A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts

I read this years ago and wanted to reread this again. I've read more than a few books about the Apollo program, but this is one of the best. A satisfying journey through all the Apollo missions with lots of astronaut interviews providing lots of interesting anecdotes that I had mostly never read before.Totally worth reading and highly recommended.

I’ve long been fascinated with space. I’ve admired our accomplishments from humble beginnings in the 50’s to the pinnacle of human achievement in 1969, and all the way through the shuttle program today. I stand in awe every time I watch footage of a rocket launch. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the magnitude of what we accomplished 50 years ago.I’ve seen great documentary and highlight reels of space exploration but hadn’t read any detail to get more behind the curtain. So I set out go find a truly engrossing book that chronicled this impressive journey. “A Man on the Moon” delivered in every detail.This book follows closely the astronauts of each mission. They are the key theme. The book provides key details into the their character, because the fortitude of what it took to be an astronaut was founded on something truly special. It was different for all of them, but they all shared an unyielding conviction. Their conviction drove them to do great things, brought out the best in each other. My ego always told me I could have been an astronaut and I was jealous of them especially in the early NASA days, but after reading this book I’m not sure I had the “right stuff”There are “sciency” parts of the book but Chaikin does a great job simplifying technical topics. Like summarizing orbital dynamics and rendezvous.The book also goes beyond man and machine, and dives into the culture at the time. The challenges faced changing public and political opinion. They had carts blanche for a while, but then what?My admiration and wonder were amplified by this book. It’s hard not to respect all the missions. Sure we think of Apollo 11 landing on the moon and Apollo 13 with the tremendous story on “how do you get home”, but this books rings out the significance of each mission. Apollo 8 was a very daring mission; first men around the moon. Come to find out the Apollo 9 crew passed on it? How could anyone do that? These men were at their core pilots as well. Those fascinating details are what bolstered respect.The saddest part was finishing it. It’s sad because we know now after 50 years we haven’t returned, and when you read this it’s heartbreaking to see how they thought their journey was just the beginning. The book did such a good job of engrossing me in that world, it saddened me to come back to reality and recognize the little progress we’ve made. There has been some no doubt. But compared to what was accomplished in a matter of 10 years and on primitive technology by today’s standards, makes the early years of NASA further impressive. I might even be a little jealous.I absolutely recommend this book, from the fleeting interested person to the most intense space junky out there. It chronicles one greatest chapters in our history and will leave you with a new found respect.I recommend reading this book and “Failure is Not an Option” because it took way more than astronauts to get to the moon. It’ll help you recognize the human power and unsung heroes pivotal to conquering space.

This is by far the most comprehensive study written on the APOLLO missions to the moon. Well written and mind blowing in scope. The author truly captures the countries single mindedness in its quest to reach the surface of the moon. Great emphasis on the brave men who risked everything in order to become memorialized in the pantheon of our countries history. Many people behind the scenes were also included in this fascinating period of our history. Simply a great read. I finished this book in a week, couldn’t put this down.

This book was everything I expected it to be: an account of the Apollo program that did not bury me in technical details. But even with respect to the human side of the story, Andrew Chaikin shows compassion for readers by being selective. He does not list every item of clothing in the astronauts' dirty laundry. He writes like a novelist, presenting only details of interest, focusing on prominent events like Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, while not neglecting domestic facets that reveal an astronaut's character.In other words, A MAN ON THE MOON is not a literally FULL story of an extremely technical human endeavor. On the other hand, Chaikin's book is not like Tom Wolfe's THE RIGHT STUFF, which seems to deliberately omit any mention of science and technology. When an explosion aborts Apollo XIII, Chaikin explains what happened. When astronauts collect rock samples, Chaikin writes about the geological evolution of the moon. But his descriptions meld with his narration, and understanding them is a breeze.In this book's Foreword, Tom Hanks says that in his TV miniseries FROM EARTH TO THE MOON, he hoped to convey what Chaikin has "captured so well." For me, what Chaikin captured was the whole moon experience, the journey to and fro and the activities on the surface. From my reading, I remember craters, high-resolution vistas of tan-gray desolation, moon rocks with white cystals, moon rocks with green crystals, struggles while trying to extract bore samples, explorations in the lunar rover, and bouncy romps in 1/6 of Earth's gravity.And I remember that Apollo ended. Christopher Columbus at least had a concrete excuse: he was ignorant. He terminated his quest for China because he thought he had arrived. But we KNEW how to get to the moon. We terminated our quest with a flimsy excuse called "budget." Now here we are, voraciously consuming Earth's resources, which will soon be depleted. If we had continued our trips to the moon, we would be consuming a non-depletable resource from the sun. Solar-energy stations on the moon would be transmitting microwaves of power.Okay, I don't really know if that last is true, but maybe we should not have stopped the Apollo missions and more missions to the moon. We should not have burned our bridge. In his Epilogue, Chaikin refers to David Criswell, an engineer who says the moon could transmit enough power to supply all of Earth.

A good history of the Apollo program for a space enthusiast, such as myself. A nice balance of historical information about the program and personal information about the astronauts.

I am biased, having been woken by my mother to watch the first landing. Middle off the night, 11 years old, black an white tv. Never cleared my brain.But this book tells the complete story, including the deeper feelings and thoughts of the people going through it all. And what a tale to tell.The best feeling after having finished this extremely well written book? We’re close to sending people back to the moon. Good on the Apollo astronauts pointing the way.

The detail of this book takes you right back to the events like you were there watching them again. Very well written with accurate information that came right from the people who worked on the project. A must read for any anyone who lived and breathed the Apollo program as a kid.

Encarar 580 páginas em inglês não é fácil, mas este livro é tão bom que quando acabou, desejei que estivesse apenas na metade. O autor conta a história das missões Apollo em detalhes. A leitura é um imenso prazer para quem gosta do assunto. Se o autor escrevesse outro volume sobre as missões Mercury e Gemini, eu não teria dúvidas em lê-lo também. A minissérie "From the Earth to the Moon" da HBO é parcialmente baseada neste livro. É um livro muito bacana. 580 páginas que valem qualquer esforço para uma leitura em inglês. Muito, muito bacana!

Livre très bien écrit qui nous fait rentrer dans les aventures Apollo, même si l'on est profane comme moi !Les passages techniques sont un peu difficiles parfois, mais franchement je n'ai jamais eu envie d'arrêter ma lecture. On trouve des anecdotes sur chaque voyage. Un bémol : les photos au centre du livre auraient mérité un papier glacé.La couverture est un peu fragile car recouverte d'une fine pellicule qui donne un toucher "peau de pêche" très doux, très agréable, mais cette pellicule a tendance à se décoller sur les bords du livre au fil de la manipulation, et pourtant je suis très soigneuse. C'est dommage car je compte bien garder ce livre en bonne place dans ma bibliothèque, tant il m'a plu !!

Technische Herausforderungen, menschliche Typologie der Astronauten, das ungeheuere Team Work zwischen Bodenstationen und Astronauten, Patriotismus und Risikobereitschaft, das Vertauen auf die Technik und aufeinander und natürlich: das Spektakuläre der Tatsache, dass Menschen ihren Fuß auf den Mond setzen und sicher nach Hause zurück kommen.Eine grandiose, vielschichtige Darstellung von Gemini bis zum Ende des Apollo-Programms.