Failure is not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
by Gene Kranz
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gene KranzEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2001-05
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Book Reviews of Failure is not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
Book Review: Be Tough and Competent!
Summary: 5 Stars
Gene Kranz does an amazing job of showing what people can do if they have the right leadership, teamwork, commitment and passion.
The book allows us to see Kranz's perspective as flight controller, (and later flight director) during his tenure on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs and beyond.
From the tremendous successes, to the gut wrenching failures, to the heroism, to the practical jokes, this book has it all. Gene Kranz was a key player in helping to create a culture of Tough and Competent flight controllers who had discipline and morale. They knew the true meaning of teamwork.
One of the stories that impressed me most was after the devastating tragedy of the Apollo 1. A fire on the pad killed Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffe while they were training in the capsule. Afterwards Kranz got in front of his flight controllers and said:
"Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been the design, build, or test. Whatever it was we should have caught it."
Kranz and his people (as well as everyone else on the space program) took responsibility for their actions and went on to amazing successes. We crawled out the cradle of this home we call earth and explored another world. Twelve men in all walked on the moon. Also, three astronauts were brought back home safely from the brink of disaster in Apollo 13. We had truly gone where no man had gone before.
These were human beings, and they are the best of the best. Not an Astronaut was lost during any of the following Apollo missions. The tragedy on the pad drove the commitment of everyone on the space program to an entirely new level. As a matter of fact, not a man was lost once they left earth on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.
Gene Kranz sums up how he gained his skills to be a top flight director when he said:
"The flight director's ultimate training comes at the console, working real problems, facing the risks, making irrevocable decisions."
This book belongs on any bookshelf, but not to be looked at, but to be read and understood. We all have the makings of greatness, we just have to take responsibility for our actions and do the very best we know how. What other amazing things can we accomplish as a species if we have the right leadership, teamwork, commitment, and passion?
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