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Failure Is Not an Option
- Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
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Failure Is Not an Option
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Summary
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- CB
- 25-04-20
Amazing! 😁😁
It's amazing how well they did it I was hooked by chapter two! And the story is in such detail !
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Butterfish
- 26-02-14
Compelling listening
What made the experience of listening to Failure Is Not an Option the most enjoyable?
Fascinating to hear the story from the ground crew rather than the astronaut perspective
What was one of the most memorable moments of Failure Is Not an Option?
Apollo 12 - SCE to Aux
Which character – as performed by Danny Campbell – was your favourite?
Gene Kranz
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
By the seat of our pants
Any additional comments?
A fascinating story. I've read a lot of books by astronauts but this is the first by a member of the ground crew. Kranz made famous through being one of the flight controllers on Apollo 13 who "got the crew home" does an excellent job of taking us through the story from the initial Mercury missions, taking in all the highs and lows along the way through Gemini to the heyday of Apollo. An inspiring story of men made from the right stuff.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- E. A. Williams
- 28-06-16
A hero of a man experiencing incredible NASA times
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Absolutely. This is not only the insights into the life of an incredible man, but he takes us behind closed doors into the most exciting and pivotal moments in NASA and mankind's history in space.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Gene Kranz - he is my hero, because of the respectful manner in which he deals with people, the incredible leadership skills he has in enabling teams to work in pressured situations that none of us are likely to ever experience again, without any fear/blame - in fact, to quite the contrary: relieving them of fear/pressure and enabling them to perform to the best of their abilities. I've learnt a lot previously about how Gene manages people and have applied that to my own teams - as a result, I always create high performing, motivated teams. He is my life-hero.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
I love how he speaks to his teams and the pride he has with them - the book describes the pride with which he puts on the White Flight waistcoats his wife made for him for each mission, and how they became the badge of honour for his teams and the signal that things were about to begin. I love the way he describes the support for Apollo 13, his calmness and supportive approach of asking people to be careful and 'let's not make it any worse by guessing'. His descriptions of the loss of the space shuttles and the impact that had on those in Mission Control is amazing. I just love this book.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Absolutely. And will listen to over and over again.
Any additional comments?
Please get it back into the availability Library so others can read it. It is a work of historical importance, documenting times that have gone and will never return. What people in NASA did during this time period was absolutely amazing (putting people on another planet with less computing power than is now in a mobile phone). Mankind will never, ever do this again in this way - it is an incredibly important historical document, and gives an insight into the life of an amazing, incredible man who was part of those amazing times that have now gone.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Eric Craig
- 13-07-21
a story which should be in the curriculum
historically important and Gene conveys the attitudes which need to be preserved if humanity is to grow
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- neilpr
- 07-10-20
great listen
really interesting insight, well written .( bl***y annoying that you have to expand this to 1t words)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Y. Syed
- 14-02-19
We need more people like these…
It is sad that the Apollo moon missions came to an end, early.
It is even sadder that missions to the moon came to an end.
It is a crying shame that people with the vision, desire and the “Right Stuff”, no longer seem to exist…
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Chris Tech
- 18-03-16
Very good listen
The book is a great timeline of the history of NASA and the forgotten controllers who made it all happen.
Gripping, especially during the Apollo 1,11 & 13 chapters.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- BEHNAZ
- 15-02-17
fun to read
It was fun to read, but maybe short for all the details. and it is a rocket science
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- Giorgio
- 11-12-21
A masterclass in operations
In addition to the obvious historic importance, this book is a masterclass in operation. Kraft's and Kranz's work on Mission Control and in defining the framework for operating Apollo missions still lives today in pretty much every control center of the world.
This book is a must for any sort of first responder or incident manager.
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- Brian S
- 27-08-18
Brilliant read
I read this book after watching Hidden Figures and it gives a great double account of the calculators working in NASA.
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