Books about the hisotry of NASA, please.

February 1, 2007 4:55 PM

Please recommend a good book about the history of the space travel. I'm particulary interested in NASA, but if it includes info about other countries, all the better.
posted by dpx.mfx to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

I know little about the subject but read this book about Yuri Gagarin. It was great; v. interesting about the man and the Soviet space system.
posted by docgonzo at 5:03 PM on February 1, 2007

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and Red Star in Orbit by James Oberg.
posted by Rash at 5:34 PM on February 1, 2007

I am rather fond of A Man on the Moon as a history of the American race to the moon.

I'm not too sure if there has been a good history of the post Apollo program NASA.
posted by dustsquid at 5:51 PM on February 1, 2007

Best, most comprehensive, is Burrows This New Ocean.
posted by A189Nut at 6:13 PM on February 1, 2007

I heartily second Chaikin's Man on the Moon. I loved every page of that book, because it really seemed to capture the sense of purpose, and the wonder of discovery, that surrounded the Apollo program.
posted by arco at 6:18 PM on February 1, 2007

i second "This New Ocean" as one of the absolute best; not only is it really informative, but it is also easy to read and interesting enough to keep you reading.
posted by azriel2257 at 6:55 PM on February 1, 2007

Space was a nice read. It's a historical novel, but Michener did a lot of research.
posted by lobstah at 6:56 PM on February 1, 2007

seconding Space. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the question.
posted by spinturtle at 7:33 PM on February 1, 2007

Lost Moon- Jim Lovell, about Apollo 13
Failure is not an option- by Gene Kranz probably the best of these three as it covers a large stretch of the space program.
Last Man on the Moon- Gene Cernan
posted by Gungho at 7:53 PM on February 1, 2007

3rding Man on the Moon by Chaikin.

i'm kind of a soviet space fan/nut, so here are some books that i thought were pretty good:

Korolev

space race - the book is great, the national geographic channel miniseries was pretty dreadful.

this book (and the first volume) are pretty much scholarly works, like perhaps even a PhD thesis. they are very dense reading but they are chock full of every last tidbit about the soviet space program.

back to more general history,

dark side of the moon is okay. i started reading it and havent finished. its a bit too flippant; the premise is that the whole apollo space race was a complete crock and a worthless waste of money. he makes the case that all the supposed technological dividends from apollo are/were just BS.

finally, disasters and accidents in manned spaceflight is really interesting, though i suppose its a tad macabre.
posted by joeblough at 8:37 PM on February 1, 2007

too bad you're not in the Bay Area, dpx.mfx. Our Yuri's Night party is being hosted at the NASA Ames Reasearch Center in one of their hangers. Raving at NASA! Pretty cool, huh?

But you do get Skyline, which I admit, I buy cans of online.
posted by lannanh at 1:06 AM on February 2, 2007

Another vote for Chaikin. Probably the best book about NASA ever.

Also, check out Moondust: The Men Who Fell To Earth for a more personal view of the Apollo astronauts.

If you're interested in the unmanned missions, try Journey Beyond Selene which focuses on the JPL missions.

As an aside, From The Earth To The Moon is a brilliant series of programmes that borrows heavily from Chaikin's book, as producer Tom Hanks readily admits.
posted by veedubya at 4:44 AM on February 2, 2007

I recently read Mike Mullane's Riding Rockets, which is his memoirs as a Space Shuttle astronaut. Definitely a good read if you're interested in the inner working of Shuttle-era NASA. He's actually very critical of some of the decisions that were made during that time, specifically a lack of an escape mechanism from the Shuttle.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:00 AM on February 2, 2007

Of a Fire on the Moon is about Apollo 11 and a must read.
posted by mlis at 9:44 PM on February 4, 2007