and kill Soviet submarines. In The Death of the USS Thresher, renowned naval and intelligence consultant Norman Polmar recounts the dramatic circumstances surrounding her implosion, which killed all 129 men onboard in history's first loss of a nuclear submarine.
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I REMEMBER THESE HEROES
- By JustBill on 03-31-20
By: Norman Polmar
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Surface at the Pole
- The Extraordinary Voyages of the USS Skate
- By: James Calvert
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Under the guidance of James Calvert this nuclear submarine had navigated through polar ice packs, braved atrociously cold conditions, and broken through layers of thick ice to arrive at their destination; the northernmost point of the world. This mission, however, was not just about completing a seemingly impossibly feat of Arctic exploration. It also had huge implications for military strategy during the height of the Cold War.
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Early Nuclear Sub Polar Exploration
- By John on 02-21-25
By: James Calvert
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Flying the SR-71 Blackbird
- In the Cockpit on a Secret Operational Mission
- By: Richard H. Graham
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Lockheed SR-71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Skunk Works. The aircraft flew so fast and high that not one was ever shot down, even by a missile. SR-71 pilot and instructor Colonel Richard Graham offers a rare cockpit perspective on how regular Air Force pilots and navigators transformed themselves into SR-71 Blackbird crews, turning their unique aviation talents to account in an unprecedented way.
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This book is basically void of content or story.
- By Amazon Customer on 06-02-22
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A Mind at Play
- How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
- By: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Claude Shannon was a tinkerer, a playful wunderkind, a groundbreaking polymath, and a digital pioneer whose insights made the Information Age possible. He constructed fire-breathing trumpets and customized unicycles, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots, but he also wrote the seminal text of the Digital Revolution. That work allowed scientists to measure and manipulate information as objectively as any physical object. His work gave mathematicians and engineers the tools to bring that world to pass.
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I wanted more information about Information Theory
- By Bonny on 05-08-18
By: Rob Goodman, and others
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A Traveler's Guide to the Stars
- By: Les Johnson
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Les Johnson takes you on a thrilling tour of the physics and technologies that may enable us to reach the stars. He discusses the latest exoplanet discoveries, promising interstellar missions on the not-so-distant horizon, and exciting new developments in space propulsion, power, robotics, communications, and more. But interstellar travel will not be easy, and it is not for the faint of heart. Johnson describes the harsh and forbidding expanse of space that awaits us, and he addresses the daunting challenges that we need to overcome in order to realize tomorrow's possibilities.
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An excellent look at the realities of star travel!
- By Kindle Customer on 11-15-22
By: Les Johnson
Jack Clemons takes us for a wonderous and fascinating journey along his career as an inspired rocket scientist and computer programmer. We experience, through his eyes, the many successes and unfortunate failures that shaped the early days of the NASA space program.
He tells of his interactions with the NASA astronauts and lead personnel in an entertaining, and gripping narrative. I can't recommend this book enough!
Jack Clemons has all the right stuff in this book
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A solid book
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The audiobook is well presented and the narrator, Tom Perkins, does a decent job but there are a couple of words that weren't pronounced quite properly. It wasn't enough to make me stop listening,but was momentarily jarring.
Interesting Perspective on Apollo & Moire
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