Billy Watkins

Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes really is a gem for anyone interested in NASA or the Apollo flights. There have been countless books written on this period in history, but Watkins does something unique. Instead of trying to tell the whole story of the program or trying to write the biography of an astronaut, Watkins chose to tell the stories of a few people involved in the Apollo program - photographers, engineers, even the wife of one of the astronauts.

As astronaut Fred Haise (of Apollo 13 fame) says in the introduction of this book, countless people toiled away in order to make sure the country fulfilled Kennedy's dream of landing a man on the moon before 1970. At its height, there were 400,000 people working on the Apollo program - that is a huge number for the 1960's. Watkins had quite a job in picking just 14 of them, but he picked well. All the stories are intriguing and it is gratifying to read about the contribution each of them made. The book is also very easy to read. The words flow smoothly and it's a short book.

The question is, if you haven't read much about NASA or Apollo, can you understand this book? Definitely. Watkins gives the reader enough information to be able to understand the background of each of the narratives. The people who will really enjoy Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes, though, are those who have read and savored the countless books on Apollo. Watkins provides a new look at this inspiring period in history. It's really not to be missed.

From S. Krishna's Books… (mehr)

Pretty much all books about the Apollo programme focus on the astronauts, or the important engineers and administrators. Watkins has instead chosen to interview fourteen unknown people who were in some way involved in NASA's project to put a man on the Moon. These include, among others, the NASA chief of photography, a frogman at the Apollo 11 recovery, an instrumentation controller, and the project director for the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

For the rest of the review see: rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://spacebookspace.blogspot.com/2007/12/apollo-moon-missions-unsung-heroes.ht...… (mehr)