Chariots for Apollo: Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon - Softcover

Joshua Stoff; Charles R. Pellegrino

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380802619 ISBN 13: 9780380802616

Publisher: Avon Books, 1999

Synopsis

It began in the depths of the Cold War, with two nations hurtling steel chariots into the atmosphere, each vowing to be the first to the moon.Then, in 1961, John F. Kennedy challenged America -- and from Long Island to Cape Canaveral, Houston to Huntsville, an army of engineers, scientists, bureaucrats and astronauts were swept up into the effort. Somehow, America would put a man on the moon's surface and bring him back safely before the decade was over. But how?

For eight frantic years the engineers would design and redesign, the scientists would argue, and brave men would trust their lives to virtually untested machinery. This dramatic chronicle of the race to the moon takes us behind the scenes of this awesome quest, into the minds of the people whose lives were devoted to it and changed by it, and through the missions themselves -- including the tragedy of Apollo 13. A riveting portrait of ingenuity, determination, and raw human courage, Chariots for Apollo is the powerful story of how one society came together to reach its goal -- a quarter of a million miles away.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Charles Pellegrino is the author of twelve books, including Unearthing Atlantis and Her Name, Titanic. He is a paleontologist who designs robotic space probes and relativistic rockets. In his spare time, Pellegrino writes mindbending technothrillers. Jan de Bont, the director of Speed and Twister, has recently signed on to direct the film adaptation of Pellegrino's Dust. Dr. Pellegrino lives in New York.

From Library Journal

This is a readable, colorful book that should be approached with caution. The authors put Grumman Corporation, prime contractor for the lunar module, in center stage. While contractors often get less credit than they deserve, the emphasis here results in an unbalanced view. The resolution of major issues generally was much more complex than the narrative suggests. One might infer from the text that a Grumman executive singlehandedly convinced the White House to implement the Space Station program. Finally, the authors have re-created some of the correspondence and dialogue, a technique which is not always successful. Which parts are historically accurate and which are not? In spite of dramatic writing, use of historically significant material, and a number of interesting illustrations, this, by its nature, appears to be a rather subjective account. Roger E. Bilstein, History Dept., Univ. of HoustonClear Lake
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Avon Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0380802619
• ISBN 13: 9780380802616
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320