I was fascinated by the story of the missions, but Kranz's 'voice' as an author carried this out of the ballpark. If you're a fan of the period, the subject matter or just great detailed real-life drama - do yourself a favor and listen to this book!Ī Great Story written by an Outstanding Man If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be? I'd have to say, the stories of how the men in the MCC pulled together through Mercury to Apollo were all my favorites. Most might say the Apollo 11 landing or the Apollo 13 crisis. It's great for history buffs, leaders, teacher or anyone interested in a genuinely good piece of storytelling. The perspective of mission control was vital to getting a complete picture of the race to the moon. Most NASA/Apollo type books talk about the perspective from the hot-shot Astronaut (Sorry Jim, Buzz, Neil and Gene). A priceless recollection of a remarkable man's history, during America's (and possibly the Earth's) most interesting period of time. If you could sum up Failure Is Not an Option in three words, what would they be? He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success. 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. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses.

In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.) He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. 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. 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 participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades.

Failure is not an option by gene kranz