Book Review: Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz

Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz

Gene Kranz was a NASA flight director in the early days of the manned space missions. He coordinated the efforts of the designers, engineers, and astronauts before, during, and after launches. The most dramatic missions he led were Apollo 11 (the landing on the moon) and Apollo 13 (the failed mission shown in the movie of the same name (Ed Harris played Kranz)). A lot of the other missions are also exciting. Kranz's narrative goes to the end of the Apollo program in the early 1970s, with a little bit of discussion of the shuttle program. The book was written in 2000, quite a few years after he retired and after the Harris film (which was released in 1995).

Kranz has a lot of insights into the workings of NASA, especially the relationships between Mission Control and the astronauts. He touches on the political side of the job very rarely--he did not deal with the Federal bureaucracy. He did deal with the press, having briefings often during flights. The press in the 1960s was highly sympathetic to the space program, being more cooperative and less muckraking than in later years. The main focus of the book is on the men and the tricky situations that arose. I enjoyed the backroom stories but the overall narrative is a little flat. Kranz does not have a consistent focus and is not a natural storyteller. The book is more of a chronicle of what happened than the story of an era. The events are so dramatic and impactful that his lack of storytelling and finesse is easy to overlook.

Mildly recommended.