Recommended reading

[Benji]

If you want to read a good book about the beginnings of Mission Control, try Failure is Not an Option. It is written by Gene Krantz, who you may remember as flight director of Apollo XIII, as well as many other missions. In the book, Gene recalls a NASA much different from the high-tech, very redundent systems used today.

[Boomerang]

I've heard that book is good and i do plan to read it sometime if i ever have the time. But if you want to really see how mission control was built from the ground up from the mercury control at cape canaveral to the modern day in houston Chris Kraft's book "Flight My Life in Mission Control" is excellant.

[ApolloXI]

If you want to read a book about a aerospace engineer the most famous is the book which October Sky was based off of is the Rocket Boys. I this was a book I could not put down until the end. I plan to read the rest of the books on Coalwood, Va. by Homer Hickham.

[Boomerang]

Actually that would be coalwood West Virginia not Virginia. I've also heard that book is excellant but havent had time to read it. Its another one on my evergrowing list.

[Benji]

Rocket Boys/October Sky is a great book. It is much better then the movie.

I actually checked out Kraft's book when I checked out Krantz's, but I haven't started it yet. I bet it will go great with Failure is Not an Option.

[Boomerang]

Well i got my copy of Krafts book autographed when i met him a couple of years ago. Turns out hes from my local area. Although they might be boring to most readers i actually enjoyed the chapters talking about his early years since i know alot of the places he refers to. And his years and NASA Langley Research center ofcourse have particular interest for me since again i live 15 minutes away from it. One thing to remember about Kraft though is hes verry opinionated and isnt afraid to say exactly what he feels about anyone or anything.