The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon Audiobook By Todd Zwillich cover art

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon

 Preview
Try for $0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Buy for $7.95

Buy for $7.95

LIMITED TIME OFFER. Get 3 months for $0.99 a month. Get this deal.

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.

©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC. Americas Biographies & Memoirs Professionals & Academics Science & Technology Inspiring Funny Scary Witty Feel-Good Thought-Provoking Technology Interstellar Self Help

Go Behind the Scenes of The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon

0:00
adbl_web_adaptive_pdp_alc_button_t1

Our favorite moments from The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
Kennedy enticed his skeptics…Houbolt critics balked.
-0.00
The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
Immediate attraction…
-0.00
The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
"My heartfelt congratulations…"
-0.00
  • The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
  • Kennedy enticed his skeptics…Houbolt critics balked.
  • The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
  • Immediate attraction…
  • The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
  • "My heartfelt congratulations…"

About the Creator and Performer

Todd Zwillich is a political journalist, radio host and author living in Washington, DC. He's spent much of his career covering politics from the front row on Capitol Hill, the White House and on the campaign trail. He covered politics and campaigns for The Takeaway, a public radio show, where he also served as host. Today, he can be heard regularly hosting NPR's 1A. Todd Zwillich has interviewed some of America's most well-known newsmakers, authors and historians, including Henry Kissinger, Salman Rushdie and Robert Caro. He's a lifelong space and science enthusiast.

Featured Article: The Best Biography Audiobooks to Educate, Fascinate, and Inspire


The best biographies are ranked not only by the scale and skill of their writing, but also by the strength of their subjects. In the audiobook world, these selections are also judged for the quality of their narrative performances, making those that rise to the top all the more excellent. From lighthearted entertainment to inspirational origin stories, these titles represent the best biography audiobooks now ready for your listening pleasure.

Featured Article The Best Biography Audiobooks to Educate Fascinate and Inspire
Compelling Historical Narrative • Untold Space Story • Inspiring Perseverance Tale • Significant Historical Revelation

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
I got this title with great expectations, since I love everything Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Sadly, my experience with this book never got off the ground.

I stopped listening the moment I heard the narrator talk about the baseball game attended by President Kennedy, which featured Ernie Banks of the Chicago WHITE SOX. WHITE SOX.

That is an inexcusable fact error. Even the most cursory review of history quickly reveals that Ernie Banks was Mr. Cub. As a person who spent more than 30 years working in newsrooms, your reporting of the facts is the key to your credibility. When you screw up something this easy, how can I trust you on anything else.

The writer lost me with that glaring mistake,

Massive fact error crashes, burns this title

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a wonderfully written and executed story of a man who in all estimates was at least one sin qua non making it possible to get to the moon in 1969. The amount of credit due him is debatable but it appears to be somewhere between a lot of credit and a hell of a lot of credit. More important than that is a story of perseverance and what to do when you truly believe in your ideas. John Houbolt pushes ideas against incredible rejection until they finally held sway. The risks that he took to his career are easy to ignore when you know that the outcome was a successful landing on the moon but just imagine if some of the most Brilliant Minds in the world told you that you were full of shit. How hard would you continue to push what you believe is right? At the end the book poses the example of the O-rings from the space shuttle disaster and how the key engineer there knew that something was not right but regrets to this day not fighting harder to make that case. It is always hard to imagine how we will respond when everything is really on the line and most people never really find out what they're made of in that regard but this book exemplifies what this person did in any case and it's a great book to experience as we approach the 50 year anniversary of what is to me the most consequential event that has ever happened in history of mankind.

A Wonderful Rendering of a Consequential Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was unaware of this story, and was really impressed by it. It makes.me proud to be an Engineer. Thank you for telling us about him, and those who walk in his footsteps.

An engineer with the "Right Stuff"

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Entertaining, informative, and inspiring. Todd's writing is complete and concise- does not waste any of your time. I found myself making notes for the other topics and authors I want to follow-up with next. Angelo and Todd's work is pleasure to listen to- both the performers and the production. Well assembled and seamlessly enhancing the performance without being heavy-handed. Bravo Audible for this original production!

A great story and marvelous production!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well written book with a fascinating subject. We all should know more about John Houbolt and the critical contribution he made to the save program and NASA.

Fascinating story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
what a great story about not giving up when you know you're right, and how wonderful it was reliving my childhood by listening to all the original news cast.

took me back

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A story about ego, courage, bureaucracy, defiance, frustration, funny recounts and a man who never really got the recognition that he deserved. John Houbolt was brave enough to stick up for what he knew to be right even when everyone was against it. Overall an amazing story!

A story about bravery!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A good story behind the scenes.

My main disappointment was the first two chapters, as it seemed very repetitive.... I kept thinking how can this 15 min story get strung out for 3 hours.

I hung in there and there was lots of other history in the other chapters.

Hang in there, it’s an enjoyable listen.

Good Story, could be more concise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Explores a side of history that is very interesting and, in my mind, brings up many question on where we could be and what human potential could become, pardon the next phrase, if we could all just get along. it shows that differing view points fo not have to clash a d we would benefit from cooperation. this could very we become a warning tale about infighting when a group has the same goal.

Very good book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good story I enjoyed it quite a bit the only problem was at the volume fluctuate weirdly

interested

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews