HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

Countdown for Decision

by John B. Medaris

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
1511,361,013 (3.5)None
None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

I love old books that were written about historical events, in the midst of an historical event. While this book was published in 1960, it primarily focuses on events predating the creation of NASA in 1958. The bulk of the book is made up of his criticism of the government (he REALLY did not like the Air Force) and how the nation's missile programs were run.

He was the Commander of AMBA - The Army Ballistic Missile Agency, home of the Von Braun rocket group. He talks a great deal about the Redstone and Jupiter missiles, so I felt this was a great resource on those two programs. Both faced a lot of opposition and obstacles, and Medaris certainly seems to be the main reason both were eventually successful. The book also covers the duel between the Army and Navy over the first satellite launcher - Jupiter C vs Vanguard. I really enjoyed this perspective on history. He was incredibly dismissive of Vanguard, which was a mistake on his part. While Vanguard certainly had some flaws, I feel it was not as bad as Medaris indicated. I was quite disappointed to note that he misspelled Navaho several times throughout the book. I would have liked more information on some of the test facilities at ABMA, too.

All in all, this would be a great read for anyone interested in space history, especially pre-NASA military space efforts. ( )
  LISandKL | Apr 10, 2019 |
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.5)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5 1
4
4.5
5

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,235,434 books! | Top bar: Always visible