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| Failure is not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond | 
| Author: Gene Kranz
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $0.52
You Save: $15.48 (97%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (98 reviews)
Sales Rank: 11502
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1
ISBN: 0425179877
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.4530973
EAN: 9780425179871
ASIN: 0425179877
Publication Date: May 1, 2001
Release Date: May 8, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Space, did we lose our way? May 20, 2008
Gene's memories from the first halting attempts to launch rockets into space through the successfull Apollo moon program paint vivid pictures of what happened inside the space agency on a non-technical level in building the space program. Good review of challenging and motivating people to envision the what-if and do it step by step. Small references to lack of vision in senior leadership of space program after the Kennedy moon goal was achieved.
 Interesting Read March 5, 2008
This is a really interesting read, and a must have if you have any interest in the space race at all. This is a book with a lot of detail about each mission that Gene Kranz was involved in, and is interspersed with some neat personal information about his family. Buy it and enjoy it!!
Best Overview of Later Apollo Missions November 25, 2007
My teenage interest in rocketry, launching about 1000 tiny rockets in all, my dreams of extraterrestrial voyages from reading science fiction, and being involved in real countdowns for liquid propellant rocket motors in the MIT Rocket Research Society all came back from reading this book. This is the perfect follow-on to Chris Kraft's "Flight: My Life in Mission Control" which came out a year later. Both are excellent. Kraft and Kranz were the guys we saw most of on TV during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Programs -- more than could be seen of any single astronaut.
The first major Flight Directors of Mission Control of NASA were much more than masters of ceremonies. They had to make decisions on continuing or aborting or modifying missions, and any decision could have led to deaths. Because of the short times in which some decisions had to be made, Kraft (yes, Kraft) wrote the job description for his own position as Flight Director that said he had the final say, knowing that a mistake would be the end of his career at NASA, but also knowing that delayed decisions could kill the astronauts or the program. This necessitated building a team of specialists for each of the many aspects of the missions (communications, computing, engine status, crew status, etc., etc.) and trusting their decisions.
Kranz was deeply affected by the deaths of three astronauts by fire on the ground in the Apollo 1 capsule. He was point man in the Apollo 13 explosion (as in the movie), and safe return to Earth of 3 astronauts. The details of how thorough simulations of missions were was a revelation to me. It all paid off, because almost no missions ran without failures. On-board computers were too slow or had too little memory, thrusters failed to turn off, all kinds of failure indicators would give false readings, hatches or seals would leak.
Much that was kept from the public during the missions came out. The enthusiasm for the projects was incredibly high among the early birds in NASA, including the first administrators, who had to fight often for continuation of funding, especially after the USSR lost momentum, even to get the first mission to the moon. NASA pay was low, so the committment of so many on the team was not financial. The cooperation of contractors, notwithstanding some lapses in quality, was excellent, and included turning over copies of engineering drawings of all parts of a capsule or component. The willingness to take risks by NASA personnel and others during the Moon progrtam is awe-inspring, especially compared with today's timidity. Fom p383: "Lacking a clear goal, the team that placed an American on the Moon, NASA, has become just another federal bureaucracy beset by competing agendas, and unable to establish discipline within its structure. Although NASA has an amazing array of technology and the most talented workforce in history, it lacks top-level vision."
Kranz was aware that he was making history. While he was steady and decisive (like Kraft) while on duty, Kranz revealed his extreme emotions at many points. While you should read books by astronauts, such as "Off the Planet" by Jerry M. Linenger, 2000, and "Last Man on the Moon" by Gene Cernan, the best overview for me has been through the eyes of the Flight Directors.
Inspiring reading for technical leaders of all kinds August 15, 2007
While I confess to being a lifelong space buff, this book is the first of many memoirs I have had the pleasure of reading from the actual men and women who participated in one of the greatest adventures in human history. I read it nonstop from the moment I brought it home, and have reread many sections of it numerous times. I believe it is a useful historical record of the golden era of the space program, but also holds many lessons for those who find themselves in formal or de facto positions of technical leadership in all types of organizations - churches, consulting firms, technical contractors, manufacturers, and probably many others with which I am not personally familiar. Thank you Mr. Kranz for all you have shared!
a fist hand report of the early NASA years June 30, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I highly recommend this book to all the poor men who already believe today that APOLLO is a whole fake
KRANZ tell the truth it is obvious when you read him
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