Safely to Earth: The Men and Women Who Brought the Astronauts Home

by Jack Clemons

In this one-of-a-kind memoir, Jack Clemons-a former lead engineer in support of NASA-takes listeners behind the scenes and into the inner workings of the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs during their most exciting years. Discover the people, the events, and the risks involved in one of the most important parts of space bringing the astronauts back home to Earth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Space, Audiobook, Engineering, History

280 pages, Hardcover

Published September 18, 2018

Reviews

[❆ Ash ❆ (fable link in bio) · Rating 4 out of 5]

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✧｡･ﾟﾟ･☾ Review ☾･ﾟﾟ･｡✧

3.75 stars!!
Man…..history really does repeat itself over and over and over again. Anywayyyys. I saw this book was free and decided to read it in an afternoon. I really enjoyed reading about the scientists and engineers in the Apollo program. You really only hear about the astronauts so it was a good switch up!

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✧｡･ﾟﾟ･☾ Quotes ☾･ﾟﾟ･｡✧

"ᴊᴜᴅɢᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴇɴɢɪɴᴇᴇʀ ʙʏ ʜᴇʀ ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴꜱ, ɴᴏᴛ ʙʏ ʜᴇʀ ᴛᴏʏꜱ."

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique space insights

A must-listen for NASA, space flight and technology geeks! As the key liaison between NASA and IBM during the Apollo era, the author has a unique perspective and lived experience that hasn’t been told in other books. I especially enjoyed learning about the number of computers onboard to create redundancies, “error-free code” and the way precise commands were executed (manually).
Don’t skip the last chapter/ appendix… its got FAQs and other good stuff.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of this book is "Safely to Earth: The Men and Women Who Brought the Astronauts Home." Based on the title and cover, I expected this book to tell the story of unrecognized people who worked in Mission Control on the reentry phase of flight, from Apollo to the Shuttle.

Yeah, that's not what this is.

This book is a general space history combined with the personal biography of Jack Clemons. This could have been so much better than it was. I felt like we never really got the story of anyone except Jack Clemons. I was quite disappointed.

[Gulu Gulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "Safely to Earth,

" Jack Clemons spins a yarn about the brave men and women who brought astronauts back from... the moon? Oh, please. We all know the moon is just a spotlight, a mere celestial disco ball. This book, however, dares to suggest that those "astronauts" were actually intrepid explorers who ventured to the edge of our flat Earth, the perilous precipice where the giant turtles patiently bear the weight of our world.

Clemons paints a vivid picture of these "heroes," the ones who guided those brave flat-Earthers back from the turtle-infested abyss. It's a tale of daring-do, of navigating treacherous waters teeming with cosmic chelonians. But amidst the drama, one can't help but chuckle. Did they really need all those complicated calculations and high-tech gizmos? Surely, a good sextant and a healthy dose of turtle whispering would have sufficed.

The book is full of technical jargon, meticulously detailing the intricacies of "re-entry" and "splashdown." It's all very impressive, but one can't help but wonder if it's just a clever smokescreen, a way to distract us from the real truth. After all, wouldn't it be simpler to just slide down a turtle's shell and land in the ocean with a splash?

Clemons' prose is earnest, even touching at times. He clearly admires these individuals, these supposed "pioneers" of space exploration. But the more one reads, the more one realizes that the whole thing is a farce, a grand cosmic joke. It's like a child's drawing of the solar system, full of bright colors and fantastical creatures, but ultimately bearing little resemblance to reality.

In the end, "Safely to Earth" is a testament to the power of human imagination, to our ability to create elaborate narratives and believe in them wholeheartedly. It's a reminder that sometimes, the most outlandish stories are the most entertaining. So, if you're looking for a good laugh and a healthy dose of turtle-related absurdity, this book is for you. Just don't expect to learn anything about actual space travel.

[Eric Sullenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good right until the end. The author gives a history of manned space flight from the perspective of Mission Control were he worked or had contract work. He attempts to make the book specifically about some individuals in mission control, but really doesn't address all that many individuals. Still the book is well sourced and cited and his insights are useful. It goes beyond the early Space Race and t continues into the 1970s Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions, as well as into the Space Shuttle Era. Unfortunately, the shortcomings of this book are that it actually ends up being a little autobiographical, and honestly I don't know who this guy is are really care about his personal life; I don't think his life is that interesting are worth sharing some of the details he did. Additionally, because his experience with mission control stopped in the early 90s, if not before, there's a decent amount that you lose out on when he stops the story in the middle of an era. The other issue is that the appendix starts when you still have one fifth of the book left to go. The information there is great, but it easily could have been work into the narrative of the book and I still think fit the theme or focus on the book. Overall, it's not a bad book on mannes space flight and does offer a different perspective than most books.

[Anne Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historically-significant autobiography by a successful engineer who participated, gives much-needed texture and context to the early space-exploration era 1960's-80's, reminding us of how rudimentary the tools were that got us to the moon and then shuttled us to and from space stations. (Do you still have your own slide rule? Did you ever connect a bunch of wires to control a complex task? have your ever dropped a box of punched cards on the way to a computer card reader? Was it a miracle to you when the first HP calculator appeared?). It's beyond miraculous that NASA and its many contractors succeeded. And it's very exciting to read how it was possible, first-hand, in detail from one who was there (and writes very, very well).

More importantly this is a cautionary tale about "can't fail" political-driven hubris that seeped into program decisions best left to the worry-wort engineers: Apollo 1 fire, Challenger explosion on takeoff, and Columbia disintegration on re-entry could have been avoided. The book documents how other possible disasters never happened because of strict adherence to rules and procedures developed with exhausted detail and testing. It was wishful thinking by those who didn't believe that "the system votes last" that caused disasters.

I found the book an exhilarating read about a time I lived through and enjoyed revisiting.

[Stanley B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an autobiography of Mr. Clemons life when he worked on the Apollo Moon launches, Skylab, and finally the start of the Shuttle Program.

For Apollo and Skylab, the author was a contractor assigned to NASA working on reentry procedures for the Apollo spacecraft. As an example, he recalled the emergency procedures that brought Apollo 13 back to Earth. But, he had other behind-the-scene stories to tell.

For the Shuttle program, he worked for another contractor assigned to NASA and developed the software for flying the Space Shuttle. When his marriage ended, he transferred to another program and no longer supported NASA programs.

The book is rich in the personalities and the technical aspects it took to launch manned spacecraft. Throughout the book, Mr. Clemons admired the work of everyone working for NASA. He was excited when he met the astronauts and proud of the people he worked with throughout his career.

I enjoyed the book because I grew up during this period of space flight and the details were interesting to me. While I enjoyed Mr. Clemons book, other readers may need to understand what it took to fly men to the moon and bring them safely home to enjoy the book, too.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading about the space program, and this work is no exception. Yet, this work did not follow what would be expected from the title. Rather than showing us a variety of people and roles that contributed to returning astronauts safely to Earth, this work is effectively Jack Clemons' autobiography supplemented with some pieces of more general history of space exploration. Now, Jack Clemons did some interesting work and played a role in the Apollo and subsequent programs, so the work is interesting to read, and Jack is able to give additional insight into the behind the scenes work that takes place. These insights are interesting, but cannot overcome the fact that the author never goes into detail about the other men and women that had a role at NASA.

[Mike Kafes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Clemons has all the right stuff in this book

Safely to Earth is a wonderful look at the the people behind the curtain. The thousands of Men and women who had to do their job nearly perfect before the astronauts could even climb into their command modules.
Jack Clemons takes us for a wonderous and fascinating journey along his career as an inspired rocket scientist and computer programmer. We experience, through his eyes, the many successes and unfortunate failures that shaped the early days of the NASA space program.
He tells of his interactions with the NASA astronauts and lead personnel in an entertaining, and gripping narrative. I can't recommend this book enough!

[David Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This doesn't have as many of the exciting stories you find in an astronaut's memoirs, but tells the side of the story from an engineer contracted by NASA. The biggest take away for me is simply how amazing it is that America put a man on the moon at a time when all their calculations were done with paper, pencil, and a slide rule.

[Julie Horner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars because it was fine, but it didn’t really make me fall in love with space work the way I wanted it to. It was well-written, just not for me. Also it was a little off-putting the amount of times the author said “FINALLY we had diversity,” as if the space industry was so far behind the rest of the world, when in reality it wasn’t.

[LeeAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Believe it or not, this actually manages to add some new faces and stories to the history of America's space program. Plus I appreciated the author's use of familiar objects and actions to help explain the science.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed hearing about the author's experiences with NASA. I like to hear about a multitude of experiences, not just the "famous" ones. But the title is a misnomer. The title of this book makes you think it's about many different unsung heroes. That is not the case. It's about this one guy, and he mentions other folks. Mostly he mentions the white guys, and briefly says there were some women at 2 *small* points. Women had more than two small impacts in the history of the Apollo program, so this was disappointing.