Failure Is Not an Option
Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
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Failure Is Not an Option
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Narrated by:
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Danny Campbell
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By:
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Gene Kranz
About this listen
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. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director's role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s.
Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.)
In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids - still in their twenties, only a few years out of college - who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success.
©2009 Gene Kranz (P)2011 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about Failure Is Not an Option
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Christopher
- 22-04-21
fascinating
Fascinating account and record of space flight and travel and the moon missions. It concludes recollections of triumphs and disasters.
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- Anonymous User
- 17-02-24
interesting
as someone who interested in space exploration, i enjoyed this insightful book with some stories i knew, but get a different angle and many new i didn't know
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. P. J. Bellchambers
- 13-04-13
Brings back so many memories!
I was young when the Apollo and moon landings were the news! I watched the first steps on the moon and was transfixed at the technology and enormity of the achievements. I was luck to travel a bit and saw the Lunar Module in the Science museum in Boston. I was a bit more savvy about technology and amazed at the bravery and the fact that the computer technology was less capable than the power of a modern day smart phone! I saw one of the last lift offs of the shuttle in 2002 and I felt transported back to the days of the moon landing when I was 12.
This book by one of the main men involved throughout the programme relives and retells the reality of it all and I am so glad to be able to hear his story and view of the programme etc.
Thanks Gene for doing this and recording a wonderful, scary and uplifting part of history of the 20th Century.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- M
- 10-12-16
see the world like an engineer
This is a fascinating account of the US space program, from the point of view of the mission controllers. Astronauts appear as characters in a strictly maintained chronology of events, but it is the young men in airless control rooms, chain-smoking their way to success after success that are the main focus of the piece. Gene Kranz shares a lot about his own life as a sort of running side-note, and this reader was left a little in awe of the energy, dedication and detailed thought that characterised Gene Kranz and his contemporaries.
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- WeTravel2U
- 31-03-17
fantastic insight to flight control
read the book, now finished the audio, and i would love to sitt down and have a general chat with him. wonderful storytelling of a bygone era.
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- MR SAMUEL B KIDD
- 07-06-20
couldn't stop listening
love the apollo period. learned a lot about it over the years. Flight Director Gene Kranz perspective and experience was a roller coaster ride.
well written and presented in audio format.
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- Ash
- 26-09-22
Wonderful, from start to finish.
I've read accounts of the space race written by astronauts, but Gene Kranz's account really brought it all to life for me. I had tears of sorrow, and tears of joy as Kranz' words told the story of how a close knit team achieved the greatest goal mankind has ever set.
Thank you to all involved. I may not have been alive at the time, but I'm every bit as awed by what you all achieved.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 23-12-12
Not just for space geeks
Whilst I am a space geek, this a good biography from a man that had a front row seat for the greatest show of the twentieth century! If you have any interest in the space race, then this will give more insight to the events and background to those events than many of the general books on the subject and the astronaut biographies. For those of us who have read extensively on the subject, this book gives a new insight into mission control and the personnel, the long hours and the challenges that were overcome by these dedicated and talented young men and women; something sorely neglected in most books! Overall, I would recommend this book, especially for those who have an Internet in the subject and not ventured from the general texts and the astronaut biographies. For those who have never read anything about the space race, this isn't as glamorous as the more general books, but is still good.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Drew Lawrence
- 16-10-18
Gritty, honest bio.
A very enjoyable listen. I will have to track down the printed version. A no-nonsense account of life as a NASA flight controller and the trials of the manned space programs early days.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tommy Jobson
- 12-07-18
Fantastic
For anyone with even slightly more than a passing interest in space and the moonshots this is an absolute must. To get the full story direct from one on the top men of the era is a real privilege.
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