Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon

For me, Robert Kurson's latest brilliant narrative nonfiction is not just a behind-the-scenes exploration of NASA, nor even of the nip-and-tuck race between the Americans and Russians to be the first to explore the moon, but rather a journey into the hearts and minds of three extraordinary individuals, and in so doing, into our own. Kurson has taken his readers on both underwater and space adventures, all with riveting and compelling style. But as I read Rocket Men, I realized that the real journey Kurson was taking us on, perhaps even unwittingly, was into our own subconscious--into the question of what makes us all, in some measure or another, strive to explore against all odds of success, and often at great sacrifice, unchartered terrains. As I learned about Borman, Lovell and Anders, and their bravery, determination and devotion, I was left wondering what I would sacrifice for the chance to see my world from the outside looking in, and whether I would ultimately have the courage to do so.

Robert Kurson is a master storyteller. In "Rocket Men," he tells the story of the Apollo 8 mission, the first spacecraft to approach the Moon as well as to disappear behind it. This adventure tale reads like something the reader is learning about first-hand. I felt intimately connected to the personalities, the events, the most dramatic moments, and the risk and historic weight of the undertaking. Kurson has figured out just the right balance between amazingly detailed research and a seamless story that never feels stitched together out of hundreds of accounts, documents, etc.If you're not highly familiar with narratives about the space program, you will be amazed at this fascinating world. It's a combination of (1) world geopolitical supremacy on the line, (2) the most advanced science in existence, (3) levels of unprecedented personal risk in the name of country-science-exploration, and (4) the rare kinds of people who become astronauts, live with being married to them, and are responsible for the decisions that determine the astronauts' fate. This is storytelling on a par with Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff," a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction about the earlier phase of the space program.And if you have read books in this genre, you're in for a lot of surprises. (No spoilers here.) It's easy to imagine some drama out of the story of Apollo 11 (the first Moon landing) and Apollo 13 ("Houston, we have a problem ....") or the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. But this story proves the point that, from the perspective of what's going on IN THE STORY, every one of these missions was high on drama. Kurson's telling of this story makes a compelling argument – even if you don't agree with it, it makes wonderful reading – that Apollo 8 involved unprecedented stakes in the Space Race and the Cold War, and an unprecedented leap in risk combined with an uncharacteristic rush by NASA to put leapfrogging the USSR above caution."Rocket Men" is a story of an American triumph at a difficult moment in history. Appropriately, it's also a storytelling triumph.

When I started this book, I thought, oh boy, this is just a rehash of The Right Stuff and Apollo 13. I’m so glad I stuck with it. The story of the science and personalities involved in this mission is mesmerizing.“Telegrams for the astronauts poured in by the thousands. One, however, stood out from the rest. It came not from a world leader or celebrity or other luminary, but from an anonymous stranger. It had traveled over whites-only lunch counters in the South, through jungles in Vietnam where young men fell, over the coffins of two of the America’s great civil rights leaders. It had blown across streets bloodied by protesters and police, past a segregationist presidential campaign, into radios playing songs of alienation and revolt. It had made its way through ten million American souls who didn’t have enough to eat, alongside generations that no longer trusted each other, into a White House where a no-longer-loved president slept.It read: THANKS. YOU SAVED 1968.”

I just finished “Rocket Men”. It is a rare thing for me to sit and read a book in a few days but that is what I did with this wonderful book. I have read a lot of books about the space program and even about Apollo 8 to the point that I was not finding anything new or interesting anymore. However, "Rocket Men" is like a whole new story of Apollo 8 and I especially loved the new things I learned from it such as the story behind the picture of the execution from Vietnam, Bobby Kennedy, and other such tidbits that spiced up the adventure of Apollo 8. Telling the story of the three wives was intriguing. I had never read about Lovell’s mistake with the navigation. After all the space books I have read I can honestly say that this is absolutely one of the very best ever produced.

Great details on the 3 men involved and the risk taken with this mission; NASA were really asking these astronauts to put their lives on the line in order to beat the Ruskies! I found the book a real page turner (some of these accounts can be quite dry). Liked the fact that the wives and families were also described and how they coped with the public attention/stress. A great read.

Reveals a lot about how and why Apollo 8 was so important and the astronauts who took the first loop around the Moon, just about as dangerous as the Apollo 11 mission.Well written and enlightening.

I know a lot about the Apollo 11 and 13 missions but without Apollo 8 these would not have happened. This is a great read that tells you more about the race to the moon and the particular stories of the brave astronauts who were the first to the moon.

A warts and all account. You can sense the moments of tension as I did when watching the BBC space broadcasts n the 60’s featuring Sir Patrick Moore and James Burke,

I purchased this book having really enjoyed other books by this author.I was not disappointed as this is another very good read.