Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

I really enjoyed this book, despite me not being as interested in the technical side of things as in the human aspect. I was most interested in reading about the Apollo project, mostly 11 and 13 of course. Apollo 13 is one of my favorite movies and I wanted to know the real story beyond the Hollywood dramatization. I did find Mercury and Gemini interesting, the more I read about them, but was most eager of course for Apollo. Kranz tells his story well, and I also was interested in his own life and upbringing, which he recounts for us as well. I was concerned there would be too much focus on the technical aspects of the space program, but was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case. Kranz tells his stories with the right mix of human and technical elements. Highly recommended, I can only hope that Kranz's suggestions will not fall on deaf ears forever and that our once-great space program can be revived and grow to what it was.