Product Description: In 1961, only a few weeks after Alan Shepherd completed the first American suborbital flight, President John F. Kennedy announced that the U.S. would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The next year, NASA awarded the right to meet the extraordinary challenge of building a lunar excursion module to a small airplane company called Grumman from Long Island, New York. Chief engineer Thomas J. Kelly gives a first-hand account of designing, building, testing, and flying the Apollo lunar module. It was, he writes, "and aerospace engineer's dream job of the century." Kelly's account begins with the imaginative process of sketching solutions to a host of technical challenges with an emphasis on safety, reliability, and maintainability. He catalogs numerous test failures, including propulsion-system leaks, ascent-engine instability, stress corrosion of the aluminum allow parts, and battery problems, as well as their fixes under the ever-present constraints of budget and schedule. He also recaptures the anticipation of the first unmanned lunar module flight with Apollo 5 in 1968, the exhilaration of hearing Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong report that "The Eagle has Landed," and the pride of having inadvertently provided a vital "lifeboat" for the crew of the disabled Apollo 13.
The right stuff for building the Lunar Module ^ Tom Kelly's testimony about the construction of the lunar module shows us the exact measure of the sacrifice he and his staff did, together with other vendors, enabling the accomplishment of Keneddy's challenge. Do you want to learn something really good about management? He tells us about a more than gigantic task, a never before run project. Do you think you know enough about quality management? He teach us how they dealt with the balance between deadlines and quality. Do you think your concern about security is enough on your projects? Learn why you're wrong. Mr. Supplier, is it hard the negotiation between you and your client? Problems with budget? See some hints and tips you'd never thought about, mainly if the project is based on not detailed nor completely defined contract specifications and prices.
All of this permeated with change dynamics hard to be realized in it's full extent by both contractor and supplier.
Weekends totally dedicated to the work, and families also with his role to play, so that emotional stability could be ensured and the project would not be affected.
And everything openly followed and criticized around the world, with press wide eyes opened.
This history, told by the responsible for LM's building, is quite poignant. Even those who do not have technical basis are moved by Kelly's storytelling. We feel the pressure and anxiety as we were the project manager.
Often, even knowing the "end of history", we are in suspense, and suddenly memory is cleared temporarily, so we find ourselves hoping for things going all OK.
Technical knowledge is important but not fundamental to read the book. Some basic knowledge of the Apollo project and the LM, available in most basic sources of information, allow the reader to read this book with pleasure.
It is important for anyone who is interested or wants to specialize in project management. And for those who like the manned space exploration, of course.
The final product was more than 100% good and perfect. Are all your projects like this, so far? Better than the book, only the job done by thousands of people leaded by Mr. Kelly, building the successfull LM.
Software developers need to read this book! ^ If you are a casual fan of the Apollo era and enjoy books covering the basic history of the program, this book is probably not for you. It is highly technical and largely covers the engineering and project management of Apollo. However, if you want to learn how complexity can be mastered and lead to undeniable success, how brilliant minds project managed their way tot he moon, then this book is for you. It's funny, but we think we are so advanced these days, especially with technology. However, I would argue that 90% of the software we build today wouldn't make the first pass of Apollo era quality and testing standards. From the web to healthcare, all of us can learn from people like Mr. Kelly. Read this book and you will see what I mean.
Tom Kelly comes across as a very patient man and very understated. This man played a key role in one of the most amazing engineering projects of all time - a vehicle that not only could land on the moon, but take off from it as well. The first true space craft (designed purely for space - never in Earth or in the atmosphere). There is a reason they call it rocket science and this is the ultimate.
Some people called the LEM ugly. I never understood that, I always thought it was amazing. This book only reinforced this opinion.
More technical info needed ^ Nearly half of this book is devoted to discussing the management systems that produced the LM. Which is fine; certainly it's well-known that the management systems developed for Apollo played a huge part in the success of the program, but I got this book hoping to learn about the nuts and bolts of the LM and its construction. There are only a handful of illustrations and little technical info about its operation. Disappointing as a book about the design and creation of the LM, but a useful addition to Apollo history.
Great intro to system engineering for engineering students & anyone who likes aerospace! ^ I'm an aerospace engineer and I absolutely LOVE this book. But even if you're a not-so-technical space nut, you may find Moon Lander quite interesting.
These days our society is really suffering because so few folks have any appreciation of how technical products are actually built. Engineers need to make more of an effort to introduce students and others to the profession. I've tried to do that through my blog AeroGo, to show how engineers think and also how technical decisions take place within a broader organizational and political environment.
Moon Lander covers a lot of ground in this respect. It packs a great account of the many different sorts of challenges Thomas Kelly's team faced building this amazing spacecraft, the one Burt Rutan called "the most impressive spaceship ever" in his Feb. 2006 TED Talk.
Of course, many of the specifics have changed since the 1960s, but it's fascinating as Kelly goes through the many twists-and-turns of the decision-making process involved in designing a highly-innovative and -complex product. While a bit technical, enough that Moon Lander isn't for everyone, it's definitely for a broader audience than just engineers.
I'm still not finished with it, and will likely edit in more comments later, but this is a very well-done book and a great introduction to how the newly-developing field of system engineering worked in the Apollo era. Highly recommended.
Interesting read ^ To see the chapter about Apollo 9 from the "From the earth to the moon" box after reading this book gave a new dimension to the characters in the episode. Mr. Kelly was indeed involved in developing one of our history's most extraordinary vehicles, perhaps the most extraorinary of them all. Interesting details on the ups and downs during development, testing and flights. Together with other books about the era, it gives a good background to the surroundings that made the backdrop to the moon stories. Can recommend it to anyone interested i the LEM/LM story
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