Failure Is Not an Option
Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
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Failure Is Not an Option
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Narrated by:
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Danny Campbell
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Written by:
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Gene Kranz
About this listen
Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director's role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s.
Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.)
In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids - still in their twenties, only a few years out of college - who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success.
©2009 Gene Kranz (P)2011 TantorYou may also enjoy...
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What the critics say
What listeners say about Failure Is Not an Option
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- nimrod levy
- 2023-07-16
Amazing
Amazing piece of history. An Incredible story about an even more incredible feat done without any of today's technology
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2019-02-20
A great book for space nerds or aspiring leaders. Would highly recommend to someone who knows nothing about NASA history or a buff.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- HittsMcGee
- 2019-01-17
Learn about mission control from the greatest
Gene Kranz humbly tells the story of his rise from Air Force pilot to legendary NASA Flight Director. Compared to the novel The Right Stuff which focusses on the bravado of fighter jock/astronauts, Failure Is Not An Option describes how NASA conquered the Moon through the pure grit of mission controllers.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Peter MacLeod
- 2021-08-15
Behind the scenes and in the firing line of the US space beginnings
Kranz’s name was part of the narrative we learned as the Mercury and Apollo missions played out. Neil Armstrong’s arrival on the moon is a marker in many of our lives. What it took to get him there is the core of this book. It is raw, factual, personal and generous to readers and to those who were instrumental in making the US space successes possible. One needs to allow for the element of self pride that comes with this account as it was earned. Kranz hopes his dedication to the space program will foster a renewed and natural desire to seek an understanding of our lives, shared planet and the seemingly endless universe.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Omni
- 2022-06-13
12-0-2 not 1-2-0-2 :D
A great book, though surprised the program code pronunciation wasn't corrected - quite a minor gripe :)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gary W
- 2021-09-24
BRILLIANT
Growing up with the space program I was familiar with Gene Kranz. His story of Alan Shepard's first flight to Gene Cernan's last walk on the moon was incredible. It was full of interesting facts. It was well written and nicely narrated.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Marcusgallantus
- 2019-04-12
Great story of the space program
Insightful story of the space program, terrific details about the teams that reached the Moon
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emilia
- 2023-02-01
Great technical Mercury-Gemini-Apollo timeline book
I can’t think of a better person to give us the full perspective on all the missions that put Americans to space. He remembers every mission with vivid detail. If you think this book is only about Apollo 13, it’s not. But of the early start of Mercury all the way to Apollo 17. Written in a beautiful technical way that made an engineer shed tears.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Andrea Taylor
- 2023-03-20
Krantz's memoir about his career at NASA
Anyone who's ever watched Apollo 13 will be familiar with Flight Director Gene Krantz. Here he recounts (ably narrated by Danny Campbell) how he came to join NASA before rising to the rank of Flight Director.
Krantz is an excellent storyteller, easily portraying not just American culture of the 1950s through to the 70s; but also the politicians, scientists and astronauts who populated NASA itself.
While his stories of the last Apollo missions drags at times, his memories of his earlier years at NASA gave me a renewed appreciation for just how amazing the space program has been. So much of early spaceflight was educated guesses and improvisation. So much of the science that came out of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions was a new frontier for humanity.
Krantz's autobiography pays tribute to so many of the brilliant and dedicated people behind the astronauts. As for the astronauts themselves, Krantz shows that they weren't just stick jockeys, but intelligent and capable experts who worked hand in hand with the scientists at NASA.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Norman
- 2023-05-23
Space- the Next Frontier
This behind-the-scenes look at the early Space Program is fascinating. I grew up in this era, and built model kits of many of the space capsules. Nevertheless, there is still much I didn't know about the missions.
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