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    Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed Everything
    Unavailable
    Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed Everything
    Unavailable
    Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed Everything
    Audiobook2 hours

    Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed Everything

    Written by Martin W. Sandler

    Narrated by Scott Lange

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A nation in need of hope, the most powerful rocket ever launched, and the first three men to break the bounds of Earth: Apollo 8 was headed to the moon.

    In 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite to orbit Earth, America's rival in the Cold War claimed victory on a new frontier. The Space Race had begun, and the United States was losing. Closer to home, a decade of turbulence would soon have Americans reeling, with the year 1968 alone seeing the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy as well as many violent clashes between police and protesters.

    Americans desperately needed something good to believe in, and NASA's mission to orbit Earth in Apollo 8 and test a lunar landing module was being planned for the end of the year. But with four months to go and the module behind schedule, the CIA discovered that the USSR was preparing to send its own mission around the moon — another crucial victory in the Space Race — and it was clearly time for a change of plan.

    Martin W. Sandler unfolds an incredible chapter in U.S. history: Apollo 8 wouldn't just orbit Earth, it would take American astronauts to see the dark side of the moon.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 9, 2018
    ISBN9781978644274
    Unavailable
    Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed Everything
    Author

    Martin W. Sandler

    Martin W. Sandler is the author of Imprisoned, Lincoln Through the Lens, The Dust Bowl Through the Lens, and Kennedy Through the Lens. He has won five Emmy Awards for his writing for television and is the author of more than sixty books, two of which have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Among Sandler's other books are the six volumes in his award-winning Library of Congress American History Series for Young People, a series which has sold more than 500,000 copies. Other books by Mr. Sandler include: Island of Hope: The Story of Ellis Island, Trapped in Ice, The Story of American Photography, The Vaqueros, America: A Celebration, and This Was America. Mr. Sandler has taught American history and American studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and at Smith College, and lives in Massachusetts.

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    Reviews for Apollo 8

    4/5

    26 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This was a fascinating book which focused on the Apollo 8 Space Mission. I have always been interested in space exploration and NASA (as evidenced by my several trips to Kennedy Space Center) and this was a nice book to supplement my fascination.I am sure that the photographs will be amazing in color, and they weren't too shabby in black and white!This is a great book to read if you are looking for a fun way to spend a couple of hours, it is not the most in depth historical account by any means, but this would be a good jumping off place to peak your interest, or reacquaint yourself with a time in history that you lived through, or are deeply fascinated by.
    • 4/5
      Light in science and historical context, this is never the less a breezy highly readable and enjoyable account of the Apollo 8 mission. Highly significant at the time its importance tends to be overlooked these days and this does a pretty good job of setting the stage for those who may want to learn more.The sidebar placment in this ARC were problematic as they interrupted the narrative flow - hopefully that design flaw will be fixed in the final version.
    • 2/5
      I received this book through the Early Reviewer program at LibraryThing in exchange for this review. Space exploration is a fascinating subject and I have read a number of works, both fiction and non-fiction on the subject.First of all, this “history" of the Apollo 8 mission barely qualifies as a short story. It is presented in a 12”x12” format, but the spacing and margins are such that each page contains fewer words than a book of normal dimensions. The body of the work is only 143 pages, but of that roughly 68 pages contain only photographs, no text whatsoever. So, what you have is a 75 page book that can be read in two hours. That’s pretty thin soup.The story is certainly deserving of a book. The Apollo 8 mission was the first manned flight to reach the moon, though the original mission was far more conservative. It was extended to orbit the moon in the face of Russian advances. We were, after all, in a race. If this book sold for $3-4, it might have some value. As it is, it appears to be priced far in excess of its content.
    • 5/5
      It was the Cold War and the battles were being fought in space and Russia was winning.Step up to the plate, Apollo 8. Set a crazy goal and push up the completion date to something completely unrealistic and let's see what the best and brightest minds in America can do.And they succeed. In a big way.It's a story of big and small heroes, of people who work together almost seamlessly, to accomplish the impossible, who send men to the moon and change the way we think about everything.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful book I got from the publisher through the Early Reviewers program here. Accessible to a younger audience, it still has plenty to offer adult readers. I was born in 1961 and like many young (and older) Americans in the 1960s, was enthralled by the "Space Race", and especially the Apollo Program and the moon landings. Despite that fascination, I knew little - and I suspect most others also know little - about Apollo 8; it just isn't as sexy as Armstrong and Aldrin's Apollo 11 triumph. But it really is.Sandler tells the little told story with depth, feeling, and little details that really highlight why this mission was so unique. One example: the launch of the Saturn V was something no one had experienced...and couldn't anticipate. Bill Anders recalled "being thrown around. I mean, 'thrown around' is the best way I can describe it. I felt like a rat in the jaws of a giant terrier. I mean, here we'd hardly started, and already we had something that we hadn't simulated."The mission had live telecasts and viewers on Earth got live pictures of the Earth as a globe. Sorry flat-earthers...science wins. Earthwise is one of the most famous photographs, and was taken by Bill Anders. The crew had "real" food for their Christmas Day meal, a surprise from Director of Flight Operations Deke Slayton. (He even slipped in three small bottles of brandy, but mission commander Borman would not allow the crew to drink it so that if anything happened it couldn't be blamed on alcohol.) Lots of little nuggets like this peppered throughout.Sandler also spaces short sidebar background and histories throughout the book (see my note below on that), expanding the scope of the story to highlight rocketry history, the people behind the mission, naming of the moon features, what was happening at the time, even a segment on Madalyn Murray O'Hair. There are stealth cites (see another note below) and a good bibliography to accompany the text.A few notes about the presentation:- My Advance Reading Copy was soft bound and gray scale (note on the cover said the final book would be in full color). The photographs looked great, and I'd like to see them in color.- I like the sidebar sections, but not the placement. I'm reading a sentence (already three lines) at the bottom of page 11 and turn to page 12 to find ... not the rest of the sentence but four pages on the Pioneers of Rocketry and one more full page photograph before continuing the final two lines. Too big a gap. A few of the interludes suffered from poor placement. - Some word choices could be better. Page 24, Sandler is talking about the events of 1968 and picks a few things about the US involvement in Vietnam, leading with In 1954, the Veitnamese peninsula had been divided, with a communist regime in the North and a democratic government in the South.The italics are mine. Those words are problematic because they are deliberately polarizing in framing the situation from a justification perspective that younger readers might not see through.Page 71, Sandler actually said "As Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell became the first humans to see the dark side of the moon, {...}" Dark! Now he called it "far" side, and "back" side in other places, but "dark" at least twice. Stop perpetuating that misrepresentation!- I say this often, but I am not a fan of end notes not cited in the text. I know authors (or editors?) don't want to interrupt the flow with superscripts, and I should be happy that there are citations at all, but I prefer jumping off and back to reaching them at the end and having only a page number and partial quote to tell me that there was some source. This is a great story told simply. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      This book gives a good overview of the Apollo 8 mission and its place in the American space program, and history in general.I have read a lot about America's early manned space program, but this book still made a impact. Everyone remembers or know about Apollo 11, the mission that landed on the moon, but Apollo 8 was in many ways a first. First to leave Earth orbit, first to see the Earth as a whole, first to see the far side of the moon. Apollo 8 really took a lot of chances that could have endly badly but didn't. Apollo 8 really shows the spirit of adventure and intellectual curiousity of the human race, and what we can accomplish if we as a nation put our minds to it. The mission left many people on Earth with a sense of "globalism." This really is the only habital spot around, and we better take care of it. I particulary enjoyed the bios about some of the rocket scientists, learning some new information, I very much liked how the book pointed out the importance of photography and television in grabbing the world's attention, and changing its opinions. The mission gave a lot of people the sense that we need to come together to save the only home we have, and I hope we don't lose sight of that in today's world. We really are more alike than we are different, and I hope we can make the Earth a better place to live.
    • 5/5
      This story of Apollo 8, set in the context of world events, will appeal to nonfiction readers, age 10 and above. The chronological history of Apollo 8 is compelling alone, while two to four page sidebars add detail to supporting events and people. Readers will feel the excitement of new exploration and awe of seeing the earth from space.
    • 5/5
      Martin W. Sandler’s Apollo 8: The Mission that Changed Everything tells the story of the Apollo 8 mission based on extensive research into NASA records as well as interviews with astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders along with the public’s reaction to the mission as represented by the press. Sandler manages to capture the dynamic nature of this first mission beyond the Earth’s orbit and around the moon, which was also the first manned flight of the Saturn V rocket and therefore all the more daring.Interspersed among his chapters about the Apollo 8 mission itself are subsections with relevant background information, such as a brief discussion about the history of rocketry, information about the Soviet space program, the historical impact of photography to put Anders’ Earthrise photograph into context, and more. With a recommended reading age of 10 and up, these subsections are particularly useful for younger readers who may only be learning about the history of space exploration and may not have much background knowledge. Additionally, as we move further and further away from the Cold War, Sandler’s attention to the role it played in the space race will provide useful context for readers from Gen Z and beyond.The book includes numerous photographs, many of which are reproduced to fill entire pages so as to better show off detail. Each includes relevant captions so that the reader understands why these photographs were chosen. The proof copy prints the pictures in black and white, but the final copy will include many full color illustrations that both students and space aficionados can pour over at their leisure.Sandler’s Apollo 8 is a must-own both for the space enthusiast and for educators. He includes a lengthy notes section and bibliography which will be useful in lesson planning and Candlewick Press offers a teacher’s guide for those looking to incorporate this into classroom study.
    • 4/5
      1968 was not a particularly good year for the U.S. Beginning with the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and the police riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, many felt that America was coming apart at its seams. But over Christmas we may not have had a miracle but an amazing technological feat—Apollo 8 and three American astronauts were going to the moon. Not to land, but to test out communications equipment, the Saturn V rocker and do a translunar injection, escaping Earth’s gravity and placing Apollo 8 into an orbit around the moon. Martin W. Sandler’s “Apollo 8—The Mission That Changed Everything” tells the story of a changed mission that led to the Apollo 11 flight seven months later. I believe the book is written for young adults as it is fairly non-technical in nature and provides the reader with a background on the Space Race, the Mercury and Gemini programs and one of the biggest gambles in our space history. The book includes many photographs including the famous Earthrise as well as a lesser known photo (because it was in black and white) by Frank Borman. For a basic understanding of not only Apollo 8 but the efforts leading up to the flight, this is a good volume.
    • 3/5
      Learning a little more about the mission to circle the moon. Interesting tidbits
    • 5/5
      This story of Apollo 8, set in the context of world events, will appeal to nonfiction readers, age 10 and above. The chronological history of Apollo 8 is compelling alone, while two to four page sidebars add detail to supporting events and people. Readers will feel the excitement of new exploration and awe of seeing the earth from space.