Book Review: A Man on the Moon (1994) by Andrew Chaikin

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“Man must explore. And this is exploration at its greatest.” Those were the first words of astronaut Dave Scott on his first Apollo 15 moonwalk, and they sum up the spirit of this book. It is the story of, and a tribute to, the Apollo program right through to its last mission, and the book was the basis of the TV mini-series “From the Earth to the Moon.”
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I found this book to be a very exciting read (I read it twice) as it revealed that each Apollo mission was an incredibly unique journey in itself, with often gripping dangers, uncertainties and challenges. Many people are familiar with the triumph of Apollo 11 and the close-call of Apollo 13, but few of us paid much attention to later Apollo missions up through 17, the last one. Each new mission constantly upped the level of the technology and the expectations, building on the previous test flight experiences, and they marvelously expanded both science and the human adventure.
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Especially evident in this book is how the whole program exemplified the human virtue of Rationality. Even though it was an audaciously risky venture, it was done with a scrupulously rational risk-taking and with a carefully thought-out approach by a huge team – a combination of scientists, engineers, manufacturers and test pilots. Chaikin describes the approach as a “series of methodic, incremental steps that are the hallmark of test flying.” (p.54). E.g., they first had to test fly the Gemini program flights and the earliest Apollo flights in order to learn how to dock two space vehicles in space, etc.
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Test pilots have a reputation for being fighter-jocks and wild mavericks with balls of brass. True enough. But those chosen to be astronauts were also very highly educated and highly disciplined test pilots. For them and their fellows on the entire Apollo team, the drill was to plan, to make checklists, to practice, to test, then to re-think, re-plan, make new checklists, practice, test, etc. They did it by the numbers, and simulators were used constantly to practice, practice, practice. Thus, when unforeseen emergencies did occur, they were ready to think their way through the options. Odysseus with an engineering degree.
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When, in the far future, humanity looks back on its history, the Apollo program will be seen as one of those truly great human adventures. And A Man on the Moon will be one of its greatest celebrations.
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-Zenwind.
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