Failure is not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond

Reading Gene Kranz's experience as mission controller at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration brought back childhood dreams of being a "space man". Gene Kranz lead an exciting life, and he relates his story through exciting tales from is tenure at NASA.

Many times during his recollection of events at NASA I felt the the exhilaration of a mission accomplished, and the defeat and sadness during NASA's failures. I felt the adrenaline coursing through my veins during the reentry into the atmosphere of Apollo 13, and felt saddened when reading the account of the electrical fire that took the lives of three brave astronauts.

Much can be learned from Kranz's life experiences in both making career decisions and in facing conflict head on without surrendering or admitting defeat. Often Gene Kranz's bravery and persistence during a seemingly impossible situation, has inspired me during challenges in life.

I would recommend keeping this book in your library for reference in dealing with your own seemingly impossible tasks. This book will help you in making decisions concerning your career and your life.

It must have been difficult for Gene to give up his flying job for a desk job, but the world and our country are the better from his selfless decision.Gene's dedication to his family, the space program, and the the United States of America is evident in his memoirs. Gene's memoir's truly attest to his being a great Man and a great American.

Let's be very upfront on one point: Kranz is not a gifted prose writer. He is a celebrity as a flight director, a competent test pilot, a keystone of one of the finest scientific and engineering achievements in the history of mankind, and probably one of the excellent leaders of the last century. But he is not a gifted writer.
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This probably doesn't matter very much because people who read this book are intensely interested in the space program and the subject matter will hold this audience despite any style of writing. And that's fine.

The moonshot as a technical marvel is described in great detail with particular emphasis on the human element: the qualities of flight directors, controllers, astronauts, and the people who succeeded or failed in this massive start-up organization called NASA, which occurred long before the term "start-ups" was even used. Everything is fascinating: from the early failures (the "four-inch flight"), to the idiosyncrasies of different astronauts (John Glenn versus Neil Armstrong et al), to the different challenges of all the various missions. Of particular interest are those personal characteristics: Kranz's wife sewing vests for each mission, the problems the controllers had with local law enforcement and speeding tickets, the haze of cigarettes, the bickering between some of the staff, how Flight Control dealt with grumpy astronauts and rebellions in foreign lands... it can read--for people who are interested in historical detail--with all the suspense of a thriller novel with the wonder that it actually happened.
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Kranz is most famous for his role in Apollo 13 (not the movie... this stuff really happened and Kranz is the real guy!) and the rescue of those astronauts. Indeed, a rather large section of this book is devoted to describing those events and how they were dealt with. Obviously, Apollo 13 looms in Kranz's mind because it frames a great deal of the remaining book both before and after descriptions of the actual event. But we don't think people should purchase the book solely for Apollo 13. If you're some kind of aficionado obsessing over the actual event like people obsess over the Kennedy assassination, by a different book. Kranz is writing about everything.
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However, critically speaking Failure reads like a mixture of a diary and lecture notes. It is compelling... but not artistic. The defining books of the space race will probably belong to other writers using Failure as a source text. One can hear this in the reviews quoted on the trade paperback book cover: "An important addition" says The Baltimore Sun, "A welcome contribution" says The New York Times, "A must read for space buffs interested in the details of flight control" quotes Chris Kraft (former flight director and author in his own right). These are complimentary but hardly ringing endorsements for a book-even these promoters of the book are not claiming it is a defining work in the history of space flight. Indeed, the TV documentary Failure is not an Option-based upon Kranz's book-is extremely well done. The production is sharp, the things Kranz does: coining "Tough and Competent", his praise of John Aaron as a legendary controller for his "SEC to Aux" call, and the fiery death of Gus Grissom and his crew are as vivid and sharp as any piece of film ever done on the subject. The fact, the documentary's way better than the movie Apollo 13 (directed by Ron Howard). The show should be required viewing for all business managers. The sad fact is, the documentary is better than the book too... we cannot recommend the book to all business managers. For those readers who want to get to the "bottom of things" and read the source texts, this will be an invaluable book. Yet that's a pretty select audience.
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As a character study of who the NASA people were and are, this is a fascinating book. Kranz reaches all the way back to his own test pilot days, to his job interview with NASA (such as it was) and his rise to flight director status. Along the way, you get a feeling for his patriotism, his passion for the military, his tremendous respect for his peers and the work that they did, and his near worshipful love of human accomplishment. There are few books where, at the end, the reader feels like he knows the author but this is one of them. As an honest, real portrayal of NASA-that time when all the engineers were in their 20's, drank beer, smoked cigarettes, wore pocket protectors, and were as male as males can be-this is also an invaluable book.
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One of the other tremendously interesting things about Failure is probably unintentional. Existing in the subtext all through the book is a kind of reverence for President John F. Kennedy. Not exactly a reverence for the man himself, but certainly a reverence for his vision. Kennedy's martyr status loomed large-at least in the mind of Kranz-as NASA took terrible risks to reach the moon on his timetable. Reading about the casual bravery of the astronauts is extremely impressive. Until reading Kranz, one doesn't realize the shockingly aggressive timetable or how unreliable and untested the different systems were. That the astronauts were orbiting in little more than aluminum foil, batteries, and a radio is incomprehensible to our modern minds who regard it in the same astonishment we regard Polynesians crossing the Pacific in rafts. That kind of unity in purpose: a presidential edict, a newly formed community of engineers, scientists, and pilots, and the bravery (and luck) necessary to make this amazing feat come to pass is truly breathtaking when pondered.
Fans of science-fiction who grew up thinking starships can be run by five guys on a bridge should definitely investigate this book and discover what space flight truly means. Certainly this book is required reading for any one interested in actually researching the moonshot and the early years of Apollo. Anyone if casually interested in modern American history or leadership should avail themselves of the documentary under the same name.

Having been interested in this period of the initial years of the space program, I was hoping to gleen more insite into events and people during this period. I was not let down as some of the details and specifically the difficult logistics of operations was layed out and described. All this without the technology that we have today for satellite communication/Internet etc. Superb description of the Apollo 11 landings and mindset for success of the Apollo 13 events, showing the stunning and legendary team building abilities and decision making insites of the period. Worth reading for anyone interested in those years of Space Exploration.

...I am afraid this book misses the mark. Kranz
is defintely one of the great heroes of the glory
days of the American space program and one of those
who "wrote the book", along with Chris Kraft
and John Hodge (the original "Red, White and Blue
Team flight directors!) defining the mission of
the flight controllers and directors. Unfortunately,
this book does not really give the reader a good idea
of what it is that the controllers and flight director
do. If it did, the reader would be in even greater
awe of these men who had intelligence, nerves of steel,
and the ability to make life-or-death decisions within
a split second.
In order to learn what is really involved in these
jobs, I strongly recommend the book "Apollo: The
Race to the Moon" by Murray and Bly-Cox. They give
a good description of what went on in the MOCR
(Mission Operations Control Room) and the various
jobs of the different controllers and the flight
director himself, and what qualities these men
had to have. Kranz unfortunately does not include
this in his book, probably feeling that the general
reader would not find it interesting, but this is
the kernel of what it was that made him the outstanding
personality that he is. He should have taken a typical
mission and given a sequential description of the things
he had to do and the decisions he had to make.
Having said this, the book is still worth reading, even
for someone who has considerable knowledge of the history
of the space program. What is particularly interesting
is his description of the major disagreement that occurred
on the Gemini 9 mission (flown by Stafford and Cernan) when
it was suggested to carry out an emergeny EVA (spacewalk)
in order to try to open the shroud that failed to open
on the Agena target vehicle which prevented docking.
Kranz vehemently opposed doing this, thinking that it was
too dangerous and being only the second EVA, they didn't
have enough experience. When senior management decided
to go ahead with it anyway, Kranz muttered to his boss,
Chris Kraft that he had enough and this would be his
last mission, if they weren't going to listen to him.
In the end, the EVA was cancelled and Kranz withdrew
his threat to quit. In Kraft's book, he blandly mentions
that it was decided NOT to carry out the EVA. Apparently,
Kraft (who does also mention some mild criticisim of Kranz
in his book) didn't want to remind people that he had
been on the wrong side of a potentially bad decision.

Fantastic book for any "space cadet". When read with "Flight My Life In Mission Control", you have the true story of NASA when risk was accepted, not avoided.