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Summary: The High View
Review: The man at the top of the launch tower, the supervisor, the captain of the pad - Guenter Wendt was the boss man around the actual launch vehicle. His unique perspective is well reflected in this collection of stories about the first days of the space age.In an astonishing odyssey, Guenter was there from the very first days of Mercury when they were still sending chimps up (and yes, he's got a few yarns about Ham and Enos) to the post-Challenger shuttle flights. His was the last face the crew saw before leaving earth and it must have given every astronaut the feeling that they were in safe hands. Guenter was a hard man in a difficult job and he made a few enemies along the way, but he did it all in the name of safety. He enforced the rules and it didn't matter who was breaking them, they got short shrift from the pad leader. As it should be. But he wasn't the unsmiling fuehrer some liked to portray him as. In this book his humour shines through on every page. He always had an eye for a practical joke and he could see the funny side of every situation. This is a memoir of the space program that is more concerned with the men than the machines and systems. It's not that he doesn't describe the hardware and the missions, it's that he has a different take on it, a perspective focused up close and personal, rather than the view from Mission Control or one of the prime contractors in Long Island or California. He was there talking to the astronauts as their final straps were tightened and they reached out to clasp his hand before the hatch was sealed. You know, I never get tired of hearing the grand story of Apollo, and Guenter's book fills in one of the empty corners very nicely. Not a book for those who love jargon and hardware and the voices of the heroes as they guide their craft through the void. Nor a book about goals and objectives and milestones and missions. No, this is a book about people, written by someone who cared.
Rating: 
Summary: For the inside scoop on NASA in the '60s and '70s Read This!
Review: What can I say, except WOW!? This beauty is chock FULL of interesting stories and insider information that only someone like the author can provide. Guenter Wendt tells the story of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle eras of NASA like no one else has, or could. Only he was there from the very beginning through to the Shuttle era, and he tells it like it was, with no sugar coating and plenty of new and fresh stories. His unique perspectives on the astronauts really brings their personalities out like nothing I've read before. There's so much new and interesting to read in this book that I will have to reread it several times to absorb it all. I met the author at a book signing in Los Angeles and he is a wonderful man. Later on, when I read the book, I couldn't help but feel like I was still at the book signing, listening to terrific tales of Mercury Gemini and Apollo. If you get a chance to meet him in person, you really must. If you can't meet him in person, you couldn't do any better than to buy this book, because he's in there, accent and all. Like other books by Apogee Press, this one comes with a CD-ROM which has awesome quicktime videos of Guenter giving a personal tour of the launch pads and other areas at the Cape! You can hear his stories in his own words! It's got lots of other goodies, like personal letters to Guenter from dozens of astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, John Young, Jim Irwin, and many more. What an incredible journal, documenting the fantastic voyages and voyagers of NASA. I rank it right up there with "Carrying The Fire" as a valuable and treasured insiders history of NASA. You won't be disappointed with this one, check it out at www.padleader.com too, for future events and signings.
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