Apollo by Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Apollo
Book Review: Epic in Miniature
Summary: 5 Stars
I literally have shelves of books about Apollo and this is my favorite. The authors recognize that the story of Apollo is an epic, and they come right out and say that epics must be told in miniature. Accordingly, this is less a comprehensive history of Apollo (although there is a coherent narrative structure) than it is a series of stories ABOUT Apollo. This wonderful book introduces the reader to scores of vivid characters (who can forget its compelling portrayals of Max Faget, Don Arabian, Bill Tindal, Gene Kranz, Abe Silverstein, and so many others?) and gripping stories including resolving the combustion instability problem on the F-1 engine, the Apollo 1 Fire, and--of course--Apollo 13 as you have never seen it before.
Meet the personalities behind the success of this great saga in American History, read their behind the scenes stories, and find for yourself a new set of true American heroes--heroes with skinny ties and pocket protectors!!!
Book Review: Excellent engineering summary of Project Apollo
Summary: 5 Stars
This book provides an excellent overview of the engineering aspects of Project Apollo with a focus on the human dimension. The story of Joe Shea, one of the earlier NASA systems engineers, who pushed ahead to make a decision on the landing mode (direct ascent to the moon, earth orbit rendezvous or lunar orbit rndezvous) is pariculary fascinating. The extreme workload and unwarrented guilt & responsibility that he felt after the Apollo 1 fire led to a nervous breakdown of sorts. As a systems engineer myself with over 30 years experience I found the account of the importance of systems engineering to Project Apollo to be particularly interesting. I would recommend this book to anybody who wishes to read a good account of the engineers who made the moon landing possible. It is not an account of the astronauts nor is it lavishly illustrated. Just a good read that is hard to put down almost 40 years on from the lauch of Apollo 11!!Book Review: Great Book !
Summary: 5 Stars
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. reading it now for 2nd time.
Great recap of personalities involved during the buildup of Apollo.
Amazon's delivery was great as usual.
Book Review: How did I miss this one all these years?
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a Apollo buff in many ways. I have two full shelves of books on the Apollo era and the first thing I do at the bookstore is look for some new book on the subject. I think this book was out of print for a while, so that may explain things, but it is quite "fresh" in covering issues and subjects I have read about many times. There are accounts and quotes here I have not seen anywhere else. I would put this book on the "essential" list for anyone interested in this era.Book Review: I'm So Glad this Book is Back in Print
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps the best general account of the lunar program, this history uses interviews and documents to reconstruct the stories of the people who participated in Apollo. Although published in 1989 and long out of print, "Apollo: The Race to the Moon" stands out as the best popular book on the subject ever to appear. Neither a warmed over account of the astronauts and their adventures on the Moon nor a large-format illustrated history--both of which are in abundance--this book seeks to understand the larger contact of Apollo by focusing on the massive technical and scientific infrastructure that made the trips to the Moon possible. Taking as its central characters not the astronauts but the managers and engineers who ran the program, this book by famed author and political lightning rod Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox is based extensively on interviews with the remaining actors of the endeavor. The authors spent considerable time talking to NASA officials, both active and retired, at the Johnson Space Center, the Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Kennedy Space Centers, as well as high level officials in Washington. In this book Murray and Cox reconstruct a non-scholarly account of Apollo that examines operational details of the program that have gone undiscussed in astronaut-centric works.
By taking this approach Murray and Cox shift the history of Apollo to its most appropriate place. They recognize that the feat, as impressive as it was and as heroic as the astronauts truly were, was essentially an accomplishment of systems management. It was an endeavor that demonstrated both the technological and economic virtuosity of the United States and established national preeminence over rival nations--the primary goal of the program when first envisioned by the Kennedy administration in 1961. It had been an enormous undertaking, costing $25.4 billion with only the building of the Panama Canal rivaling the Apollo program's size as the largest non-military technological endeavor ever undertaken by the United States and only the Manhattan Project being comparable in a wartime setting.
Murray and Cox emphasize that Project Apollo was a triumph of management in meeting the enormously difficult systems engineering and technological integration requirements. James E. Webb, the NASA Administrator at the height of the program between 1961 and 1968, always contended that Apollo was much more a management exercise than anything else, and that the technological challenge, while sophisticated and impressive, was also within grasp. More difficult was ensuring that those technological skills were properly managed and used. Webb's contention was confirmed in spades by the success of Apollo. NASA leaders had to acquire and organize unprecedented resources to accomplish the task at hand.
There is a wonderful editorial in the November 1968 issue of "Science" magazine, the publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which speaks to the management system that Murray and Cox bring to life in this book: "In terms of numbers of dollars or of men, NASA has not been our largest national undertaking, but in terms of complexity, rate of growth, and technological sophistication it has been unique....It may turn out that [the space program's] most valuable spin-off of all will be human rather than technological: better knowledge of how to plan, coordinate, and monitor the multitudinous and varied activities of the organizations required to accomplish great social undertakings."
If you want to understand the Apollo program, you must read and ponder this important book by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox. I'm so glad this book is back in print. Buy it, read it, and encourage your friends to do so.