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The Ultimate Engineer: The Remarkable Life of NASA's Visionary Leader George M. Low
MP3 CD Format Described as the "ultimate engineer" during his career at NASA, George M. Low was a visionary architect and leader from the agency's inception in 1958 to his retirement in 1976. As chief of manned spaceflight at NASA, Low was instrumental in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Low's pioneering work paved the way for President Kennedy's decision to make a lunar landing NASA's primary goal in the 1960s. After the tragic 1967 Apollo 1 fire that took the lives of three astronauts and almost crippled the program, Low took charge of the redesign of the Apollo spacecraft, and he helped lead the program from disaster and toward the moon. Under Low there were five manned missions, including Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing.
Low's clandestine negotiations with the Soviet Union resulted in a historic joint mission in 1975 that was the precursor to the Shuttle-Mir and International Space Station programs. At the end of his NASA career, Low was one of the leading figures in the development of the space shuttle in the early 1970s, and he was instrumental in NASA's transition into a post-Apollo world. Afterward, he embarked on a distinguished career in higher education as a transformational president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his alma mater.
Low's clandestine negotiations with the Soviet Union resulted in a historic joint mission in 1975 that was the precursor to the Shuttle-Mir and International Space Station programs. At the end of his NASA career, Low was one of the leading figures in the development of the space shuttle in the early 1970s, and he was instrumental in NASA's transition into a post-Apollo world. Afterward, he embarked on a distinguished career in higher education as a transformational president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his alma mater.
11 pages, MP3 CD
First published December 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 30, 2019
The best kind of history: Surprising, engaging, and fascinating
With the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July 2019, this year has brought a flood of books, television programs, and movies about NASA’ quest to get humans to the surface of the moon. While it’s great that the general public has a rekindled fascination with Apollo, most of the new material is simply re-hashed versions of what those of us who are interested in the early space program already know.
Enter The Ultimate Engineer into the mix. Jurek has dug in deep to study the life and work of George M. Low, the chief of manned spaceflight at NASA. He got dusty with Low’s archives. He spoke with dozens of Low’s colleagues. And he learned backstory from Low’s family.
That Low is so unknown (until now) makes his story fascinating. Unknown to most that is. The astronauts all knew and respected him. For example, “First Man” Neil Armstrong says of Low: “He was my favorite engineer.”
Perhaps Low was so well liked at NASA because he was a risk taker, a theme that Jurek tackles, writing aspects of The Ultimate Engineer like a thriller which kept me engaged.
My favorite part of the book is learning about the background of the Apollo 8 lunar circumnavigation mission. I’ve always thought this was the most audacious single thing NASA has done, bumping up the mission to send humans to orbit the moon before the original plan. Jurek recounts the events leading up to this momentous decision and shares all the fascinating details about how it went down.
The Apollo program involved 400,000 people, all dedicated to sending humans to the moon and returning them safely to earth. Perhaps the most critical person in the ultimate success of the Apollo project, even more important than Neil Armstrong and Wernher von Braun, was George M. Low. That his story is now so expertly told makes this book a valuable and important addition to NASA history.
With the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July 2019, this year has brought a flood of books, television programs, and movies about NASA’ quest to get humans to the surface of the moon. While it’s great that the general public has a rekindled fascination with Apollo, most of the new material is simply re-hashed versions of what those of us who are interested in the early space program already know.
Enter The Ultimate Engineer into the mix. Jurek has dug in deep to study the life and work of George M. Low, the chief of manned spaceflight at NASA. He got dusty with Low’s archives. He spoke with dozens of Low’s colleagues. And he learned backstory from Low’s family.
That Low is so unknown (until now) makes his story fascinating. Unknown to most that is. The astronauts all knew and respected him. For example, “First Man” Neil Armstrong says of Low: “He was my favorite engineer.”
Perhaps Low was so well liked at NASA because he was a risk taker, a theme that Jurek tackles, writing aspects of The Ultimate Engineer like a thriller which kept me engaged.
My favorite part of the book is learning about the background of the Apollo 8 lunar circumnavigation mission. I’ve always thought this was the most audacious single thing NASA has done, bumping up the mission to send humans to orbit the moon before the original plan. Jurek recounts the events leading up to this momentous decision and shares all the fascinating details about how it went down.
The Apollo program involved 400,000 people, all dedicated to sending humans to the moon and returning them safely to earth. Perhaps the most critical person in the ultimate success of the Apollo project, even more important than Neil Armstrong and Wernher von Braun, was George M. Low. That his story is now so expertly told makes this book a valuable and important addition to NASA history.
December 13, 2019
The author Richard Jurek brings to life a fascinating subject in the history of US Space history – George Low, while a chief engineer, he evolves into the architect of the Mercury through Apollo manned flight, as well as an instrumental influence in the development of the Shuttle program. Jurek covers the arc of his remarkable career and weaves drama from the start with the young Low’s family abandoning considerable wealth and stature escaping Nazi Germany and emigrating to the United States to his disciplined education and progression through his extraordinary career. His desire to get his hands dirty and explore every aspect of the building of spacecrafts brings to life the experience of the astronauts and the work of the 10s of thousands of hard-working Americans dedicated to the success of our space program. Low was a pioneer in his efforts to champion women into the space program. His boundless energy and devotion to the job has him flying from Houston to Washington DC debating with Congressional committees to properly fund the space program, to the Boeing and Grumman plants overseeing the designs and construction of the spacecrafts to his home on every Sunday to reserve his time to his loving wife and family. The author beautifully captures with a novelist’s word craft a compelling read of a heretofore little-known giant of the US space program.
April 8, 2022
This book interested me greatly considering that I spent my entire career at JPL and experienced first-hand the exciting years of the space program from NASA’s inception thru the glory years of manned spaceflight. I witnessed the extraordinary events of the Apollo Program. I was even at the Cape in 1969 on the team preparing a Mariner spacecraft for launch while preparations were being made for the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing launch. So, I was thrilled to read about the man who was so instrumental in the Apollo’s success from the time after the Apollo 1 tragic fire that took the lives of three astronauts to the landing on the moon and after to his retirement in 1976. He went on to be president of his alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This is the phenomenal story of a phenomenal leader with the leadership skills, technical, organizational, and personal necessary to keep the American manned spaceflight program alive culminating with landings on the moon. The reader soon discovers that the George M. Low described in the book’s title as “The Ultimate Engineer” is truly NASA’S remarkable visionary leader described in the subtitle.
Having read this book, I have a strong desire to watch the movies, “The Right Stuff” and “Apollo 13” again as I now have the details of the specific context of each.
At JPL I was a Configuration Management Engineer so it was particularly interesting to me that one of the primary causes of the Apollo 1 fire was a lack of Change Control discipline. And it was George Low, as Apollo Program Manager who established a dynamic Configuration Control Board (CCB) as an essential element to address necessary change issues to help bring the program back to successful operations. “He viewed the board as not just a place to discuss and adjudicate the appropriateness of changes; it also served a much broader purpose. It provided a decision-making forum for the three legs of the Apollo stool: spacecraft manager, spacecraft builder, and spacecraft user. “In reaching our decisions, we had the combined inputs of the hardware developer, flight operations, flight crew, safety, medicine, and science,’ Low said.”
And what caught my attention was Low’s leadership in the conduct of his CCBs. He took all input but made the decisions himself: “Each decision was made in front of the full CCB by Low, not by the group. ‘Decisions were not made by the CCB, as the decisions have to be mine,’ Low said. ‘I make them after hearing everybody’s opinion for or against, but I do not take a vote on it. I make the decision’”
At JPL I also spent much of my career in the Quality Assurance organization. Here again George Low was not only a strong proponent of quality but of productivity as well, knowing that the two are interrelated: “You can do it well, or you can do it half-well. And when you do it half-well, there is no quality; when you have to do it twice, there is no productivity…”’Quality’ he said, ‘is the key to American renewal, to the establishment of the United States as a leader in world competition, and hence it is the conduit to our economic well-being.
Therefore, George Low demonstrated true leadership in configuration management, quality and productivity, but as I read on in the book, Low was not only the “ultimate engineer” but the ultimate leader. His methods of bringing teams together and being engaged in all activities throughout all levels of the programs he managed, without micromanaging were amazing.
Everywhere Low served whether in the public or private sector, he accomplished much and brought order and was true to his priorities of quality and productivity. He was a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute and after his service in the space program he returned as president and built the Center for Industrial Innovation (later to be renamed the George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation in 1984 the year of his death). His impact in education was another of his extremely heralded works.
Finally, here is something of relevance for even us today. He distained risk-aversion and over regulations that stifled productivity and economic growth. We in America today should take note of where we have fallen away from George Low’s vision of greatness. Let the reader take hold of these excerpts from a Low speech after the success of Apollo 8 in 1968:
“New rules and regulations…are generally designed to protect us against the risks of life, which fail to recognize that without risk, there can be no gains…we believe the gains are worth the risks…balance between risk and gain applies not only to Apollo. It applies to energy, to the environment, to the economy—in fact, it applies to our future as a nation, and perhaps even to our future as a human species…I hope my message is clear. Much needs to be done to rekindle the American spirit of innovation, and that spirit is needed to help keep America great…It is up to us to be informed and to inform; to speak out and to respond to irresponsible arguments; and to let our elected representatives in Washington know that the pendulum has swung too far. If we don’t, nobody will.”
Unfortunately, today I don’t believe our elected representatives would be inclined to hear these words… and so it goes…
Oh, and I do know that this is supposed to be a Goodreads review and I have made it a book report as I tend to do for every Goodreads entry. By way of review, I commend Richard Jurek for his detailed writing based on his extensive research. The notes at the end for each chapter give evidence of the author’s completeness. I recommend this book not only to engineers and scientists, and those interested in American spaceflight history, but as a text for excellent leadership.
Having read this book, I have a strong desire to watch the movies, “The Right Stuff” and “Apollo 13” again as I now have the details of the specific context of each.
At JPL I was a Configuration Management Engineer so it was particularly interesting to me that one of the primary causes of the Apollo 1 fire was a lack of Change Control discipline. And it was George Low, as Apollo Program Manager who established a dynamic Configuration Control Board (CCB) as an essential element to address necessary change issues to help bring the program back to successful operations. “He viewed the board as not just a place to discuss and adjudicate the appropriateness of changes; it also served a much broader purpose. It provided a decision-making forum for the three legs of the Apollo stool: spacecraft manager, spacecraft builder, and spacecraft user. “In reaching our decisions, we had the combined inputs of the hardware developer, flight operations, flight crew, safety, medicine, and science,’ Low said.”
And what caught my attention was Low’s leadership in the conduct of his CCBs. He took all input but made the decisions himself: “Each decision was made in front of the full CCB by Low, not by the group. ‘Decisions were not made by the CCB, as the decisions have to be mine,’ Low said. ‘I make them after hearing everybody’s opinion for or against, but I do not take a vote on it. I make the decision’”
At JPL I also spent much of my career in the Quality Assurance organization. Here again George Low was not only a strong proponent of quality but of productivity as well, knowing that the two are interrelated: “You can do it well, or you can do it half-well. And when you do it half-well, there is no quality; when you have to do it twice, there is no productivity…”’Quality’ he said, ‘is the key to American renewal, to the establishment of the United States as a leader in world competition, and hence it is the conduit to our economic well-being.
Therefore, George Low demonstrated true leadership in configuration management, quality and productivity, but as I read on in the book, Low was not only the “ultimate engineer” but the ultimate leader. His methods of bringing teams together and being engaged in all activities throughout all levels of the programs he managed, without micromanaging were amazing.
Everywhere Low served whether in the public or private sector, he accomplished much and brought order and was true to his priorities of quality and productivity. He was a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute and after his service in the space program he returned as president and built the Center for Industrial Innovation (later to be renamed the George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation in 1984 the year of his death). His impact in education was another of his extremely heralded works.
Finally, here is something of relevance for even us today. He distained risk-aversion and over regulations that stifled productivity and economic growth. We in America today should take note of where we have fallen away from George Low’s vision of greatness. Let the reader take hold of these excerpts from a Low speech after the success of Apollo 8 in 1968:
“New rules and regulations…are generally designed to protect us against the risks of life, which fail to recognize that without risk, there can be no gains…we believe the gains are worth the risks…balance between risk and gain applies not only to Apollo. It applies to energy, to the environment, to the economy—in fact, it applies to our future as a nation, and perhaps even to our future as a human species…I hope my message is clear. Much needs to be done to rekindle the American spirit of innovation, and that spirit is needed to help keep America great…It is up to us to be informed and to inform; to speak out and to respond to irresponsible arguments; and to let our elected representatives in Washington know that the pendulum has swung too far. If we don’t, nobody will.”
Unfortunately, today I don’t believe our elected representatives would be inclined to hear these words… and so it goes…
Oh, and I do know that this is supposed to be a Goodreads review and I have made it a book report as I tend to do for every Goodreads entry. By way of review, I commend Richard Jurek for his detailed writing based on his extensive research. The notes at the end for each chapter give evidence of the author’s completeness. I recommend this book not only to engineers and scientists, and those interested in American spaceflight history, but as a text for excellent leadership.
October 24, 2021
Richard Jurek has written a splendid biography of one of the figures most instrumental to the success of the Apollo program: George Low. I am definitely struck by the daunting challenge he faced early in his life, as he lived in Austria for the first twelve years of his life before the Nazis threatened his home nation and classified his family as Jewish. He and his family managed to depart in 1938 by riding a train to Switzerland, then taking a ship across the ocean to New York City. His journey took him to an aeronautical engineering degree in New York, then a research scientist position at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Cleveland, Ohio, and then NASA positions in both Washington, DC and Houston, Texas during the golden era of human spaceflight. Jurek draws on the extensive collection of papers archived today at Low's alma mater to describe the manager that Low was: a person who followed a grueling work schedule, believed that no detail was too small to consider, and who knew how to ask the right questions to arrive at the solution to a problem. This is especially evident in his job as Apollo Spacecraft Program Manager in Houston following the Apollo 1 fire in 1967. In the wake of a tragedy that cost three lives, he held Configuration Control Board meetings that approved more than 1,300 changes to the Apollo command module. His orderly and thorough effort meant the spacecraft progressed from being a death trap in 1967 to a moon-worthy vehicle in 1968. He also had a talent for justifying the spending of money of spaceflight, explaining his belief through his retirement in 1976 that the advancement of technology NASA fostered would help make the United States a more economically productive nation. Jurek has a strong grasp of Low's legacy and a knack for concise writing as he explains all of these points. I also enjoyed his use of interviews with several of Low's colleagues, such as Chris Kraft, George Abbey, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders. May we never forget the dogged determination of the most essential figures in ensuring our nation sent men to the moon!
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April 28, 2022What a Story.
I really had no idea of jus what Mr. Low did contribute to our current capability relating to space and spaceflight. This book will give you all you need to know, and in the simplest words and phrases possible. A very easy book to read and understand that will completely satisfy you need to know just how we got to where we are today as it relates to space. It is truly an engrossing story that pays a genuine homage to the singular individual that got us to a leadership position in the space race. Its somewhat difficult to put this one down one started !!!!
I really had no idea of jus what Mr. Low did contribute to our current capability relating to space and spaceflight. This book will give you all you need to know, and in the simplest words and phrases possible. A very easy book to read and understand that will completely satisfy you need to know just how we got to where we are today as it relates to space. It is truly an engrossing story that pays a genuine homage to the singular individual that got us to a leadership position in the space race. Its somewhat difficult to put this one down one started !!!!
September 22, 2025
This book has expanded my view on what an engineer can be and what other opportunities I should be aware of.
January 12, 2020
An excellent "must have" book for anyone interested in humankind's greatest achievement to date!
George Low has always been an enigma to NASA’s Apollo space program. Up until this very thorough and highly enjoyable book, what little information that was made public about Low included brief accolades like “An excellent engineer”, “A brilliant manager” or (my favorite) “A man who could see around corners”. To simply say that George Low oversaw the redesign of the Apollo spacecraft after the Apollo 1 pad fire in 1967 dramatically minimizes his contributions to getting Americans to the moon before the end of the 1960s.
“The Ultimate Engineer” reveals where Low came from and what shaped his future course. The book is resplendent in its descriptions of Low’s early days at NASA with the Mercury and Gemini programs and the path that led him to becoming a pivotal NASA manager. The seemingly impossible job of overseeing the complete redesign of the Apollo spacecraft after the Apollo 1 tragedy would have sent many at the agency at that time running for the door. But Low seemed to embrace the position, realizing that the job was going to be so much more than simply managing contractors, technicians, engineers and the thousands of crucial team players; all working to put human beings inside of a complex machine that would send them 240,000 miles away to another heavenly body and bring them back safely. Seeing around corners, indeed!
The reader comes away with a profound appreciation of Low’s awesome yet innate ability to evaluate and navigate through the myriad details of humankind’s most challenging engineering project with the calm logic of an engineer’s engineer.
In short, Jurek’s book is an absolute joy to read! Maybe the best part is that, while the avid space buff will find themselves saying “Finally! I understand the man!”, the casual space enthusiast will also find this book a fascinating and truly unique biography of a man who played an incredibly vital role in making the impossible possible.
George Low has always been an enigma to NASA’s Apollo space program. Up until this very thorough and highly enjoyable book, what little information that was made public about Low included brief accolades like “An excellent engineer”, “A brilliant manager” or (my favorite) “A man who could see around corners”. To simply say that George Low oversaw the redesign of the Apollo spacecraft after the Apollo 1 pad fire in 1967 dramatically minimizes his contributions to getting Americans to the moon before the end of the 1960s.
“The Ultimate Engineer” reveals where Low came from and what shaped his future course. The book is resplendent in its descriptions of Low’s early days at NASA with the Mercury and Gemini programs and the path that led him to becoming a pivotal NASA manager. The seemingly impossible job of overseeing the complete redesign of the Apollo spacecraft after the Apollo 1 tragedy would have sent many at the agency at that time running for the door. But Low seemed to embrace the position, realizing that the job was going to be so much more than simply managing contractors, technicians, engineers and the thousands of crucial team players; all working to put human beings inside of a complex machine that would send them 240,000 miles away to another heavenly body and bring them back safely. Seeing around corners, indeed!
The reader comes away with a profound appreciation of Low’s awesome yet innate ability to evaluate and navigate through the myriad details of humankind’s most challenging engineering project with the calm logic of an engineer’s engineer.
In short, Jurek’s book is an absolute joy to read! Maybe the best part is that, while the avid space buff will find themselves saying “Finally! I understand the man!”, the casual space enthusiast will also find this book a fascinating and truly unique biography of a man who played an incredibly vital role in making the impossible possible.
July 14, 2022
I'd say that he's more of the ultimate engineering manager, as that's what his role was through most of his time at NASA. The most interesting bits in the book describe how he took over the Apollo program after Apollo 1's fire and made the moon landings actually happen. His success was apparently the application of the following management principles:
1. Pay excruciating attention to detail.
2. Focus on human-centered design and management principles. 3. Learn to listen and to ask the right questions.
4. Avoid the smartest-person-in-the-room fallacy.
5. Hire smart people so you can delegate, but support them with the right organizational structure, oversight, and work environment.
6. Never delegate your own decision-making responsibilities.
7. Manage with radical transparency, and be willing to admit your own mistakes. When making a mistake, learn from it; do not repeat it.
8. Take responsible, calculated risks.
9. Always lead by example, work hard, and never be afraid of going out onto the shop floor and getting your hands dirty.
10. Focus on the team-not just individual contributors-and lead with a compelling vision and sense of urgency, but don't ever forget to also have fun and enjoy what you are doing.
And you can clearly see all of these in the book and description of the choices he made. Great lessons on management between the lines. As to engineering? I don't really know.
Excellent read though.
1. Pay excruciating attention to detail.
2. Focus on human-centered design and management principles. 3. Learn to listen and to ask the right questions.
4. Avoid the smartest-person-in-the-room fallacy.
5. Hire smart people so you can delegate, but support them with the right organizational structure, oversight, and work environment.
6. Never delegate your own decision-making responsibilities.
7. Manage with radical transparency, and be willing to admit your own mistakes. When making a mistake, learn from it; do not repeat it.
8. Take responsible, calculated risks.
9. Always lead by example, work hard, and never be afraid of going out onto the shop floor and getting your hands dirty.
10. Focus on the team-not just individual contributors-and lead with a compelling vision and sense of urgency, but don't ever forget to also have fun and enjoy what you are doing.
And you can clearly see all of these in the book and description of the choices he made. Great lessons on management between the lines. As to engineering? I don't really know.
Excellent read though.
March 23, 2021
The Ultimate Engineer
This book tells the story of the one man at NASA that you probably haven't heard of that had more influence on the space program of the 1960s~1980s than anyone else. To be honest the name wasn't familiar to me too but I recognised that I probably had come across him but not noted his name.
This is not so much about a rocket scientist but of a manager who knew the technical details of all projects that he ran inside and out. Who identified the core problems of the processes which went into building the rockets reliably and fixed them. The kind of guy who would lock the door the second that the meeting started, stop it at the appointed time, who would do a factory inspection during the night shift to see what the problems holding up the schedule were.
The main negative side of this book is that it is more of a memorial to someone who the author loved and probably would have been even more interesting if the subject was able to tell more of his own story.
Glad I read it, probably one of the last books an Apollo geek should read though.
This book tells the story of the one man at NASA that you probably haven't heard of that had more influence on the space program of the 1960s~1980s than anyone else. To be honest the name wasn't familiar to me too but I recognised that I probably had come across him but not noted his name.
This is not so much about a rocket scientist but of a manager who knew the technical details of all projects that he ran inside and out. Who identified the core problems of the processes which went into building the rockets reliably and fixed them. The kind of guy who would lock the door the second that the meeting started, stop it at the appointed time, who would do a factory inspection during the night shift to see what the problems holding up the schedule were.
The main negative side of this book is that it is more of a memorial to someone who the author loved and probably would have been even more interesting if the subject was able to tell more of his own story.
Glad I read it, probably one of the last books an Apollo geek should read though.
May 25, 2021
With a title like “The Ultimate Engineer” I expected a thorough discussion of Low’s engineering competence and how he utilized it in leading key components of the US space program. I also expected to learn how his engineering competence influenced vehicle design and mission accomplishment during the Apollo program. Both of these aspects were only lightly covered, in a pretty disjointed fashion. As a result the book conveyed very little of the sense of the excitement and tension that many of us remember from those heady days of the Apollo moon landings.
The narrative is also handicapped by too much reliance on verbatim quotes from other sources and too little original writing and interpretation.
The narrative is also handicapped by too much reliance on verbatim quotes from other sources and too little original writing and interpretation.
June 17, 2021
George Low changed American and World history.
George was committed to excellence, a consummate engineer, and an exceptional leader and manager. After reading this book I am not sure America would have accomplished its goal of sending a man to the moon and returning safely to earth without George Low.
That endeavor required great leaders and George Low was one of those men.
Read the book. George Low, a man of intelligence, principles, and dedication to human progress will inspire you.
George was committed to excellence, a consummate engineer, and an exceptional leader and manager. After reading this book I am not sure America would have accomplished its goal of sending a man to the moon and returning safely to earth without George Low.
That endeavor required great leaders and George Low was one of those men.
Read the book. George Low, a man of intelligence, principles, and dedication to human progress will inspire you.
July 13, 2021
I don't think Jurek provided a shred of evidence in his book to support the claim of "The Ultimate Engineer". George Low was obviously a talented leader/manager, but I picked up this book because I wanted to read about his engineering acumen.
I hope somebody, someday writes that book...
I hope somebody, someday writes that book...
September 21, 2025
For all fans of history (the US space program), biography and leadership, this is a fantastic book about a great man with technical skills and a passion for human led quality outcomes. George Low was a President of RPI, so all alumni will appreciate the leadership lessons that are grounded in our education on campus. He also was on the board of General Electric for a time and my GE friends will appreciate his passion for quality and innovation.
I learned so much detail about the evolution of the space program and it was written as a wonderful story. As I read, I realized I wanted to re-watch films like Apollo 13, or re-read books like An Astronauts Guide to Life of Earth by Chris Hadfield.
George Low is an inspiring human being, who contributed so much to our planet for 58 years. “Without risk, there is no progress.” He definitely sweated the details to mitigate risk as much as possible.
[Not exactly a spoiler] He died from Melanoma, which leads me (as someone who suffered sunburns as a child and has had two Basal Cell Carcinomas so far) to remind everyone to schedule their skin check!
I learned so much detail about the evolution of the space program and it was written as a wonderful story. As I read, I realized I wanted to re-watch films like Apollo 13, or re-read books like An Astronauts Guide to Life of Earth by Chris Hadfield.
George Low is an inspiring human being, who contributed so much to our planet for 58 years. “Without risk, there is no progress.” He definitely sweated the details to mitigate risk as much as possible.
[Not exactly a spoiler] He died from Melanoma, which leads me (as someone who suffered sunburns as a child and has had two Basal Cell Carcinomas so far) to remind everyone to schedule their skin check!
August 4, 2025
Excellent NASA insights
A well written biography of one of the men who stood at the beginning of the space race. If you have an interest in NASA, then this is a worthy book to read, as so many aspects of the agency’s early days are laid out. An enjoyable listen.
A well written biography of one of the men who stood at the beginning of the space race. If you have an interest in NASA, then this is a worthy book to read, as so many aspects of the agency’s early days are laid out. An enjoyable listen.
July 2, 2023
An excellent story about an inspirational engineer.
July 15, 2023
Story 5/5 Book 3/5
October 28, 2023
Perhaps it's a decent book, but I was expecting it to be focused on engineering rather than politics.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews