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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
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joseph
- 12-12-14
Fascinating story told by a true NASA legend!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Absolutely! A storey full of little facts you just can't pick up anywhere else....
Which scene did you most enjoy?
I couldn't pick one specific scene, as I honestly enjoyed the whole storey, but I must say the chapters on the Gemini missions really grabbed my interest!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I couldn't put it down....we'll take the headphones out in this case!
Any additional comments?
A must read (or listen....) for any space enthusiasts!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Lumo
- 08-01-12
An enjoyable and epic account of life at NASA
I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book. It gives a detailed and interesting personal account of life in NASA mission control from the beginnings of NASA through to the end of the Apollo lunar missions. The book manages to portray some of what it must have felt like to be there during this exciting time. Occasionally the writing style is a but clumsy and feels like it could have done with another edit or tidy up, but in a way this just adds to the fast paced nature of the story. Likewise, sometimes the patriotism and pro-US attitudes of the author become a bit repetitive, but rather than being annoying they add to the character of the author.
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4 people found this helpful
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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
- L.O'M
- 17-01-18
I lived through what is now Space history
Loved the book. The narration made the events more interesting and realistic. I'll listen again !
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1 person found this helpful
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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
- Dave Cassim
- 25-02-20
Absolutely amazing!
I highly recommend this book. The story and writing are fantastic and the narrator fits just perfectly. Can hardly believe all of this actually happened! :) easily 5/5
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- F. O. Bonney
- 31-10-20
Quite technical but fascinating
While some engineering details were hard to understand the history and his stories were amazing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jem
- 19-11-21
One of the best accounts of the space missions
Very enjoyable account from the patriotic family man Kranz, I've listened several times to catch the things I might have missed before. I like that it is written by a man on the spot who was involved in the missions from the beginning and that he is alternately boastful or humble in all the right places.
I always feel sad when the book is over, those involved must have felt bereft when the curtailed missions came to an end.
I like the narrator, he seems to convey the right tone and enthusiasm.
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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
- Carnegie
- 23-11-23
Wonderful
I loved it. The book was fascinating with lots of detail on the early Mercury days and the major Apollo events. The narrator was great too - sounded exactly like I image Gene Kranz does.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S Farrimond
- 18-01-24
I enjoyed the story in general just the reading
I thought it was ALT itude but the narator says ATT itude all the time its really off putting to me. other than that it is clearly read and I found it interesting listening to the authors experience on how he became mission controller.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- kevin harkness
- 12-03-21
One of the greatest story of all time
It's simple let's go to the moon how hard can it be. It turns out it's very hard and very dangerous.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Gibb
- 28-10-19
A must for any space fans!
Great insight into the mind blowing era that was the 1950s-1970s. Just the right amount of detail to allow you to think you're getting the inside track but not so intense that you require an aeronautical engineering degree to comprehend. Still astounding that it was all done with minimal computing power and a nuclear bomb's worth of kinetic energy.
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