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The Space Race
- An Audible Original
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
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The Space Race
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Summary
Winner of the Gold Science & Technology trophy at the 2020 New York Festivals Radio Awards
The 1960s space race captured our imaginations and our dreams. Today’s efforts to revitalize and expand space travel is being driven not just by government agencies such as NASA, but also by visionaries such as Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic), Elon Musk (SpaceX), and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin).
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, this major documentary-drama series brings to life the past, present, and future of man’s exploration of space. Between 1969 and 1972, twelve Americans walked on the moon. You’ll get to experience the thrill of that era and much, much more.
Narrated by Kate Mulgrew (Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominee for Orange Is the New Black; Obie Award winner for Iphigenia 2.0); TV: Star Trek: Voyager, film: Star Trek: Nemesis), The Space Race uses actual audio, original interviews, dramatic reconstructions, and first-hand accounts to tell the story of mankind’s first amazing steps off our world and onto the lunar surface.
With unprecedented access, The Space Race takes listeners to Virgin Galactic’s space program in the Mojave Desert, features conversations with Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Sergei Krikalev, Tim Peake, and numerous key players at mission control. This Audible Original and takes you behind the scenes to see how these exciting adventures in outer space came to be.
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What listeners say about The Space Race
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- In car listener
- 10-08-19
Not bad but skip the first chapter
Most important: Skip the first chapter. The first hour has little to do with the historical space race, but seems to be an 'America to the stars! (again)' piece of propaganda talking about the future of space exploration, and how America - with a little nod to other countries - deserves to rule space. This would have been much better placed at the end as a final chapter, but no - it's at the beginning.
The rest of the audiobook is pretty good - Mulgrew is a competent reader, the dramatisations are well done, and the mix between live-action, interviews, and historical dialogue is well done and not confusing - an ever present worry.
There is some repetition in places where a particular point is being hammered home, and once you get past the initial chapter there's a heady mix of national history starting with the V1 - not much of it is sugar-coated; Von Braun's Nazims isn't glossed over, and America's Vanguard TV-3 embarrassment is cheerfully remembered.
Yeah, worth a listen, but by its nature, probably not a recurring one.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr. K. Leigh
- 05-08-19
Easy listening but a little light on content
I enjoy anything serious about the history of space. This book provides a good arc across the decades from rocket development in WWII to future missions to Mars and beyond. However, it is quite light on content in many places, perhaps because it is trying to be so comprehensive. As a result it lacked the detail to make it a really great book. Also the narrative is padded out by scenes played out by actors at various moments in history. They drag on a bit sometimes in the loquacious way that American speakers often labour a point. More substantive content would have been appreciated. If you know your space history well, then this might fill in the odd gaps, especially the more recent stuff involving potential issues with long range space travel. The narration by Kate Mulgrew is enjoyable and has the right pace. The fictional trip towards the end set in the future on an interstellar starship is possibly a little fanciful, though it does throw up some interesting notions of the reality of such travel. Overall an interesting listen though not the best I have heard on individual topics like the space shuttle. But a good introduction to the topics and a nice refresher of some of the headlines from Wernher von Braun working for the Nazis before being squirrelled away after WWII by the Americans through to the present time and collaborative space exploration between nations and between governments and commercial ventures.
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6 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
- Cog
- 23-07-19
Fascinating, intelligent and insightful
Fifty years on from the moon landing, and the subject of many Hollywood movies, early space exploration is in danger of being mythologised. The Space Race takes it back to basics with an engaging, intelligent mix of eye witness accounts, original newsreels and fact based dramatisation.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- james palmer
- 29-10-19
Good but frustrating
More like a documentary than an audio book. What really frustrated me was the use of actors in place of real recordings. When it can to Neil Armstrong's famous words they used an actor instead of listening to the man himself! It was this that took the edge off for me. Still happy with my purchase.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Adrian
- 07-10-20
Very annoying podcast - couldn't finish it
The technical content might be somewhat good, but the format is awful!
It's not like any other audiobook I've listened to on Audible, in fact, it's more like a podcast with all that weird music and sound effects. I couldn't focus on the content and it kept annoying me to the point I removed it.
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3 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
- Ralph N.
- 18-09-19
Yes, it’s a documentary.
I’ve listened to this 3 times now, a couple of years apart each time, and I really enjoy it.
Reading some of the reviews, I can’t believe people didn’t expect this to be a documentary, what did you think it would be?
Anyway, I personally think it’s great, some wonderful stories from the people who were there, and some excellent dramatisations thrown in to tell the story.
Brilliant.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mst007
- 31-07-19
Good overview of the space program
Overall its a decent summary of the space race, with great production quality. Includes many historical figures voices, quotes, speeches, mission comms etc, only marred by a few "just too long" silences and Kate Mulgrew`s highly individual take on the pronounciation of NASA as Nasarr, which was a little irritating at times. I do enjoy these kind of Audible productions, they are a welcome break from a single narrator in the usual type of audiobooks I listen to. I`m about 75% of the way through and would recommend it to anyone wanting a refresher or good introduction to the timelines; the absolute genius of the scientists, engineers and specialists,the sheer guts, lateral thinking, and ambition to achieve is a welcome reminder of mankinds ability to reach for the stars and succeed, even though the authors were ever so slightly aggrieved they were mostly white men.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ben
- 10-09-19
enjoyable but nothing new
i enjoyed the book but towards the end its starts to lose steam as it enters sci fi
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AC ustomer
- 25-10-23
Good Space Documentary
Pretty good, but the occasional long silent parts were a bit frustrating.
For those wondering, it is a documentary not a novel/audiobook.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-10-23
i came here to listen inspiration about space
not able to finish, too much politically charged ideological negativity that sucked the joy of listening out of me :(
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Catherine Puma
- 18-03-20
All Nonfiction Parts GREAT but Fiction Bad
"The Space Race" is an audio documentary-drama series production of the era during which twelve American astronauts went to the moon (1969 - 1972), released in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first human moon landing. This includes narration of some historical facts, excerpts of command recordings or interviews from the time period, as well as speculative scenes acted out to try and give this production more flavor and originality.
This is fun to listen to, does not take too long, and I definitely recommend to lifelong fans of space exploration.
As advertised in the book description, this work "features conversations with Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Sergei Krikalev, Tim Peake, and numerous key players at mission control. This Audible Original takes you behind the scenes to see how these exciting adventures in outer space came to be." The strongest parts are when this work explains the history of the Space Race and includes sections of interviews with people who were really there, especially never-before-heard audio and inputs from important, yet underrepresented, figures.
The weakest parts of this audio production are when the content deviates from the facts of what really occurred during this crucial period in man's history. The scenes within aircraft where actors portray conversations between astronauts etc., for which we have no official record of, are so fake and unbelievable. The writing and acting of these scenes are so bad. I just do not see what they bring to the table other than to just take up airtime and give Audible Originals copyright permissions for the "original content" of this documentary-drama piece.
All of the "drama" bits should have been cut, and this would have been much better served as a straight no-nonsense nonfiction discussion of history, science, and technology. As it has been released, I can only give this 4 stars. I expected better.
OVERALL:
This is a great listen for super space exploration fans, especially those excited for plans for new operations to the moon and Mars. I really liked the interviews with people who lived during the Space Race and were either astronauts themselves or worked on the ground crew team. Having real recordings from the COMS were also really powerful in explaining key moments of this important and inspiring history. However, I did not like the narrator's voice and some of the reenactments were significantly overacted and therefore silly. I thought this would have been stronger if it stuck to what had actually happened, though the final chapter about possible futures was thought provoking.
This is fun to listen to once, but it is not the best product about the Space Race.
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59 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Hoky Blaster16
- 30-09-19
really long
This was a hard one. I loved the material, but really didn't need the dramatizations. Perhaps that should have been another book entirely. I enjoyed the interviews, however, perhaps it should have also been another book. Trust me, I feel like I just read 3 books.
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38 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Susan
- 12-06-20
Can’t hear half of the book
I Love all the history books, about Space Travel. I was so disappointed in this one, because I could not hear half, of the recording. Chapter 5, was the only Chapter (until I stopped listening) that adjusted the Historical voice recordings, with the Narrators voice volume. The Narrator and the Story is a 5 Star. The Production of the recording was horrible.
If this book get redone, so I can actually hear it, I would love to try it again.
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22 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- David Pick
- 23-07-19
A blend of past and future prediction space travel
Listened to all 10 chapters because of Kate Mulgrew as narrator. And to hear what they all cover. They do a thorough job of covering the space race between the U.S. and former U.S.S.R. But the story gets a little far out with the future prediction with human space travel. Overall, a worth while listen.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rich Arnold
- 02-08-20
How can you narrate this and mispronounce NASA!!!???
Great story, technical details, and history woven into a compelling tale. That said, you could not have found a worse narrator. Hearing “Nassau” instead of “NASA” Every Single Time means your narrator is either totally oblivious of what she is narrating or being deliberately obtuse. Pronounced every other English, German, and Dutch word correctly but can’t pronounce NASA??? Really took the fun out of this given that NASA is the core for so much of this story.
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- JB
- 06-08-19
Ok
Overall, ok. Too many ad libs and theatrics from bad actors. Stick to the history next time.
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-01-20
Science without God Self Distruction
Even though this was great I am old enough to know most of the history, Excellent up to the Criticism of NASA Astronauts Reciting Psalms, Ok I thought that's interesting, Futher into this Audio Book I come to realize you did not right this book as History or the present Race, You Want to remove God from Science, You should pause the arrogance, Humans as you call us, "People" lol, Please be advised your own book is exactly why God is Omnipresent, No matter where you turn what you say or do, whatever achievement you make it is God. however you, we ,I or them get there, God is the Creator, Your arrogance and lack of Humilty speaks volumes, Even your stupid storyline of people going to colonize another world, thinking you can manipulate erase and control is very shameful, Yes we are Flawed Yes we make mistakes, But you remove God and History, You set a course for sad lonely people who self Distruct, As is playing out in your own STORY. The new science is. God wasn't necessary to Create the Universe Gravity did it on it's own. So we finally reduced it to the Chicken and the Egg, Well Where did Gravity come from, How did we acquire the specific fine tuning to be able to under stand even what gravity is, It is shameful the title. Should be a warning. Wake Up People, Past is necessary for future and We God is why we are here.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- B. Janssen
- 24-07-19
It’s NASA not Nassau
I enjoyed learning more about this inspiring time in history but the technical problems in this audio book are very disappointing.
1) The primary narrator does not know how to pronounce the name of the space agency that is the focus of this book. I find that lack of quality control very disappointing from an Audible production.
2) There is a huge gap in the story during the telling of the Apollo 13 saga - it ends after the creation of the air scrubbing device and picks up well into the next mission. It almost seems like they left out part of the script.
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17 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nate
- 10-02-20
Produced Re-enactments in some unnecessary spots
Some of the main historical audio was reproduced in places where it felt very unnecessary. Production quality was fantastic, I just struggled with parts that were re-done, sometimes mid-sentence. Overall a very interesting audiobook
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9 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
- B.A. Lopez
- 29-12-19
Great Overview of Humanity's Second Greatest Story
Great hearing Kate Mulgrew's voice telling the story of the Space Race. Just enough detail in each chapter about each period of the past space programs to remind folks of just how dangerous this whole journey has been. The next steps will be even more so. It was also nice to hear about the Russian side of the story. Although I'm not sure why audio books insist on quoting non-Enlgish speakers with heavy accents!
I highly recommend this title for anyone needing a good reminder or new inspiration for why we NEED to continue to pursue space exploration.
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9 people found this helpful