Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11

by James Donovan

Overview

Learn why NASA astronaut Mike Collins calls this extraordinary space race story "the best book on Apollo": this inspiring and intimate ode to ingenuity celebrates one of the most daring feats in human history.


When the alarm went off forty thousand feet above the moon's surface, both astronauts looked down at the computer to see 1202 flashing on the readout. Neither of them knew what it meant, and time was running out . . .


On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. One of the world's greatest technological achievements — and a triumph of the American spirit — the Apollo 11 mission was a mammoth undertaking involving more than 410,000 men and women dedicated to winning the space race against the Soviets.


Set amid the tensions and upheaval of the sixties and the Cold War, Shoot for the Moon is a gripping account of the dangers, the challenges, and the sheer determination that defined not only Apollo 11, but also the Mercury and Gemini missions that came before it. From the shock of Sputnik and the heart-stopping final minutes of John Glenn's Mercury flight to the deadly whirligig of Gemini 8, the doomed Apollo 1 mission, and that perilous landing on the Sea of Tranquility — when the entire world held its breath while Armstrong and Aldrin battled computer alarms, low fuel, and other problems — James Donovan tells the whole story.


Both sweeping and intimate, Shoot for the Moon is "a powerfully written and irresistible celebration" of one of humankind's most extraordinary accomplishments (Booklist, starred review).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316341783
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	1,151,650
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

James Donovan is the author of the bestselling books The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo — and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation and A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn — the Last Great Battle of the American West. He lives in Dallas, Texas.

Table of Contents

Prologue 3

Part I Up

1 Cossacks in Space 9

2 Of Monkeys and Men 31

3 "The Howling Infinite" 46

4 Man on a Missile 74

Part II Around

5 In Orbit 103

6 Under Pressure 117

7 The Gusmobile 137

8 The Walk, and a Sky Gone Berserk 168

Part III Out

9 Inferno 201

10 Recovery 221

11 Phoenix and Earthrise 243

12 "Amiable Strangers" 262

13 A Practice Run and a Dress Rehearsal 287

Part IV Down

14 "You're Go" 301

15 The Translunar Express 322

16 Descent to Luna 345

17 Moondust 366

Epilogue 390

Acknowledgments 395

Notes 397

Bibliography 429

Index 440

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/14/2019

Donovan (A Terrible Glory) impressively chronicles the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States, culminating in Americans’ successful landing on the moon in July 1969. He succinctly relates the major milestones of the space race: the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957, the selection and celebrity of NASA’s Mercury Seven astronauts, John F. Kennedy’s vow to put a man on the moon by decade’s end, John Glenn’s orbit of the earth, the increasingly advanced missions of Project Gemini, America’s mid-’60s push past the Soviets after years of technological inferiority, the fatal fire on Apollo 1 in 1967 that almost derailed the whole program, and NASA’s recovery (especially Apollo 8’s lunar orbit in December 1968). The final quarter of the book focuses on Apollo 11, from the rocky process of forming its team through its years of training, its lunar landing, Neil Armstrong’s first steps, and its return to Earth. Exceptionally researched, this exciting, sometimes harrowing book highlights the work not only of the pioneering astronauts but also of thousands of technicians and engineers. This is a perfect volume to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing and all that led up to it. Photos. Agent: B.J. Robbins, B.J. Robbins Literary Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Mr. Donovan's gripping book is history at its best-exactingly sourced and written with a vividness that challenges you to put it down. Even those familiar with an oft-told story will delight in the richness of his detail."—The Washington Times

"The Blood of Heroes is surely the best account to date, one that presents plenty of new insights while acting as a corrective-or at least an alternative viewpoint-to previous accounts....Donovan combines that vital blend of authoritative scholarship with the vivid writing necessary to make an oft-told tale seem fresh."—William C. Davis, Military History Quarterly

"Jim Donovan combines two exceptional talents-those of a first rate story teller and a first rate historian. In The Blood of Heroes, he gives a new and compelling narrative version of one of the most dramatic stories in American History, while at the same time thoughtfully and conscientiously remaining anchored to the wide range of original sources- including many only recently come to light. I predict his book will be one of the best classics to remember the Alamo."—Todd Hansen, The Alamo Reader: A Study in History

From the Publisher

2018-12-30

A vigorous exploration of the Space Age, a frontier oddly befitting Wild West historian Donovan (The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo—and the Sacrifice that Forged a Nation, 2012, etc.).

The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Apollo 11 on the moon and Neil Armstrong's famous "one small step" pronouncement. That history and the long chain of efforts leading up to the landing have been well-documented, not least by Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff. Even so, Dallas-based historian Donovan finds fresh things to say about the events—as when, for instance, he recounts Buzz Aldrin's constant lobbying to be the first to set foot on the moon, a campaign that his peers found tedious but not entirely unseemly. That Armstrong was chosen to lead and then kept in that role, Donovan writes, strongly reflects a priority: "NASA wanted to make a clear statement about the non-military nature of the landing and of the American space program as a whole," and Armstrong was both a civilian and senior in the hierarchy, making him a natural choice. Aldrin was privately devastated but put up a brave front. In Donovan's hands, pioneering space scientist Wernher von Braun gets some deliverance from the Tom Lehrer school of lampoonery: True, he'd worked for the Nazis, but he also made remarks about the Hitler regime critical enough to be charged with treason, interrupting his perhaps unlikely playboy lifestyle. Just so, Donovan turns to small but meaningful episodes that speak volumes: NASA's grudging addition of various lunar experiments "for the science guys"; Aldrin's ministering of Communion by means of a tiny vial of sacramental wine that he smuggled aboard for the purpose; the fact that only by landing there could we be sure that "the moon's color…was various shades of gray." The author closes with the hopeful thought that after a long hiatus, we may soon be heading back into space.

A welcome addition to the literature of space exploration.

Kirkus Reviews

The history of the U.S. manned spaceflight program is well documented, but this chronicle provides insights that even well-read listeners will find interesting. The period covered runs from roughly Russia’s Sputnik in the 1950s through the Apollo 11 moon landing in the 1960s. Allan Robertson offers a smooth, solid narration. His generally even tone is suited to the work. But he alters that tone as needed to capture instances of drama, tragedy, humor, and historical importance without becoming cartoonish. With so many people involved, Robertson wisely chooses not to give each a distinctive voice. But the author clearly indicates quoted material, so there’s never a question as to who is speaking. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile

The history of the U.S. manned spaceflight program is well documented, but this chronicle provides insights that even well-read listeners will find interesting. The period covered runs from roughly Russia’s Sputnik in the 1950s through the Apollo 11 moon landing in the 1960s. Allan Robertson offers a smooth, solid narration. His generally even tone is suited to the work. But he alters that tone as needed to capture instances of drama, tragedy, humor, and historical importance without becoming cartoonish. With so many people involved, Robertson wisely chooses not to give each a distinctive voice. But the author clearly indicates quoted material, so there’s never a question as to who is speaking. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile