The New York Times Book Review - M. G. Lord
For people who were not alive in 1968—or kids whose dads did not chart the craft's every move on a family bulletin board—Robert Kurson's Rocket Men is a riveting introduction to the flight. The book takes off when Apollo's massive launch vehicle, the Saturn V, rises—an experience like "watching the Empire State Building leave Earth." Kurson details the mission in crisp, suspenseful scenes, interspersed with quieter history-driven chapters.
From the Publisher
With Rocket Men, Robert Kurson tells the tale of Apollo 8 with novelistic detail and immediacy, expertly capturing the urgency and suspense behind the mission that gave America the lead in the Space Race.”—Andy Weir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian and Artemis
“Rocket Men is a riveting introduction to the [Apollo 8] flight. . . . Kurson details the mission in crisp, suspenseful scenes. . . . [A] gripping book.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Kurson’s first-rate account of this remarkable spaceflight starts by reminding us what a gamble it was, a revelatory wake-up nudge for anyone who thinks moon flights were routine. . . . There are many pieces to the Apollo 8 story, but Kurson brings them together effortlessly.”—USA Today
“Rocket Men is close-to-the-bone adventure-telling on a par with Alfred Lansing’s Endurance and Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. It’s as close to a movie as writing gets.”—Mary Roach, The Washington Post
“Kurson tells the behind-the-scenes story of Rocket Men with the pace of a thriller and the sensibility of a screenwriter. . . . With his focus on the astronauts’ young families, Kurson holds readers rapt to the heartwarming finale.”—Vanity Fair
“Engrossing . . . Kurson builds suspense around a mind-bendingly complex and dangerous journey.”—Associated Press
“Spectacular . . . [Rocket Men] carries on in great style through 350-some pages of ‘daring, adventure, risk-taking’ and so much more. . . . Kurson’s portraits of the men, as well as their wives, their families and space-program colleagues, are intimate and artfully drawn.”—Chicago Tribune
“Refreshing . . . The book will bring long-deserved attention to a mission that has been overshadowed. . . . Apollo 8’s success not only salvaged the space program but also managed to relieve the pessimism regarding the future into which the country had plunged.”—Lincoln Journal Star
“Apollo 11 grabbed the glory, but Apollo 8 was the mission that proved humans could travel to the Moon, and its crew (Jim Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders) captured the landmark photo of Earthrise over the lunar horizon. This is the story of their mission, told in cinematic detail.”—NBC News
“An account of what could be America’s most stunning achievement: Apollo 8 and the world’s first journey to the Moon. This is a great story. . . . The best book I’ve read this year.”—Jim Bridenstine, administrator of NASA
“In 1968 we sent men to the Moon. They didn’t leave boot prints, but it was the first time humans ever left Earth for another destination. That mission was Apollo 8. And Rocket Men, under Robert Kurson’s compelling narrative, is that under-told story.”—Neil deGrasse Tyson
“A timely and thrilling reminder of a heroic American achievement . . . It has it all—suspense, drama, risk, and loving families. We could use those days again.”—Tom Brokaw
“Flat-out terrific . . . The tale is told with the care and clarity, and the heart-banging drama, that Robert Kurson's legion of readers have come to expect from him.”—Scott Turow
“Kurson presents not only the challenges, risks, ambition, and success of Apollo 8, but a story of human spirit.”—Nicole Stott, NASA ISS and space shuttle astronaut
Kirkus Reviews
2018-01-23
An exuberant history of a major turning point in early American spaceflight, possibly "the riskiest and most thrilling of all the Apollo missions."Man's first flight to the moon occurred seven months before the actual landing. While not ignored, the Apollo 8 mission has never achieved the iconic status of Apollo 11. This enthusiastic account aims to remind readers of its significance. "This is the best space story of all, I thought, and I wasn't the only one," writes journalist Kurson (Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship, 2015, etc.). He notes that after the national horror at the 1957 launch of Sputnik, everyone assumed that the Soviet Union enjoyed technical superiority and was racing to beat us to the moon. In fact, only the latter was true. Kurson opens the narrative in summer 1968 with a top-secret intelligence report that the Soviets might attempt a manned circumlunar flight by year's end. The Apollo mission was scheduled for 1969, but George Low, one official, maintained that the U.S. could match the Soviets. Some NASA leaders objected, and almost everyone agreed that "Sending Apollo 8 to the moon in December might be the boldest and riskiest and most important mission NASA ever attempted." Since beating the Soviets to the moon was Apollo's purpose, it had to be tried. The author offers biographies of those involved, a nuts-and-bolts account of four months of training and the flight itself, which was not without glitches, and digressions into events of 1968 America, torn by strife over civil rights and the Vietnam War. Most readers know how the story turned out, so Kurson strains to generate suspense, and space buffs will quickly realize that this is a journalistic account aimed at a mass audience (clue: the astronauts' courtships and family lives receive prominent attention).An overly breathless yet entertaining account of a pioneering space mission that deserves to be better known.
