Apollo 11: The Inside Story by David Whitehouse (PDF)

Description

‘Terrific and enthralling’ New ScientistFifty 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 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.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The author gives a fantastic overview of the space race and the Apollo missions. Surprisingly, not a lot of time or detail is devoted to the actual Apollo 11 mission. But the detailed study of the U.S. and CCCP space programs is compelling.

⭐This is more than a history of just Apollo 11.What I liked most was the history of the space race, what the Soviets were doing.The chapters on Apollo 1 and its aftermath was done real well.

⭐A little too much on the “space race” part of the story. It would have been a more interesting story to talk more about the builders — the contractors who built and tested the space hardware and software… not just the astronauts and launch team.

⭐Great insight into Apollo 11. I was 18 at the time and I remember the complete astonishment at landing on the moon.

⭐Includes some new original research and interviews, which makes for a very interesting read. A million books have been already written on the subject, but this one contains many new details!Additionally, there’s a good comparison of the NASA effort to the simultaneous progress of the competing Russian space program – and this race keeps the reader in suspense, even if the outcome is well known.

⭐Excellent book…well written and researched. I particularly liked the interplay of what was happening simultaneously in the Soviet Union’s space program. The ending is though provoking as well. Overall a well done book, timely for this 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.!

⭐Good

⭐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 to 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 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 astronauts 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 the 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.

⭐I was a bit harsh about this book in my earlier review, but, actually, it’s a good read if you are an Apollo nut, which I am. So I’ve decided to give it more stars and leave aside my small reservations. I read it in short order, and at times it is unputdownable (and if you are an author..who can ask for more?). The title is misleading, because the book is about the space race. It’s about how the US beat the USSR at getting into space and to the moon. There are some interesting facts which I hadn’t heard before, plus quite a lot I had heard, and some areas are annoyingly short. But overall it’s a decent read and really, these days, cheap but interesting content…..Finally…the one thing that stuck which I hadn’t heard before, was the way Armstrong flew the LM at about 400ft above the surface, looking for somewhere to land. At that low altitude they trained to move relatively slowly. Armstrong grabbed the LM by the scruff and skimmed over the surface of the moon looking for somewhere to put down. Noone had flown the LM in any sims that way before.

⭐I feel that the title of this book is a little misleading- it covers the history of the Space Race from the 1950s to the end of the Apollo programme in 1972, with both Russian and American sides of the story. While some events before Apollo 11 need to be included to give context, I had expected more of the book to be about that one mission rather than the complete story, with the Apollo 11 mission covered in one chapter out of nineteen.Having said that, this is not a bad book though perhaps it could have been longer to include more detail- some events are missed out, such as Gus Grissom’s Mercury flight. I’m not disappointed that I bought the book, it’s a good account of what became the race to land men on the Moon, but if you’re looking for a detailed account of the first Moon landing, this isn’t for you.

⭐Having been an Apollo geek for many years i was excited to find this well reviewed account. I was sorely disappointed with the read . I found the prose very poor and extremely difficult to navigate. Having read dozens of astronaut autobiographies this account is full of unresearched inaccuracies. A large proportion of the text is interview transciption, with as much of the Russian story as the overall Apollo story. Not really a book about Apollo 11. Far better books out there.

⭐As others have said, this is more about the space race than the Apollo project. It’s really interesting to read about the Russian side of the race too, I haven’t read much about that. If that’s what you’re interested in then it’s a fine book. If you’re more interested in the US side, I’d read Shoot for the Moon by James Donovan. It goes in to much more detail about the Mercury and Gemini projects.

⭐This isn’t just about Apollo 11, despite the title. Petty good summary of the US-USSR space race circa 1950-1972. Pretty easy to read, although the flitting between US and USSR parts of the story (mostly the first half) was a bit jerky in places. Lots of details skipped over – even basic stuff like the numbering of Apollo flights – probably makes it more readable for the casual reader but leaves space nerds (like me) wanting a bit more.

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