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sackofbeans's review
4.0
The gist I got from Grissom's bio was that he was a quiet, no-nonsense, get-the-job-done, and do it well, no need to brag or showboat, keep away from that limelight, but still have a damn good time, astronaut. My kinda dude.
This book often took a defensive stance, essentially saying "Ok, you're probably reading this because of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, and the follow up movie. Maybe NASA at first thought Gus prematurely blew the hatch on his Mercury spacecraft out of fear, but most don't think that any more, ok? Wolfe and Hollywood just liked stirring the pot. Who knows, maybe he did, but here are a hundred ways in which he was a badass who wouldn't dare do such a thing."
I thought it was a little distracting and wish the author had told Grissom's story as-is, and maybe reference The Right Stuff and the ensuing fallout near the end of the book, in the pages talking about the years after his tragic death.
It's a shame that we lost such a great, talented, brave man due to "launch fever" and poor workmanship. But the interesting point the authors makes is that had the accident not happened on the ground, but in space during its mission, the Apollo program would have likely been canceled right at the beginning as it would have been a complete mystery what went wrong. And then no big step for Neil, or anyone.
Once again my hero Henri Landwirth, founder of Give Kids the World, makes an appearance. That's always cool.
Per aspera ad astra.
This book often took a defensive stance, essentially saying "Ok, you're probably reading this because of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, and the follow up movie. Maybe NASA at first thought Gus prematurely blew the hatch on his Mercury spacecraft out of fear, but most don't think that any more, ok? Wolfe and Hollywood just liked stirring the pot. Who knows, maybe he did, but here are a hundred ways in which he was a badass who wouldn't dare do such a thing."
I thought it was a little distracting and wish the author had told Grissom's story as-is, and maybe reference The Right Stuff and the ensuing fallout near the end of the book, in the pages talking about the years after his tragic death.
It's a shame that we lost such a great, talented, brave man due to "launch fever" and poor workmanship. But the interesting point the authors makes is that had the accident not happened on the ground, but in space during its mission, the Apollo program would have likely been canceled right at the beginning as it would have been a complete mystery what went wrong. And then no big step for Neil, or anyone.
Once again my hero Henri Landwirth, founder of Give Kids the World, makes an appearance. That's always cool.
Per aspera ad astra.
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