Herb Baker (Author of FROM APOLLO TO ARTEMIS)

Herb Baker rated a book liked it Inspired Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian, and the Aerospace Community Helped Launch Star Trek by Glen E. Swanson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I should mention upfront that I am not a Trekkie (or Trekker), but I have seen many episodes of Star Trek and can understand why it is well-loved by so many. This book includes so much detailed background and behind-the-scenes information about the s ...more
Jun 05, 2026 11:30AM · like · see review
Herb Baker rated a book it was amazing Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race by Christian Davenport	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book was an easy read that I enjoyed from the first page to the last. It’s written for a general audience, so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to follow what he’s writing about. I found it hard to put down. It’s a captivating look at the ...more
Jun 05, 2026 11:26AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Rocket Dreams by Christian Davenport. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Rocket Dreams by Christian Davenport <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Herb Baker rated a book it was amazing Lost: The Lost City of Incan Gold by Brigid Kennedy (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A fast-paced adventure blending Irish mythology with Incan legends. You'll not want to put it down! ...more
May 02, 2026 08:46AM · like · see review
Herb Baker liked READER VIEWS's review of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA: "From Apollo to Artemis: Stories from My 50 Years with NASA” is a memoir in which its author, Herb Baker, allows the reader to explore the back end of the American space program, from the moon shot to today’s contemporary missions. This book showcases" Read more of this review »
Jan 19, 2026 06:53AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of From Apollo to Artemis by Herb Baker. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — From Apollo to Artemis by Herb Baker <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Herb Baker liked TMA's review of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA: "I feel so fortunate that I have my hands on this book. It is wonderful to see an insider's perspective of working at NASA. The book is NOT about engineering, math, or physics. It is actually a collection of stories from Mr. Herb, who worked at NASA i" Read more of this review »
Jan 19, 2026 06:52AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of From Apollo to Artemis by Herb Baker. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — From Apollo to Artemis by Herb Baker <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Herb Baker entered a giveaway The New Emotional Intelligence by Travis Bradberry (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 17, 2025 09:04AM · like · see giveaway
Herb Baker is now following Lelina Durrette Author of The Girl Who Was Too Much And Not Enough: Book ...
Mar 17, 2025 08:17AM · like
Herb Baker is now following Sherry Graves's reviews
Mar 17, 2025 08:06AM · like
Herb Baker made a comment on Tyler’s review of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA " Thanks for the wonderful review, Tyler! "
Mar 14, 2025 06:29PM · see review

Herb Baker rated a book liked it

Inspired Enterprise: How NASA, the Smithsonian, and the Aerospace Community Helped Launch Star Trek
by Glen E. Swanson

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I should mention upfront that I am not a Trekkie (or Trekker), but I have seen many episodes of Star Trek and can understand why it is well-loved by so many. This book includes so much detailed background and behind-the-scenes information about the s I should mention upfront that I am not a Trekkie (or Trekker), but I have seen many episodes of Star Trek and can understand why it is well-loved by so many. This book includes so much detailed background and behind-the-scenes information about the show and it’s place in popular culture that any Trekkie should love it.

The first part of the book is divided into chapters focusing on individuals that played key roles in Star Trek’s success, such as Harvey P. Lynn, Jr., who served as the technical & scientific consultant for the early stages of Star Trek, reviewing pre-production scripts for authenticity and believability; and Kellam de Forest, a creative and technical consultant, hired by Gene Roddenberry to fact-check scripts and avoid legal pitfalls. There is also a separate chapter on Stephen Whitfield, who played a duel role—working out a business deal with a toy model company to fund the building of sets for the cash-strapped show and later publishing the best-selling The Making of Star Trek.

The second part of the book included chapters detailing the collaboration with and help provided by the U.S. military, the aerospace industry, NASA, and the Smithsonian Institution (primarily the National Air & Space Museum). There was, of course, a discussion of how NASA changed the name of the first Shuttle from Constitution to Enterprise, in response to a public letter-writing campaign. There was also mention of Nichelle Nichols—who played Lieutenant Uhura in the original Star Trek series—serving as a recruiter for NASA in the late 1970s, to help diversify the astronaut corps.

The most fascinating chapter of the book for me was the final chapter, “Vindication through Syndication,” which tells the story of how this show, which only lasted for 3 seasons before being canceled, became one of the most popular shows in TV history. I found that chapter interesting because it was a subject that I knew nothing about. The book ends with an Afterword, 50 pages of Endnotes (very impressive!), a Bibliography, and an Index. That is definitely the sign of a historian.

In summary, because I am not a Trekkie nor a science fiction enthusiast, I found this book interesting but not overly exciting to read. ...more

Herb Baker rated a book it was amazing

Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race
by Christian Davenport

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This book was an easy read that I enjoyed from the first page to the last. It’s written for a general audience, so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to follow what he’s writing about. I found it hard to put down. It’s a captivating look at the This book was an easy read that I enjoyed from the first page to the last. It’s written for a general audience, so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to follow what he’s writing about. I found it hard to put down. It’s a captivating look at the relationship and competition between Musk and Bezos and both their good days and their bad days over the past 20 years. Richard Branson, and his role in the space tourism market, selling seats on suborbital flights on Virgin Galactic, is also mentioned in the book.

The book’s author, Christian Davenport, has been a staff reporter at The Washington Post for the past 25 years, covering NASA and the space industry. Even with that job, I was surprised at the level of access he had to the primary players in this story—Musk and Bezos—as well as others like Vice-President Mike Pence and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. The book is full of stories where Davenport was seemingly the proverbial “fly on the wall” – so many great stories from behind the scenes that I had never heard or read about.

The book also discusses the other space-related competitions going on in today’s world—the United States versus China (who will get to the moon first?)—and the U.S. Government (risk aversion, political accountability) versus the space industry private sector (speed, cost efficiency, innovation).

A few of my favorite takeaways from the book were:
- The story of how and why Jim Bridenstine gave the name Artemis to NASA’s moon program.
- Doug Hurley’s reaction when he was told the Dragon capsule he and Bob Behnken had planned to fly to the ISS had just blown up on the launch pad
- How working with the parachutes that slow the capsules on reentry is so hard that many of the people working on parachutes for the Apollo program had quit and that the SpaceX workers had almost quit also. Musk said, “Parachutes are way harder than they look.”
- How Jim Bridenstine had created the Artemis Accords (a legal framework for how nations would operate on the moon) to put pressure on China to ensure that the settlement of the moon followed American ideals and to make Artemis appealing to any incoming administrations so that Artemis would not be canceled.
- How the realization had suddenly struck Blue Origin that they had for so long played NASA’s game (restricted by its rules) while SpaceX seemed to be playing an entirely different game, dictating the rules as it saw fit (e.g., insisting that their capsule be flown with touchscreens rather than sticks and developing their own docking mechanism rather than use the one offered by NASA).

Learning and understanding the motivation behind what drives Musk and Bezos was a fascinating insight and it is still applicable today. These two are still battling each other for supremacy in the commercial space world. In fact, as I was reading the book, Bezos’ New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad last week during a static fire engine test. The previous week, the super heavy booster for SpaceX’s Starship lost its engines prematurely and slammed into the Gulf of Mexico rather than accomplishing a planned soft splashdown. ...more

Herb Baker rated a book it was amazing

Lost: The Lost City of Incan Gold
by Brigid Kennedy (Goodreads Author)

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A fast-paced adventure blending Irish mythology with Incan legends. You'll not want to put it down! ...more

Herb Baker liked READER VIEWS's review of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA:

"From Apollo to Artemis: Stories from My 50 Years with NASA” is a memoir in which its author, Herb Baker, allows the reader to explore the back end of the American space program, from the moon shot to today’s contemporary missions. This book showcases" Read more of this review »

Herb Baker liked TMA's review of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA:

"I feel so fortunate that I have my hands on this book. It is wonderful to see an insider's perspective of working at NASA. The book is NOT about engineering, math, or physics. It is actually a collection of stories from Mr. Herb, who worked at NASA i" Read more of this review »

Herb Baker entered a giveaway

The New Emotional Intelligence
by Travis Bradberry (Goodreads Author)

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Herb Baker is now following

Lelina Durrette

Author of The Girl Who Was Too Much And Not Enough: Book ...

Herb Baker is now following Sherry Graves's reviews

Herb Baker made a comment on Tyler’s review of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA

" Thanks for the wonderful review, Tyler! "

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	From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA 4.18 avg rating — 44 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	FROM APOLLO TO ARTEMIS: STORIES FROM MY 50 YEARS WITH NASA by Herb Baker (Goodreads Author), Virtual Voice (Narrator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	From Apollo to Artemis: Stories from My 50 Years with NASA by Herb Baker (Goodreads Author), Julie Adams (Cover Art) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	From Apollo To Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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