Apollo 7 was the first manned Apollo mission into space, and did a significant amount of testing and prep work ahead of the famous Apollo 11 moon landing. Without this flight the more famous later flight would not have happened. And this is the first hand account of that flight.
Compiled from several incomplete attempts at writing a memoir, “Apollo Pilot” is a posthumous account of Donn Eisele’s 1968 space flight in Apollo 7. The majority of the book (about 2/3rds of the already short book) covers the preparation, takeoff, flight in space and return, but covers little of Eisele’s life after the flight. It also includes a post script by Eisele’s second wife providing details about how and when he wrote the memoir, as well as details on his treatment by NASA (and her treatment as the first of the “second wives” by the Astronaut Wives Club). It also includes a historical section, written by Francis French, regarding the history of the space race and Apollo 7’s importance within the whole story.
The book is short but doesn’t fell like it is missing anything significant. It provides more than enough detail get an understanding of the flight and Eisele’s impressions of the Apollo rocket, NASA etc. It’s engaging and interesting throughout. A quick, interesting read.
Narration by Kevin Pierce is good. Well paced, engaging and easy to listen to. I have listening to a fair few books by Pierce and have enjoyed some more than others. This is one of his I really enjoyed, as I often find him much better on non-fiction books.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.