The Unbroken Chain (Apogee Books Space) by Guenter Wendt

Apogee Books Space Series #20

by Guenter Wendt

American astronauts may have lived the dream of seeing space, but they never would have made it without Guenter Wendt. In The Unbroken Chain, this unsung hero tells his story, and he's got the right stuff. Wendt, who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1949, got a job as a mechanical engineer for McDonnell Aircraft that launched his space career. He eventually became the man who supervised preparations for every mission from the Mercury program through the early shuttle flights. He was the last person the astronauts would see before they closed the hatch, and he became something of a legend at NASA. The Unbroken Chain features Wendt's accounts of his career highlights, good and bad, as well as behind-the scenes revelations about missions and personalities. Three sections of great photos accompany the text, and best of all, the accompanying CD-ROM features a tour of Cape Canaveral hosted by Wendt himself. A must-have for space buffs, and a great accompaniment to the NASA Mission Reports series, also from Apogee Books. --Therese Littleton

Genres: Space, Biography, Science

Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

Reviews

[Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, quick account of space program history from Guenter Wendt, who managed the launchpad for many historic flights. Lots and lots of fun anecdotes make this more than just another standard retelling of the same space-history bullet points.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different perspective on the space race from Mercury to the Shuttle.
This is a short book so there is not a great amount of depth and it helps to have some prior knowledge is helpful going into this one.

[Alexander Boneff · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book on space and the Apollo era

[Nichole Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally! A history on manned spaceflight that was as good as Mullane's autobiography! Wendt did an amazing job at explaining some concepts that were still hard for me to grasp, even after reading several other accounts. I finally have a full understanding of the docking maneuver for the CSM and Lunar Module after launch! Wendt's other strength was his ability to point out the strengths in the other technicians of the rockets, and you really felt his genuine appreciation for the men who put us on the moon. If you want to start with a history of manned spaceflight, this is a great one to do it with!

[James C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting as it is a series of anecdotes by Guenter Wendt who was the pad leader at Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. While I worked at the Kennedy Space Center, I had the opportunity to meet with Guenter several times when my work involved me to be at the launch pad to change out equipment or add new guidance computer memory. He even offered to share his lunch with me on one occassion. He is a very interesting person and was the right one for the pad leader's responsibilities.