One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us To The Moon

  • Author: Charles Fishman
  • Narrator: Fred Sanders
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Duration: 15:05:44
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Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling, “meticulously researched and absorbingly written” (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission.

President John F. Kennedy astonished the world on May 25, 1961, when he announced to Congress that the United States should land a man on the Moon by 1970. No group was more surprised than the scientists and engineers at NASA, who suddenly had less than a decade to invent space travel.

When Kennedy announced that goal, no one knew how to navigate to the Moon. No one knew how to build a rocket big enough to reach the Moon, or how to build a computer small enough (and powerful enough) to fly a spaceship there. No one knew what the surface of the Moon was like, or what astronauts could eat as they flew there. On the day of Kennedy’s historic speech, America had a total of fifteen minutes of spaceflight experience—with just five of those minutes outside the atmosphere. Russian dogs had more time in space than US astronauts. Over the next decade, more than 400,000 scientists, engineers, and factory workers would send twenty-four astronauts to the Moon. Each hour of space flight would require one million hours of work back on Earth to get America to the Moon on July 20, 1969.

“A veteran space reporter with a vibrant touch—nearly every sentence has a fact, an insight, a colorful quote or part of a piquant anecdote” (The Wall Street Journal) and in One Giant Leap, Fishman has written the sweeping, definitive behind-the-scenes account of the furious race to complete one of mankind’s greatest achievements. It’s a story filled with surprises—from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today. From the research labs of MIT, where the eccentric and legendary pioneer Charles Draper created the tools to fly the Apollo spaceships, to the factories where dozens of women sewed spacesuits, parachutes, and even computer hardware by hand, Fishman captures the exceptional feats of these ordinary Americans. “It’s been 50 years since Neil Armstrong took that one small step. Fishman explains in dazzling form just how unbelievable it actually was” (Newsweek).

Chapters

  • 001 OneGiantLeap Open

    Duration: 34s
  • 002 OneGiantLeap Dedication

    Duration: 10s
  • 003 OneGiantLeap Preface TheMysteryOfMoondust

    Duration: 12min
  • 004 OneGiantLeap Chapter1 TranquilityBase&TheWorldWeAllLiveIn

    Duration: 01h22min
  • 005 OneGiantLeap Chapter2 TheMoonToTheRescue

    Duration: 01h26min
  • 006 OneGiantLeap Chapter3 TheFullSpeedOfFreedom

    Duration: 01h15min
  • 007 OneGiantLeap Chapter4a TheFourthCrewMember

    Duration: 01h10min
  • 008 OneGiantLeap Chapter4b TheFourthCrewMember

    Duration: 53min
  • 009 OneGiantLeap Chapter5a TheManWhoSavedApollo

    Duration: 01h02min
  • 010 OneGiantLeap Chapter5b TheManWhoSavedApollo

    Duration: 01h09min
  • 011 OneGiantLeap Chapter6a JFKsSecretSpaceTapes

    Duration: 46min
  • 012 OneGiantLeap Chapter6b JFKsSecretSpaceTapes

    Duration: 59min
  • 013 OneGiantLeap Chapter7 HowDoYouFlyToTheMoon

    Duration: 01h22min
  • 014 OneGiantLeap Chapter8 NASAAlmostForgetsTheFlag

    Duration: 01h11min
  • 015 OneGiantLeap Chapter9a HowApolloReallyDidChangeTheWorld

    Duration: 01h18min
  • 016 OneGiantLeap Chapter9b HowApolloReallyDidChangeTheWorld

    Duration: 51min
  • 017 OneGiantLeap Close

    Duration: 55s