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Title: Deke!: U.S. Manned Space : From Mercury to the Shuttle by Donald K. Slayton, Michael Cassutt ISBN: 0-312-85918-X Publisher: Forge Pub. Date: 01 July, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (24 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A True Hero.. Mercury to Flight Operations to Apollo-Soyuz
Comment: As one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Deke Slayton was grounded before his Delta 7 seven flight (the one scheduled after Glenn's first orbital flight). Although disappointed, he overcame this set-back and became Director of Flight Operations which means he was responsible for the astronauts and flight selections. He had the respect of the group and treated them fairly.
DEKE is honest, objective, and written in a matter-of-fact manner. The most interesting part of the book is the "behind the scenes" information on crew selection and rotation. A very interesting fact is that Deke, Kraft, and Gilruth agreed that a Mercury astronaut would make the first landing on the moon if possible. Gus Grissom was unofficially tapped to take the first step on the moon prior to his tragic death on the pad for an Apollo 1 test.
Ten years after being grounded in Mercury, Deke gets clearance to fly in the joint US-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz mission. This was long overdue and add poetic justice for someone responsible, in large part, for NASA's success.
I recommend reading Chris Kraft's Flight book first. It gives a detailed historical perspective while DEKE fills the gaps. My respect for Deke Slayton is even greater than ever after reading this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great book by a great man
Comment: As a person born in the late 60's, I was facinated with the space program and astronauts while growing-up. I've read virtually every autobiography written by an astronaut from that era from the good (Michael Collins) to the terrible (Gordon Cooper) and rate this one #2, only sitting behind Collins' Carrying the Fire. Slayton was a matter-of-fact, pull-no-punches man who wrote what he felt. I especially enjoyed reading his insights on why he gave certain astronauts certain missions and was amazed when he stated that if Gus Grisson would have lived, he would have been the first man to walk on the moon (instead of Armstrong.)
If you are interested in the space program, read this book (instead of "Moonshot", for example)--you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Pretty Good Astronaut Autobiography
Comment: This is the autobiography of one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, selected in April 1959 to fly in space. Deke Slayton served as a NASA astronaut during Projects Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), and while he was originally scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission he was relieved of this assignment due to a mild, occasional, irregular heart palpitation discovered in August 1959. His only space flight took place in July 1975 as a crewmember aboard the ASTP mission.
Instead of flying, Slayton became the titular head of the astronauts, officially being named Coordinator of Astronaut Activities in September 1962, and was responsible for the operation of the astronaut office. In November 1963, he resigned his commission as an Air Force Major to assume the role of Director of Flight Crew Operations. For a decade he oversaw the activities of the astronauts, most importantly making crew assignments and managing the full range of astronaut activities. Slayton personally chose all of the crews, determining among other things that Neil Armstrong would be the first person to walk on the Moon in July 1969.
As one might expect, Slayton wielded enormous power at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston (renamed the Johnson Space Center in 1973) in his role as director of the astronaut office. He effectively kept a collection of egotistical-for good reason-hot-shot pilots under control and maximized their role in the NASA of the 1960s. His place in helping to ensure the success of Project Apollo cannot be underestimated. This book is the recollection of Slayton during his NASA career. It contains a lot of standard information that most space history buffs are aware of, as well as some new stories. As always in such books as this, Slayton seeks to get behind the techno-nerd facade of NASA and emphasize its human side. Accordingly, we see astronauts in social settings and in embarrassing situations, as well as in their hardworking day jobs. A high point of the book is the discussion his early experiences as a farm boy from Wisconsin who flew bombers in World War II, went to college on the GI Bill, and became a member of one of the most celebrated teams in modern American history, the Mercury Seven.
Michael Cassutt, an outstanding writer with a string of other superb books, ensures that this is an excellent memoir. Especially so, since Cassutt saw it through publication after the death of Slayton on June 13, 1993, in League City, Texas, from a brain tumor. This is not the best of the astronaut autobiographies, that distinction belongs to Michael Collins' "Carrying the Fire," but it is a pretty good one.
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Title: Flight My Life in Mission Control by Christopher C. Kraft, Chris Kraft ISBN: 0452283043 Publisher: Penguin Putnam Pub. Date: 26 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space by Eugene Cernan, Don Davis ISBN: 0312199066 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond (Thorndike Paperback Bestsellers) by Gene Kranz ISBN: 0425179877 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 08 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins, Charles Lindbergh ISBN: 081541028X Publisher: Cooper Square Publishers Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin ISBN: 0140272011 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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