Failure Is Not An Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond.

KRANZ, Gene.

Item Number: 140439

New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

First edition, early printing of this memoir by Gene Kranz, who was the flight director from the early days of the Mercury program through Apollo 13. Octavo, original half cloth, illustrated. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Ken Moorer Aim High! Eugene Kranz.” Fine in a fine dust jacket, inscription to the front free endpaper. Jacket design by Michael Accordino.

Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America’s manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA’s Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director’s role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy’s commitment to land a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the Moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers’ only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success.