Gemini
Stepping Stone to the Moon, the Untold Story
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4.8 • 25 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF FALL 2025
From the bestselling co-author of Apollo 13 comes the thrilling untold story of the pioneering Gemini program that was instrumental in getting Americans on the moon.
Without Gemini, there would be no Apollo.
After we first launched Americans into space but before we touched down on the moon’s surface, there was the Gemini program. It was no easy jump from manned missions in low-Earth orbit to a successful moon landing, and the ten-flight, twenty-month celestial story of the Gemini program is an extraordinary one. There was unavoidable darkness in the program—the deaths and near-deaths that defined it, and the blood feud with the Soviet Union that animated it.
But there were undeniable and previously inconceivable successes. With a war raging in Vietnam and lawmakers calling for cuts to NASA’s budget, the success of the Gemini program—or the space program in general—was never guaranteed. Yet against all odds, the remarkable scientists and astronauts behind the project persevered, and their efforts paid off. Later, with the knowledge gained from the Gemini flights, NASA would launch the legendary Apollo program.
Told with Jeffrey Kluger’s signature cinematic storytelling and in-depth research and interviews, Gemini is an edge-of-your-seat narrative chronicling the history of the least appreciated—and most groundbreaking—space program in American history. Finally, Gemini’s story will be told, and finally, we’ll learn the truth of how we landed on the moon.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This exhilarating piece of space-race history shows how ten risky flights forged the skills that made the moon shot possible. Apollo 13 co-author Jeffrey Kluger traces Project Gemini from approval to splashdown, covering the program’s core tests, from long-duration orbits to spacewalks to the first American rendezvous and docking. Along the way we encounter the uncontrolled spin of Gemini 8 and other white-knuckle crises that reveal how astronauts and engineers adapted and secured the margins Apollo would need to succeed. Explanations of orbital mechanics and on-orbit procedures stay crisp and accessible, turning dense checklists into clear, suspenseful set pieces. Balancing cockpit transcripts, engineering details, and personal moments with steady control, Kluger makes a persuasive case that Apollo’s triumphs were built in Gemini’s cramped cabins. A thrilling, clarifying read, Gemini restores the project’s missions to their rightful place in the moon story.
Customer Reviews
A journey behind the scenes of the space program
A good documentary of the space program, a lot of which you have never heard of, a fascinating read.