Archive for May 30th, 2009
Failure is not an Option
by balleman on May.30, 2009, under Technology
I just finished reading Gene Kranz’s Failure is not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond. (ad) It’s an exciting read, structured around missions and other significant events. More so than my recollection of Lost Moon / Apollo 13 (ad), Kranz delves into some of the organizational structure of NASA, discussing the rapid promotion of people as the organization developed, followed by the slowdown at the conclusion of Apollo. It really makes one appreciate the experience these folks had and the sacrifices they made in support of this endeavor. I also was rewatching parts of From the Earth to the Moon (ad) while reading the book. I highly recommend all of these. I’d like to read more about the development of the MSFN – the global comms network that supported the Apollo era – so if anyone out there has book/link suggestions, please send share them.