Rocket Men: The Epic Story Of The First Men On The Moon (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Bought this at the dollar store a little while ago. Nelson's narrative drags in places and uses too many long block quotes that should have been pared down However, it was a worthwhile read. The sections about the actual lunar landing rekindled my boyhood astronaut daydreams. I also enjoyed all the time spent discussing the engineering challenges. Nelson also does a great job of framing the "Space Race" in its Cold War context. I recommend the book to any space nut and anyone interested in Cold War history. Rocket Men reads like a biography of the Apollo missions that took humans to the Moon. Craig Nelson's research is superb. Descriptive and concise, the reader gets the sense of what the Cold War and Space Race was truly about. Fear of Sputnik and Soviet dominance of the heavens was a major underlier motiviating the US, and President Kennedy most of all, to send a manned spacecraft to the cosmos. Nelson's work provides insight from those on the inside. The words from the astronauts, their wives and children, the engineers, and members of Mission Control, illustrate what massive undertaking Apollo 11 was. Nelson will take you through launch, lunar landing, and the return home. You may ask, we know this already. Yes, but Nelon's prose, and logical breakdown of events will keep you reading. For myself, the most enlightening, and important, information comes at the very end. I will leave those details for you to discover. American readers will come away from this with a sense of pride, and if like me, a sense of disappointment. Rocket Men will make you think maybe it's time to go back to the heavens.
What do You think about Rocket Men: The Epic Story Of The First Men On The Moon (2009)?
Good read. Very entertaining. Read it in under two weeks. Couldn't put it down.
—gregorystgeorge
Slow and plodding to start, but an exciting read once they get into space.
—bindu
Really great book about the history of the Apollo Project
—nick
Loved it. Only book I've read twice in the same year.
—ahegemann
