The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon

Product Description

The story of John C. Houbolt, an unsung hero of Apollo 11 and the man who showed NASA how to put America on the moon.
Without John C. Houbolt, a mid-level engineer at NASA, Apollo 11 would never have made it to the moon.
Top NASA engineers on the project, including Werner Von Braun, strongly advocated for a single, huge spacecraft to travel to the moon, land, and return to Earth. It's the scenario used in 1950s cartoons and horror movies about traveling to outer space.
Houbolt had another idea: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. LOR would link two spacecraft in orbit while the crafts were travelling at 3,600 miles an hour around the moon. His plan was ridiculed and considered unthinkable. But this junior engineer was irrepressible. He stood by his concept, fired off memos to executives, and argued that LOR was the only way to success.
For the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11, hear the untold story of the man who helped fulfill Kennedy's challenge to reach the moon and begin exploring the final frontier.

About the Author

Todd Zwillich has been a public radio journalist for more than 15 years. Before hosting 1A, he hosted and was Washington Correspondent for The Takeaway from WNYC.
He’s covered Capitol Hill, campaigns and (way too many) Democratic and GOP conventions for more than two decades.
Before covering politics and the Hill full time, Todd was a health care reporter covering health policy, politics, science and medicine. Last year he released a best-selling Audible audiobook titled “The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon” about an unsung hero of the Apollo missions.