‘Terrific and enthralling’ New Scientist Fifty years ago, in July 1969, Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the Moon, and Neil Armstrong the first man to step on to its surface. He and his crewmates, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, were the latest men to risk their lives in this extraordinary scientific, engineering and human venture that would come to define the era.
In … define the era.
In Apollo 11: The Inside Story, David Whitehouse reveals the true drama behind the mission, putting it in the context of the wider space race and telling the story in the words of those who took part – based around exclusive interviews with the key players.
This enthralling book takes us from the early rocket pioneers to the shock America received from the Soviets’ launch of the first satellite, Sputnik; from the race to put the first person into space to the iconic Apollo 11 landing and beyond, to the agonising drama of the Apollo 13 disaster and the eventual winding-up of the Apollo program.
Here is the story as told by the crew of Apollo 11 and the many others who shared in their monumental endeavour. Astronauts, engineers, politicians, NASA officials, Soviet rivals – all tell their own story of a great moment of human achievement.
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Like the author, on the night of the first moon landing, I had to talk my parents into letting me stay awake to watch Neil Armstrong make those historic first steps on the moon. As I read Whitehouse’s description of his family watching that first moon landing, I immediately thought of my own experience with our family also huddled around a black and white TV watching these indelible images.
But that is where the similarity ends. Whitehouse went on to a career in Astronomy and began to meet astronauts, and he eventually became involved in the media, with a career that led him to the BBC. His gifts for thorough research and excellent writing make Apollo 11: The Inside Story one of the best books about the race to the moon that I have read – I have many, but two that come to mind are Gene Kranz’s book and Chris Kraft’s book. By far, Whitehouse’s book is more detailed, concise, all the while an accessible, easy to read the history of the space race. It does not read like a history book at all – it is very engaging and hard to put down.
One aspect of The Inside Story that I liked the most was the race to the moon – the competition with the Russians from the beginning, the poor decisions they made along the way, and the race to landing an unmanned craft on the moon only days apart from the Apollo 11. I have to confess my ignorance that for all I read about that period I was totally unaware of these details that Whitehouse included in this volume.
Whitehouse is also to be commended for being able to move between the personal aspects of the astronaut’s lives and the big picture history of the space race between the Soviet block and the USA. One can read The Inside Story and get a great picture of the astronauts as individuals, the flight controllers, the manufacturers, government policy, and the international intrigue playing out on a daily basis. I have been a “student” of the space race for many years, but I learned an extraordinary amount – in such an enjoyable way – from reading Whitehouse’s book.
I know this is an uncorrected proof copy, but there are a few minor issues. First, “Perdue” University is really “Purdue” University. There are a number of places where spaces are missing, I found “midJanuary” and “longduration” among others. I am sure these errors have been corrected in the final version.
The one thing that bothered me about The Inside Story was the constant intermixing of the imperial and metric systems of measurement. It did not make any sense to me and I seriously doubt that either NASA or the Russians intermixed the two, so I cannot understand why the author did. At times he talked about meters or kilometers, and without thinking shifting to feet and miles. I doubt this is true to science and engineering, so I will always be left wondering why the author mixed the two systems of measurements.
But do not let this bother you. Apollo 11: The Inside Story is an excellent history of the space race of the 1960s and so much more than just Apollo 11 or the history of NASA. I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of the NASA programs with the Soviet programs and the glimpses into the Soviet space program were all new to me. This is a wonderful book and I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of that era.
Thanks to the author, Icon Books, and Edelweiss+ for the opportunity to review this advanced reader copy. I have voluntarily left this review.