Project Gemini: America in Space Series (America in Space Series, 1)

Eugen Reichl once again offers us a concise, superbly illustrated look at America's space program. This time it's Project Gemini which ran from 1964 to 1966. During this year celebrating the crowning achievement of Apollo 11 it's easy to forget about Gemini's many accomplishments which were so important in setting the stage for Apollo's successs. NASA challenged by JFK's heady goal of reaching the moon before the end of the decade and recently attaining their Mercury program milestones dove headfirst into Gemini. All ten missions are chronicled here and many interesting details are revealed without getting overly wrapped up in minutiae. I was pretty young back in those days but still remember the excitement of watching every lift off while drinking my mandatory glass of Tang. Revisiting those days was an enlightening and fun trip down memory lane for me. I've got Reichl's Apollo book on my shelf to read next.

As someone who is old enough to have watched the Gemini program while it was underway, I've long been disappointed by the relative dearth of books about it compared to Apollo. This one helps alleviate that disappointment, and on the whole I found it a worthwhile, 4-star read. It does, however, suffer from what seems to be an increasing problem in publishing: a lack of proofreading. The section on Gemini 10 where it is repeatedly referred to as Gemini 9 is perhaps the most egregious lapse, but there were others that forced me to check other books I do have, and even Wikipedia, to determine the accuracy of the information. (Proofing errors were far fewer in the volume on Mercury, so the publisher isn't incapable of doing better.)

I have purchased and read all of Eugen Reichl's America in Space series from Mercury through Gemini and Apollo and found them an outstanding source on the space program. While only 130-140 pages in length, they are dense with information and details on each program's development and every mission. Nicely hard bound, each volume is beautifully illustrated on high-quality glossy paper. The print is a bit small for older readers, but a decent pair of glasses and a good light will be rewarded with well-written content with just enough technical detail to properly educate a non-expert. I highly recommend this series for anyone wanting to begin their journey into America's space program.

The book provides good detail on Gemini's development and devotes around 25 pages to each flight. Lots of things were new to me such as what happened to the Rogalo wing concept. However, in reading about the Apollo project, I recently got interested in the proposed Gemini follow-ons including beating Apollo to the moon and "Big Gemini" (both cancelled or rejected.) Unfortunately, this book ends with the last flight. But for what it does cover, it was very good! Lots of pictures and diagrams.

Loved it. I wanted a quality-depth review of the program without any fluff. Enough science to make it meaty, while balanced with the human issues. Perfect. I am looking forward to ordering the Apollo series. The chapter on Gemini 9 and Cernan's EVA make this book awesome. They could make an entire movie about that space walk - - thrilling!!!!!

This book has helped fill in gaps of knowledge I've had with Project Gemini, the program that paved the way for the US to land on the moon. It strikes a nice balance berween technical details and interesting human stories and experiences. I will read it again.

This is one of the better historical documents on Gemini that I have seen. I am a fairly 'tough one' to please on this matter too, as I am a space program engineer. This guy did quite a good job.

Book was in like new condition! And very prompt delivery ahead of time! Thank you!

This book, as does companion books on Mercury and Apollo has so much good content that it ought to rank as excellent - but doesn't.This is because all 4 books (there are 2 on Apollo) have from beginning two end numerous errors on all sorts of units of speed, dimensions and what have you and this is extensive throughout all 4 books. One example describes a returning manned capsule returning on a main chute of 2 ft diameter and so it goes on and on.There are also some wrong captions to photos.Clearly there was no proof reading at all

A very good and interesting read.

J'ai de nombreux livres sur la conquête de l'espace. J'apprécie particulièrement ce type d'ouvrage à la fois synthétique et bien illustré. Je n'ai pas constaté d'erreur, mais j'avoue ne pas être assez "calé" pour en détecter.La série sur les trois programmes des débuts de la conquête de l'espace américaine est vraiment excellente.