I would have to say that this book, more than any other, is one I have read and referred to many times over. Covering the most astonishing era of science and exploration in our history, this is the story of the man who was not only a superb pilot and astronaut, but as their influential superior forged the careers of others, by determining who would crew crucial missions. It might have been a difficult thing to have said to Deke's face, but if he hadn't been grounded with a minor heart aliment in the early 1960s, he might only be remembered today as a fellow who flew the Delta 7 Mercury mission after John Glenn's unforgettable flight, and perhaps another one or two missions. But he was forced into taking the responsible position of Chief Astronaut, and in doing so became the perfect person for the job, and today we celebrate that accidental irony. Of course he finally got to make a space flight in 1975, so his NASA astronaut career had a happy ending after all.

Deke knew all of the other astronauts well, and understood better than most who would form the most compatible and best-performing crews for a particular flight. Put two guys together in a VW bug-sized spacecraft and whirl them around the world with little to do for two weeks and see them want to kill each other by mission's end. But that didn't happen on Deke's watch - he matched people and personalities perfectly, and the crux of this, his legacy, are the many highly successful space missions that operated under his pragmatic management.

It is a cracking good book as well, and Michael Cassutt managed to get the most he could from a gravely ill Deke Slayton, who sadly passed away before this book could be published. On behalf of all spaceflight enthusiasts and historians, however, thanks heavens for Michael's foresight in conceiving and carrying through with this book; for without it a veritable raft of questions about the space program and the astronauts will forever have remained unanswered. It is certainly a definitive and reliable source of information for me, and I am delighted that the story of a great man has been so eloquently and thoroughly told.

I would have to say that this book, more than any other, is one I have read and referred to many times over. Covering the most astonishing era of science and exploration in our history, this is the story of the man who was not only a superb pilot and astronaut, but as their influential superior forged the careers of others, by determining who would crew crucial missions. It might have been a difficult thing to have said to Deke's face, but if he hadn't been grounded with a minor heart aliment in the early 1960s, he might only be remembered today as a fellow who flew the Delta 7 Mercury mission after John Glenn's unforgettable flight, and perhaps another one or two missions. But he was forced into taking the responsible position of Chief Astronaut, and in doing so became the perfect person for the job, and today we celebrate that accidental irony. Of course he finally got to make a space flight in 1975, so his NASA astronaut career had a happy ending after all.

Deke knew all of the other astronauts well, and understood better than most who would form the most compatible and best-performing crews for a particular flight. Put two guys together in a VW bug-sized spacecraft and whirl them around the world with little to do for two weeks and see them want to kill each other by mission's end. But that didn't happen on Deke's watch - he matched people and personalities perfectly, and the crux of this, his legacy, are the many highly successful space missions that operated under his pragmatic management.

It is a cracking good book as well, and Michael Cassutt managed to get the most he could from a gravely ill Deke Slayton, who sadly passed away before this book could be published. On behalf of all spaceflight enthusiasts and historians, however, thanks heavens for Michael's foresight in conceiving and carrying through with this book; for without it a veritable raft of questions about the space program and the astronauts will forever have remained unanswered. It is certainly a definitive and reliable source of information for me, and I am delighted that the story of a great man has been so eloquently and thoroughly told.

If you want to know how the first person to set foot on the moon was chosen, or any of the other why's that were previously unknown and hidden to outside knowledge, then this is the book that you'll want to read.

Deke Slayton was an astronaut himself with one of the most fascinating personal stories (which we learn in this book). But he was also deeply involved, perhaps more than anyone, in choosing who flew and on which flights.

Before Slayton died at a relatively young age, his name was added to a book called "Moon Shot," which was shallow and disappointing. The stories I knew he must have were not in there. With his death, I assumed that we'd lost any opportunity to know how the astronaut selection process had worked, something which had decided which spacefarer would be a name to be remembered for all time in the history books, and who would be obscure, even forgotten.

But then I found that he hadn't written "Moonshot" - he'd actually been working on this second, much better, much deeper book. And here are all the stories. For the first time, we learned how some of the most historic and momentous decisions were made. It makes for fascinating reading, and I am thankful that Slayton took the time to get it all down on paper before he passed away.

Possibly the best recommendation for this book is that many astronauts have commented that they did not know why they had been picked for certain flights (or passed over) until, decades after retirement, they read this book.

An essential read for anyone with the slightest interest in some of the most important historical events of our age.

If you want to know how the first person to set foot on the moon was chosen, or any of the other why's that were previously unknown and hidden to outside knowledge, then this is the book that you'll want to read.

Deke Slayton was an astronaut himself with one of the most fascinating personal stories (which we learn in this book). But he was also deeply involved, perhaps more than anyone, in choosing who flew and on which flights.

Before Slayton died at a relatively young age, his name was added to a book called "Moon Shot," which was shallow and disappointing. The stories I knew he must have were not in there. With his death, I assumed that we'd lost any opportunity to know how the astronaut selection process had worked, something which had decided which spacefarer would be a name to be remembered for all time in the history books, and who would be obscure, even forgotten.

But then I found that he hadn't written "Moonshot" - he'd actually been working on this second, much better, much deeper book. And here are all the stories. For the first time, we learned how some of the most historic and momentous decisions were made. It makes for fascinating reading, and I am thankful that Slayton took the time to get it all down on paper before he passed away.

Possibly the best recommendation for this book is that many astronauts have commented that they did not know why they had been picked for certain flights (or passed over) until, decades after retirement, they read this book.

An essential read for anyone with the slightest interest in some of the most important historical events of our age.

The book arrived within the scheduled delivery time in excellent condition.

Thank you,

Mark & Francine Keehnel

The best insiders book about the early astronaut office. It has so much good stuff about which astronaut was assigned what duties and a good behind the scenes view of each spaceflight. There are also good stories about some of the lesser known astronauts who never flew in space. A great book!

A revealing story of the least known of the original mercury astronauts, this book gives great details of Deke's life from the beginning of his childhood to his tragic death. Deke, himself knew of the brain tumor which eventually ended his life. He was worried that it would affect his memory, so we are able to benefit from his detailed recollections. Lucky for us that he was able to complete the book. This is a rare insight into a hero, written at a time in his life were he was very reflective. He obviously wanted to leave an accurate picture of his life (maybe his perceived misjudgment of Gus Grissom in "The Right Stuff" was a motivation). In any event, thanks Deke! I hope to meet you one day!

This is the autobiography of one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, selected in April 1959 to fly in space. Deke Slayton served as a NASA astronaut during Projects Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), and while he was originally scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission he was relieved of this assignment due to a mild, occasional, irregular heart palpitation discovered in August 1959. His only space flight took place in July 1975 as a crewmember aboard the ASTP mission.

Instead of flying, Slayton became the titular head of the astronauts, officially being named Coordinator of Astronaut Activities in September 1962, and was responsible for the operation of the astronaut office. In November 1963, he resigned his commission as an Air Force Major to assume the role of Director of Flight Crew Operations. For a decade he oversaw the activities of the astronauts, most importantly making crew assignments and managing the full range of astronaut activities. Slayton personally chose all of the crews, determining among other things that Neil Armstrong would be the first person to walk on the Moon in July 1969.

As one might expect, Slayton wielded enormous power at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston (renamed the Johnson Space Center in 1973) in his role as director of the astronaut office. He effectively kept a collection of egotistical-for good reason-hot-shot pilots under control and maximized their role in the NASA of the 1960s. His place in helping to ensure the success of Project Apollo cannot be underestimated. This book is the recollection of Slayton during his NASA career. It contains a lot of standard information that most space history buffs are aware of, as well as some new stories. As always in such books as this, Slayton seeks to get behind the techno-nerd facade of NASA and emphasize its human side. Accordingly, we see astronauts in social settings and in embarrassing situations, as well as in their hardworking day jobs. A high point of the book is the discussion his early experiences as a farm boy from Wisconsin who flew bombers in World War II, went to college on the GI Bill, and became a member of one of the most celebrated teams in modern American history, the Mercury Seven.

Michael Cassutt, an outstanding writer with a string of other superb books, ensures that this is an excellent memoir. Especially so, since Cassutt saw it through publication after the death of Slayton on June 13, 1993, in League City, Texas, from a brain tumor. This is not the best of the astronaut autobiographies, that distinction belongs to Michael Collins' "Carrying the Fire," but it is a pretty good one.

Here's a test pilot, who buys into the Race for Space against the Russians, and then gets grounded for a unpredictable heart defibrilation and is no longer eligible to be in the flight rotation. He can still fly planes. T-34's and 38's all he wants but nothing that goes straight up.

So he steps up and builds the Astronaut Liason office, basically making sure that the astronauts become part of mission objective developement teams, making sure that the astronauts get all of the training they can stand, and he's also the one assigning men to teams and teams to flights.

It's his job to get to know each of the astronauts well enough to (with the help of others, granted) decide who goes where and in what capacity. To make sure there aren't personality conflits with the boys on the same flights, to make sure that there is always someone else trained so that when something goes wrong, someone else can step in. What an amazing amount of pressure.

And he did write about the things that go wrong. He wrote about the airplane accidents that took the lives of several astronauts and how as a close group of workmates they had to cope and keep going. He wrote about Apollo I. He hand picked the men who would be in that tin can the day of the plugs out test. One of them Virgil (Gus) Grissom, who was a member of the "Original 7" with Deke and a good friend.

This book wasn't just about the manned space program, though that was certainly the focus, it was a autobiography written by a man who knows that he has cancer and is taking advantage of the time left to him to tell his story in his own words (though it is co-written). It is a well told story and a very interesting perspective to have. This book was middling technical, not a whole lot but some stuff, while probably dumbed down specifically for people like me who aren't pilots or engineers, was still kind of tough to slog through.

Thankfully having been around airplanes most of my life, at least that part I got the jist of. It's like there's a fly boy gene (though my grandma's got it too) that Deke had, that my Grandparents and my Dad have; that I might have a bit of. Flying is like setting things up and knocking them down. It was really cool to have this love of airplanes almost given back to me. Deke writes with such love and joy of his time flying planes that I think if you have a bit of the fly boy gene it's going to waken that up for you too.

As one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Deke Slayton was grounded before his Delta 7 seven flight (the one scheduled after Glenn's first orbital flight). Although disappointed, he overcame this set-back and became Director of Flight Operations which means he was responsible for the astronauts and flight selections. He had the respect of the group and treated them fairly.

DEKE is honest, objective, and written in a matter-of-fact manner. The most interesting part of the book is the "behind the scenes" information on crew selection and rotation. A very interesting fact is that Deke, Kraft, and Gilruth agreed that a Mercury astronaut would make the first landing on the moon if possible. Gus Grissom was unofficially tapped to take the first step on the moon prior to his tragic death on the pad for an Apollo 1 test.

Ten years after being grounded in Mercury, Deke gets clearance to fly in the joint US-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz mission. This was long overdue and add poetic justice for someone responsible, in large part, for NASA's success.

I recommend reading Chris Kraft's Flight book first. It gives a detailed historical perspective while DEKE fills the gaps. My respect for Deke Slayton is even greater than ever after reading this book.

As a person born in the late 60's, I was facinated with the space program and astronauts while growing-up. I've read virtually every autobiography written by an astronaut from that era from the good (Michael Collins) to the terrible (Gordon Cooper) and rate this one #2, only sitting behind Collins' Carrying the Fire. Slayton was a matter-of-fact, pull-no-punches man who wrote what he felt. I especially enjoyed reading his insights on why he gave certain astronauts certain missions and was amazed when he stated that if Gus Grisson would have lived, he would have been the first man to walk on the moon (instead of Armstrong.)

If you are interested in the space program, read this book (instead of "Moonshot", for example)--you will not be disappointed.

Having read several NASA histories and astronaut biographies, for years I had been curious about the Apollo program's chief astronaut, Deke Slayton. Thankfully the autobiography "Deke" delivers his story and delivers it very well.

Unlike in "Moonshot" (the other purported co-autobiography of Deke Slayton along with fellow astronaut Alan Shepard), "Deke" comes across as you would have imagined the man - direct, somewhat gruff, but fair and honest. One of the Original Seven astronauts, Slayton candidly writes how the men, the machines, and the space missions combined into stepping stones to the moon. What really stands out, however, are his observations of the astronauts. He knew them all and to him crew assignments, which he picked, weren't slots to be filled. Instead they were unique individuals, each of whom was ideally suited and prepared for a space mission. So "Deke" ends up providing the most comprehensive view of the astronaut corps in the 1960s.

"Deke" is also one of the few NASA autobiographies written with professional humility. Slayton's confidence comes across without him touting his accomplishments, yet this book cemented my idea of Slayton as one of the most underrated participants in NASA's history. From the astronauts' perspective, his contributions were as important as the German rocket makers who took us to the moon. That makes "Deke" absolutely necessary for anyone with even a passing curiosity in NASA, astronauts, and space travel.

It would be hard to pick any one key figure in the race to land men on the moon, but Deke Slayton would have to be on the short list. Grounded from Mercury, he went on to head the Astronaut Office, deciding who would become an astronaut, who would fly and when, and, eventually, who would walk on the moon.

This is his story, from his childhood through to his work with Space Services, trying to establish an independent launch capability from NASA's government rockets.

Of course, the key part is his career with NASA, from being selected as a Mercury astronaut through Gemini and Apollo and finally getting to fly on Apollo-Soyuz. It's a unique inside viewpoint, and he tells it with frank detail. A little more polished than Gene Kranz's book, it ends up coming across as a bit more matter-of-fact and less from the heart, though no less upfront for all that. In particular, the recounting of the Apollo 1 fire is less rending than Kranz's.

Interspersed with the autobiography are interesting bits entitled "Other Voices," as his colleagues and, in a couple of instances, his son give their perspective on a particular incident or situation. It makes for an interesting enhancement to the main text and most worthwhile.

Along with Kranz's book, this is another must-have memoir of the golden age of NASA,

If you have even the slighest bit of interest in the history of space navigation or in NASA itself then this is a great book. I have read a lot of books on this subject and found that I got lost in the techincal jargon but not so in this book. Deke Slayton has written a great book that is flies by as you read it.

As an avid reader of the manned space program, I tend to enjoy books that don't just re-hash the history of the program and space race with the Soviets... and I got it here. Slayton gives us his no-nonsense explanation and perspective of the program while not over-burdening us with details that are found numerous times over in other accounts (like his co-authorship with Alan Shepard for "Moonshot") ... what this leaves you with is a picture of how (I'm sure) Slayton went about his business with NASA and how others at NASA perceived him. I enjoyed his "get on with it" attitude as well as his explanation of some of the lesser known items from the early days (i.e. his Mercury mission would have been called Delta-7 had he had a chance to fly it...). Don't get this book expecting just a chronology of the space race, but get it if you want an account that assumes that you know a little of the program and want a different perspective of it

Deke Slayton's memoir of his life is one of the best around. His folksy language and humble "aw shucks" attitude make this book an account of spaceflight from a regular joe.

Deke tells us the striaght story no embellishments and gives us honest opinions. He worked around some famous people and some legends of our time, and it's fascinating to read his opinions of them.

Deke also takes us deep into the brotherhood of the astronauts. It's a culture that few ever experience, and Deke gives an outsider enough information to understand it, but not to violate the privacy of the members of it.

Truly this is a great book. What is most tragic is that Deke never lived to see it published. He truly was an American Hero and his book does him credit. It's an intelligent, humble and very readable account of one man's life as an astronaut.

After reading 13 glowing reviews on this web site, I expected Deke! to be one of the best books on the Space Program I'd ever encounter.

Unfortunately, I feel this book misses its mark. It is indeed an enjoyable and an easy read, but it does not reflect the intellegence and modesty inherent in so many of the men and women NASA selects to send into space.

Deke is a poorly written string of cliche and coloquialism. While I wasn't reading this as a grammar professor, the banality of the writing style TRULY UNDERMINDED what this man did with his life, making him sound like a simpleton and a soundbyte. Additionally, his self promotion questioned the significance of all that he truly was. This man had one of the coolest jobs ever - everyone can deduce that; yet he needed to beat his chest about it consistently - seems tasteless after the hundredth time.

The men and women who have the privlage of exploring space on the US Taxpayer dollar are some of the brightest people in the United States. I would feel a great more affection for this book if his writing focused more on sharing his unique experiences and less on trying to make the Author sound "cool."

I grew up on the back gate of NASA-JSC, and have met several people involved in the space program, including a few astronauts. I am also an engineer.

This book goes into great detail from a man who was there all the time from the beginning in 1959 until he retired in 1982. Slayton wrote this as he was dying, and I learned quite a bit about World War II and being a test pilot.

For example, I did not know that exceptional high school grads could fly during WWII, and they had to apply for commissions after the war was over. Slayton went to college on the GI Bill, and served in the Minnesota National Guard. He was called back into the National Guard in 1951 during the Korean War. Slayton was a man who enjoyed flying.

Slayton also goes into details about Delta Seven, which was supposed to be his Mercury mission,which he lost due to a heart ailment. Later, he flew on Apollo-Soyuz. Slayton also covers how mission crews were chosen, and who was even on the backup crews. This way, I found out who the crews were for flights that never took place (Apollo 18 and 19, plus probable choices for Apollo 20). Slayton also covers his days at Space Services, Inc. (I wish someone would try to do something like Space Services, Inc.)

What I really liked was I got some inspiration to write a book about the astronauts from the Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program. Slayton mentions 3-4 pages about this group of "forgotten astronauts." Many of these astronauts showed a lot of perseverance and waited up to 14 years to fly for the first time on the Space Shuttle.

This is an outstanding book, written by the man who assigned astronuats to their missions. With Dekes "lets get on with it" attitude and great organizational skills made a great success in Americas quest to explore space.

This is a dry, uninteresting autobiography. Slayton had one of the most exciting and interesting jobs of the 20th Century (actually he had 2 or 3 of them), but you wouldn't know it by reading this book. Slayton's writing makes putting a man on the moon sound about as exciting as a trip to the mall. The title of the book suggests an autobiography that reflects Slayton's huge contribution to the space program, but it really doesn't come across. There is way too much emphasis on the technicalities of who was going to fly each mission and not enough attention paid to the actual personalities and events. Because this book was written by Slayton I thought there would be a lot of opinion and information on the abilities and character of America's astronauts. There was some, but not enough to make the book a worthwhile read. There are a lot of much more informative and interesting books on the space program.

Not only did this book provide the more insight into the space program than any other I have read, but it also was immensely entertaining. Deke Slayton obviously had a brilliant sense of humor. I was of course very interested in the historical content of the book, but what made the book impossible to put down was that I just wanted to keep reading to see what he would say next. (Previously I'd never finished a book in less than 5 months. I read this one in 1 week.) His account is very candid and incredibly honest, and he does not in the least hold back in his assessment of anyone or anything. I'm sure you'll find these comments as amusing as I did. Definitely read this one!

This book became more enjoyable with each page. Knowing that Deke died right after the completion of the book makes the fact that he seems to become even more honest and straighforward as the book progressed make sense. He was running out of time, and didn't have time to mince words, so you got to see his real feelings come out clearly. A must read for anyone who wants to have a sense for the kind of person it took to make the space program a reality.

I really liked the inside view of the early space program given in this book. However I was a bit disappointed in Deke's recounting of his own space flight. He waited 15 years to fly and then writes about it in one chapter!! Come on he left his emotions at the door of the capsule. Overall though I would hhighly recommend this book to anyone interested in this great moment in the hidtory of the United States.

There was too much as Deke as a young boy. A lot of Deke as a young flyer, and not that much as Deke as an Astronaut.

It is just not in the "Lost Moon", "Right Stuff" catagory.

I would not recommend it.

A surprisingly candid autobiography from one of the central figures of the space program of the 1960's and '70's. Of particular interest to space 'nuts' is the crew selection decisions for which Slayton was chiefly responsible. The kind of frank opinions he offers of his colleagues are not found in other NASA memoirs.

A much better book than Moonshot - which came out the same year.

As a life long student of Apollo I enjoyed reading Slayton's autobiography for his insights into the space program. However what impressed me most was Slayton's compassion for those around him and his life long capacity for growth.

Slayton was requird to hire astronauts to fill the most optimistic flight projections possible so as not to be caught short handed. Alas NASA funds were severely cut beginning in the late 1960's leaving the astronaut office with more men than flights. Many astronauts seemed to hold Slayton responsible for this and some criticized him in print. To his credit Slayton did not respond in kind. On the contrary he said that he regretted not having enough flights to make everyone happy.

I also was impressed that even in his later years Slayton was finding new interests such as reading novels and caring for pets, (as a result of this he had to give up hunting, he could no longer bring himself to kill animals). I had expected to find Slayton a stern task master and was pleasantly surprised to find a very humane person.

When the Challenger blew up and the country sat aghast, Deke Slayton was interviewed for his opinion. You see the steel in his eyes when he growled, "...You fix them and then you fly them. You DON'T STOP...". And they did.

They made a good one when they made Deke. He started out a farm kid with 9 1/2 fingers from one of the poorer counties in Wisconsin, fought in WWII, was a test pilot, selected crews when the medics wouldn't clear him until the very last Apollo flight, and when NASA was behind him he flew airplanes until his body wouldn't let him anymore.

For anyone with a deep interest in Mercury/Gemini/Apollo, this book is a must read. It provides excellent insight into the test pilot perspective on the space program. Deke's comments on astronaut selection and who he wanted to be first on the moon are not to be found anywhere else. However this book is definitely not the first one to read on this era. A basic understanding of the architecture and operations of Apollo is assumed. But if you can appreciate why Deke notices every time Gene Kranz leaves the MOCR, this book is for you. For a scientist's perspective on this era, Don Wilhelms' "To a Rocky Moon" would make an excellent companion. Add the hard-to-find "Apollo: Race to the Moon" and you have a great education in Apollo.

This is perhaps the finest book written by one of our astronauts. Deke was the unsung hero of the original seven but without hime their would have been no moonwalks. The book is filled with interesting personal thoughts, especially on the astronaut selection process, without a lot of bs. One gets the feeling when reading this book that Slayton is sitting in the chair next to you telling you his story. Wonderful book...

I also recommend Carrying The Fire by Mike Collins

Deke Slayton writes about NASA, the shuttle, and the moon with clarity, enthusiasm, and experience. I can't say I agree with his child-rearing ideas or his politics, but who cares? The book is fantastic. I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in American space exploration.

Good biography of an often overlooked major player in America's race to the moon. Slayton shoots straight from the hip, telling the reader what he thinks -- calling a spade a spade. Of particular interest to Apollo fans is Slayton's descision making in selecting the crews for the different missions. Very intersting. Good coverage of the Apollo-Soyuz mission as well. Good history of what path Slayton took to become one of "The Seven". If you've read "Moon Shot", this is better