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Author Topic:   Shoot for the Moon (James Donovan)
cspg
Member

Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 07-12-2018 06:48 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11
by James Donovan
When the alarm went off forty thousand feet above the moon's surface, both astronauts looked down at the computer to see 1202 flashing on the readout. Neither of them knew what it meant, and time was running out...

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. One of the world's greatest technological achievements — and a triumph of American spirit and ingenuity — the Apollo 11 mission was a mammoth undertaking involving more than 410,000 men and women dedicated to winning the space race against the Soviets.

Set amid the tensions of the Cold War and the upheavals of the sixties, and filled with first-person, behind-the-scenes details, Shoot for the Moon is a gripping account of the dangers, the challenges, and the sheer determination that defined not only Apollo 11, but also the Mercury and Gemini missions that came before it. From the shock of Sputnik and the heart-stopping final minutes of John Glenn's Mercury flight to the deadly whirligig of Gemini 8, the doomed Apollo 1 mission, and that perilous landing on the Sea of Tranquility — when the entire world held its breath while Armstrong and Aldrin battled computer alarms, low fuel, and other problems — James Donovan tells the whole story.

Both sweeping and intimate, Shoot for the Moon is "a powerfully written and irresistible celebration" (Booklist, starred review) of one of humankind's most extraordinary feats of exploration.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-09-2019 08:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
collectSPACE
New book 'Shoot for the Moon' earns high praise from Apollo 11 astronaut

They say you should not judge a book by its cover, but there is a detail on the front of author James Donovan's latest release, "Shoot for the Moon," that is likely to attract the interest of space history enthusiasts.

Just under Donovan's byline in small print is, "This is the best book on Apollo that I have read."

It is not unusual for endorsements to be included on book covers and this example would otherwise not stand out were it not for who provided it: Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins.

JimSchultze
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Posts: 17
From: Omaha, NE, USA
Registered: Nov 2012

posted 04-10-2019 02:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for JimSchultze   Click Here to Email JimSchultze     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I loved the book! I had pre-ordered it as soon as I heard about Collins' comments on it. High praise, indeed.

Grounded!
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Posts: 367
From: Bennington, Vermont, USA
Registered: Feb 2011

posted 04-11-2019 06:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Grounded!   Click Here to Email Grounded!     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If Mike Collins said it, it must be true. However, my favorite Apollo book always has been, and will remain, "Carrying The Fire."

Fra Mauro
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Posts: 1586
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 04-11-2019 04:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This definitely is a book I will add to my library. Like many of cS'ers, to me "Carrying the Fire" was the first and greatest of the Apollo books.

Henry Heatherbank
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Posts: 244
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 04-12-2019 06:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Henry Heatherbank     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I wholeheartedly agree.

Tallpaul
Member

Posts: 153
From: Rocky Point, NY, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

posted 04-15-2019 03:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tallpaul   Click Here to Email Tallpaul     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I am starting to read the book and I am enjoying it.

I am up to the section on the selection of the original Mercury Seven and here there is a small error, "Each was from a small town in the Midwest." Unless one wishes to take a very expansive view of US geography this is an incorrect statement. Shepard - New Hampshire, Grissom - Indiana, Glenn - Ohio, Carpenter - Colorado, Schirra - New Jersey, Cooper - Oklahoma, and Slayton - Wisconsin.

yotlu
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Posts: 34
From: Austria
Registered: Apr 2017

posted 04-23-2019 02:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for yotlu   Click Here to Email yotlu     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I got a copy of the book today. Can't wait to start reading. But first thing I do, leaf through the photographs.

Error: The third set of photographs, between pages 374 and 375, contains the image AS11-40-5902, Aldrin near a leg of the LM. However the image description says it's Armstrong.

apolloengr
New Member

Posts: 4
From: Boulder, CO, USA
Registered: Jul 2016

posted 04-24-2019 06:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for apolloengr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yipes! With apologies to Mike Collins, this book has more technical errors than anything I've read in the last decade.

ringo67
Member

Posts: 179
From: Seekonk, Mass., USA
Registered: May 2003

posted 05-04-2019 03:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ringo67   Click Here to Email ringo67     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yeah, I have to agree. I am listening to the unabridged audiobook during my commute and I just hit the section about Gemini that included a number of simple errors. The one that sticks out in my mind as I write this was calling the Reentry Module the Command Module.

I'll continue listening, but my enjoyment level has dropped considerably.

GTBuzz
New Member

Posts: 4
From: Atlanta, GA, US
Registered: Apr 2019

posted 05-04-2019 04:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for GTBuzz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I haven't gotten too far into the book, but so far I've learned that the McDonnell plant was in San Diego, and that the MR-1 escape tower "self-destructed" at an altitude of 4000 feet and rained debris over a quarter-mile radius. Interesting stuff!

Joe Allegretti
New Member

Posts: 7
From: Albany, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2010

posted 05-06-2019 02:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Joe Allegretti   Click Here to Email Joe Allegretti     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I seem to recall James Hansen saying that the errors in the John Young hardcover would be fixed in the paperback. Don't know if they were. Any response from Donovan about the errors here? I'm wondering if they might be corrected eventually.

Fra Mauro
Member

Posts: 1586
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 07-02-2019 12:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Despite it's mistakes, which are probably only noticed by us space enthusiasts, this is a solid book. I disagree with Collins' recommendation as well — "Carrying the Fire" will likely always be #1 to me.

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