
The Space Race
An Audible Original
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $9.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kate Mulgrew
About this listen
Winner of the Gold Science & Technology trophy at the 2020 New York Festivals Radio Awards
The 1960s space race captured our imaginations and our dreams. Today’s efforts to revitalize and expand space travel is being driven not just by government agencies such as NASA, but also by visionaries such as Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic), Elon Musk (SpaceX), and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin).
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, this major documentary-drama series brings to life the past, present, and future of man’s exploration of space. Between 1969 and 1972, twelve Americans walked on the moon. You’ll get to experience the thrill of that era and much, much more.
Narrated by Kate Mulgrew (Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominee for Orange Is the New Black; Obie Award winner for Iphigenia 2.0); TV: Star Trek: Voyager, film: Star Trek: Nemesis), The Space Race uses actual audio, original interviews, dramatic reconstructions, and first-hand accounts to tell the story of mankind’s first amazing steps off our world and onto the lunar surface.
With unprecedented access, The Space Race takes listeners to Virgin Galactic’s space program in the Mojave Desert, features conversations with Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Sergei Krikalev, Tim Peake, and numerous key players at mission control. This Audible Original and takes you behind the scenes to see how these exciting adventures in outer space came to be.
©2019 Audible, Ltd (P)2019 Audible, LtdListeners also enjoyed...
-
Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
-
-
Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
Apollo 13
- By: Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
-
-
Great story but a terrible narrator
- By Nicci on 01-29-20
By: Jim Lovell, and others
-
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
- What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything
- By: Chris Hadfield
- Narrated by: Chris Hadfield
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success - and survival - is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst and enjoy every moment of it.
-
-
Chris Hadfield Is The Real Thing!
- By Kathy in CA on 08-16-16
By: Chris Hadfield
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
Life on Mars
- Poems
- By: Tracy K. Smith
- Narrated by: Tracy K. Smith
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In these brilliant new poems, Tracy K. Smith envisions a sci-fi future sucked clean of any real dangers, contemplates the dark matter that keeps people both close and distant, and revisits the kitschy concepts like "love" and "illness" now relegated to the Museum of Obsolescence. These poems reveal the realities of life lived here, on the ground, where a daughter is imprisoned in the basement by her own father, where celebrities and pop stars walk among us, and where the poet herself loses her father, one of the engineers who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope.
-
-
Instantly and Profoundly Moved
- By Dr. Bob on 11-06-18
By: Tracy K. Smith
-
Space Race
- Space Race, Book 1
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Arlo Lewis was resigned to his station in life as a supply hauler for one of the Primary Corporations ruling Earth, until an acquisition forces him to re-evaluate his situation. When he’s hand selected to lead SeaTech’s Race team, he struggles to return to the competitive field he abandoned as a teenager. With an eager team, and the promise of a better future, Arlo takes on the challenge, only to find more at stake than the rights to Proxima. Under the threat of a revolution brewing at the finish line, things don’t go as expected.
-
-
Hystad is Masterful – Utterly Exhilarating Ride!!!
- By Jas P on 07-03-21
By: Nathan Hystad
-
Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
-
-
Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
Apollo 13
- By: Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
-
-
Great story but a terrible narrator
- By Nicci on 01-29-20
By: Jim Lovell, and others
-
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth
- What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything
- By: Chris Hadfield
- Narrated by: Chris Hadfield
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success - and survival - is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst and enjoy every moment of it.
-
-
Chris Hadfield Is The Real Thing!
- By Kathy in CA on 08-16-16
By: Chris Hadfield
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
Life on Mars
- Poems
- By: Tracy K. Smith
- Narrated by: Tracy K. Smith
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In these brilliant new poems, Tracy K. Smith envisions a sci-fi future sucked clean of any real dangers, contemplates the dark matter that keeps people both close and distant, and revisits the kitschy concepts like "love" and "illness" now relegated to the Museum of Obsolescence. These poems reveal the realities of life lived here, on the ground, where a daughter is imprisoned in the basement by her own father, where celebrities and pop stars walk among us, and where the poet herself loses her father, one of the engineers who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope.
-
-
Instantly and Profoundly Moved
- By Dr. Bob on 11-06-18
By: Tracy K. Smith
-
Space Race
- Space Race, Book 1
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Arlo Lewis was resigned to his station in life as a supply hauler for one of the Primary Corporations ruling Earth, until an acquisition forces him to re-evaluate his situation. When he’s hand selected to lead SeaTech’s Race team, he struggles to return to the competitive field he abandoned as a teenager. With an eager team, and the promise of a better future, Arlo takes on the challenge, only to find more at stake than the rights to Proxima. Under the threat of a revolution brewing at the finish line, things don’t go as expected.
-
-
Hystad is Masterful – Utterly Exhilarating Ride!!!
- By Jas P on 07-03-21
By: Nathan Hystad
-
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There's no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.
-
-
Disappointing - not much physics
- By Rob Hahn on 07-15-17
-
Rocket Men
- The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
- By: Robert Kurson
- Narrated by: Ray Porter, Robert Kurson
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the moon - in just four months.
-
-
The Men Who Saved 1968
- By Gillian on 04-04-18
By: Robert Kurson
-
Cosmos
- A Personal Voyage
- By: Carl Sagan
- Narrated by: LeVar Burton, Seth MacFarlane, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space.
-
-
Over-acting voice actors
- By John on 11-09-17
By: Carl Sagan
-
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
- By: Andrew Chaikin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 23 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, History/Biography, 2016. On the night of July 20, 1969, our world changed forever when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Based on in-depth interviews with 23 of the 24 moon voyagers, as well as those who struggled to get the program moving, A Man on the Moon conveys every aspect of the Apollo missions with breathtaking immediacy and stunning detail.
-
-
Long, comforting book on moon exploration
- By Mark on 06-17-16
By: Andrew Chaikin
-
The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway
- The History of the Captain Who Went Further Than Any Had Before
- By: Una McCormack
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kathryn Janeway reveals her career in Starfleet, from her first command to her epic journey through the Delta Quadrant leading to her rise to the top as vice-admiral in Starfleet Command. Discover the story of the woman who travelled further than any human ever had before, stranded decades from home, encountering new worlds and species.
-
-
So Happy To Have Kate Mulgrew Read “Her” Story
- By Truman on 01-29-21
By: Una McCormack
-
The Wright Brothers
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
-
-
Disappointing
- By Sara on 07-10-16
By: David McCullough
-
Drive
- An Expanse Short Story
- By: James S. A. Corey
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story set in the universe of James S. A. Corey's NYT best-selling Expanse series. Now a Prime Original series. This story will be available in the complete Expanse story collection, Memory’s Legion.
-
-
Fun little short story
- By Carson on 12-28-21
-
The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
- By: Todd Zwillich
- Narrated by: Todd Zwillich, Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Caveat Emptor: Bone to Pick
- By Judah Family on 07-05-19
By: Todd Zwillich
-
Into the Great Emptiness
- Peril and Survival on the Greenland Ice Cap
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By 1930, no place in the world was less well explored than Greenland. The native Inuit had occupied the relatively accessible west coast for centuries. The east coast, however, was another story. In August 1930, Henry George Watkins (nicknamed “Gino”), a twenty-three-year-old British explorer, led thirteen scientists and explorers on an ambitious expedition to the east coast of Greenland and into its vast and forbidding interior to set up a permanent meteorological base on the icecap, 8,200 feet above sea level.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Sandy L Fleming on 12-02-22
By: David Roberts
-
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
- Bobiverse, Book 1
- By: Dennis E. Taylor
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's a reason We Are Legion was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself.
-
-
Ignore the Publisher's Summary! This is Amazing!
- By PW on 04-12-17
By: Dennis E. Taylor
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
A very pleasant surprise
- By Simon on 06-17-17
-
The Three-Body Problem
- By: Cixin Liu, Ken Liu - translator
- Narrated by: Rosalind Chao
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
-
-
Why Rosalamd Chao?
- By Erin on 02-29-24
By: Cixin Liu, and others
Our favorite moments from The Space Race

About the Creator
Colin Brake was trained in script editing by Tony Holland, the co-creator of EastEnders, and subsequently worked on the award-winning BBC soap as a story editor and as a story line editor. He was a writer and script executive for the 1990s Carnival Films/BBC Saturday night adventure series BUGS. He has written scripts for a variety of shows including EastEnders, Crossroads, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Byker Grove, and more than 30 episodes of the BBC daytime soap, Doctors. He has also written Doctor Who and Jago & Litefoot audio dramas for Big Finish. Additionally, he is a published author, having written novels for the best-selling BBC Books series of Doctor Who fiction (Price of Paradise, Judgement of the Judoon), as well as original children’s novels (Gunk Aliens), novelizations (Merlin), interactive fiction (Decide Your Destiny), and franchise fiction (Transformers, Doctor Who).

About the Creator
Patrick Chapman is an award-winning writer based in Dublin, Ireland. His audio work includes writing for Doctor Who (Big Finish) and B7 Media’s Dan Dare, as well as writing for the Audible documentary-drama series, The Space Race. He was producer on B7’s NY Festivals award-winning 2014 dramatization of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles for BBC Radio. Other work includes 20 episodes of animated television (Garth & Bev, Wildernuts, Sydney Sailboat/Bubble Bath Bay, The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill) and Burning the Bed, an award-winning short film. He has published eight poetry collections and four books of fiction since 1991, most recently Slow Clocks of Decay; So Long, Napoleon Solo; Anhedonia; and Open Season on the Moon. With poet Dimitra Xidous, he founded and edits the poetry magazine The Pickled Body. He won first prize for a story in the 2003 Cinescape Genre Literary Contest, was twice a finalist in the Hennessy Literary Awards, and in 2010 received a coveted Pushcart Prize nomination.

About the Producer
Multi-award-winning science and environment journalist Richard Hollingham is an experienced radio producer, space correspondent for BBC Future, and a launch commentator for the European Space Agency. Winner of an Arthur C. Clarke Award for Space Achievement: Media, Broadcast, and Written, and runner-up in both the Best British Science Writer and Best Radio Program categories of the 2018 Association of British Science Writers’ Awards, he is a former Senior Producer for BBC’s flagship news program, Today, and its first science producer. A producer/host of the award-winning Space Boffins podcast and hundreds of BBC radio programs, Richard has written for New Scientist, Discover, and most national UK newspapers. Richard is author of Blood and Guts: a History of Surgery and co-author with Sue Nelson of How to Clone the Perfect Blonde (long-listed for the 2004 Royal Society science book prize).

About the Creator
Richard Kurti is a screenwriter and novelist whose film writing includes commissions for US studios (Universal, Warner Bros, Miramax, and Fox Searchlight) and UK companies such as Working Title and Pathe. In television his credits include BBC adaptations of Kidnapped (2005) and Sherlock Holmes (2007), episodes of Robin Hood (BBC), Primeval (ITV), Sinbad (Sky), Wolfblood (CBBC), and a large-scale adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal for Sky (2010). He has written several radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and Audible Originals, including critically acclaimed dramatizations of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (2014), Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (winner, Best Audio Drama, 2016 Audie Awards), Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot (2017), and the re-imagining of comic-strip space hero Dan Dare (winner, Best Online Drama, NYC International Radio Program Awards 2018). He has also written two YA novels for Walker Books—Monkey Wars and Maladapted. His novels, TV, and radio dramas have won multiple awards and nominations.

About the Producer
An award-winning radio producer, science journalist, and former BBC-TV science and environment correspondent, Sue Nelson has reported on science for all the BBC’s national television and radio news programs. She has hosted numerous Radio 4 programs, was editor of The Biologist (2010–15), and produces documentaries for BBC Radio. She also co-produces/hosts the Space Boffins podcast. Sue is a published playwright, has written for a TV game show, most of the UK’s newspapers, and has had several screenplays made into short films. Her book,Wally Funk’s Race for Space, was published in the UK (2018) and the US (2019).

About the Producer
Helen Quigley is a voice-over artist and producer with nearly twenty years’ experience in producing audio for broadcast. As a producer, her work includes network radio commercials for the BBC’s flagship TV programming, including Poldark, Line of Duty, Doctor Foster, The Apprentice, and Blue Planet II. Previously she was a continuity announcer and producer for Comedy Central UK, working with up-and-coming comedians. As a voice-over artist, she records commercials, training modules, telephone messages for major tech companies, and narration for web videos—from corporate to comic—including the worldwide viral hit, Porn Sex vs. Real Sex: The Differences Explained with Food, viewed more than 18 million times on YouTube.

About the Producer/Director
Andrew Mark Sewell is a multi-award-winning independent filmmaker, broadcast executive, and radio drama producer/director. Formerly creative director at BBC Worldwide, he was involved in all phases of preparing customized cross-format packages for broadcast. Credits include Tomorrow’s World+, Ghostwatch LIVE, and Walking with Dinosaurs. In radio, Sewell has a growing reputation for producing dramatic, widescreen audio stories, which sound lived-in, real, and cinematic. His name has become synonymous with some of the most popular science fiction audio drama produced in the last decade, including the BBC television series Blake’s 7 (BBC Radio) and Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (BBC Radio). Film credits include Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (Best Narrative Feature, 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival), The Cuckoo in the Clock, and Roundabout. Awards include Best Digital Drama for Dan Dare (BBC Radio) at the NYC International Radio Program Awards (2018), adding to his double Best Director wins in 2017 for I, Robot (BBC Radio) and Dan Dare. Sewell was also twice nominated as Best Drama Producer at the AudioUK Production Awards (2015, 2017).
Featured Article: The Best Audiobooks for Star Gazers, Amateur Astronomers, and UFOlogists
From the beginning of time, humans have looked up to the sky in adoration and curiosity, a trend that continues today. The future of space exploration is abundant with people curious to discover what lies beyond the little blue marble we call Earth. Whether you’re someone who looks up to the sky and wonders what that one bright star is, or a seasoned astronomy enthusiast looking to become a pro, these audiobooks are full of insights and revelations.
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
#1 in Customer Service
- The Complete Adventures of Tom Stranger
- By: Larry Correia
- Narrated by: Adam Baldwin, Larry Correia
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether he’s underwriting for an overlord, or wearing a pocket protector in a pocket universe, Tom Stranger has just one policy: providing Quality Customer Service. No alien menace is too menacing, no galactic rift too rifty for the multiverse’s most-trusted Interdimensional Insurance Agent in these three brand-new adventures and two classic escapades.
-
-
First half good
- By Ben Koch on 01-07-20
By: Larry Correia
-
Herbie
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrated by: Rich Cohen
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every life reaches that crucial intersection, the place where you must choose your fate, or have it chosen for you. For best-selling author Rich Cohen (The Fish That Ate the Whale, The Last Pirate of New York), it came in a writing workshop senior year in college, when, at 17, he had to knuckle under to a ruthless professor or make a righteous, self-defeating stand.
-
-
Foul Language Warning
- By In SLC on 06-14-20
By: Rich Cohen
-
Phreaks
- By: Matthew Derby
- Narrated by: Ben McKenzie, Carrie Coon, Christian Slater, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1970. Emma Gable, a blind teenager coming of age in a small industrial town in Western New York, is about as far from the seismic cultural transformations rocking campuses and city streets across America as a person can get. Emma escapes the chaos of her dysfunctional family by dialing up random numbers on the phone in her bedroom, just to see who'll answer.
-
-
Great Performance. Unlikable Characters
- By Abby on 08-08-20
By: Matthew Derby
-
Tin Man
- Galaxy's Edge, Book 0.5
- By: Jason Anspach, Nick Cole
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wilds of a jungle planet, the Legion fights in brutal combat as Republic marines fly their SLICS from one tragedy to the next. H292, a repurposed warbot, shows the heart of a hero as he wades into the battle not to destroy - but to save.
-
-
So cool
- By Chris on 02-01-20
By: Jason Anspach, and others
-
Apollo
- By: Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
-
-
Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
- By JDM on 10-29-19
By: Charles Murray, and others
-
The Cuckoo's Cry
- By: Caroline Overington
- Narrated by: Aimee Horne
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the global lockdown, Don Barlow opens the door of his old beachside cottage to find a pretty girl with pink-tipped hair, claiming to have nowhere to go. He allows her entry, and so begins a mystery set in unprecedented times: with the virus raging outside their home, the girl cannot be asked to leave, but what does he risk by having her stay?
-
-
Slow burning Aussie suspense in the time of COVID
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 07-04-20
-
#1 in Customer Service
- The Complete Adventures of Tom Stranger
- By: Larry Correia
- Narrated by: Adam Baldwin, Larry Correia
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether he’s underwriting for an overlord, or wearing a pocket protector in a pocket universe, Tom Stranger has just one policy: providing Quality Customer Service. No alien menace is too menacing, no galactic rift too rifty for the multiverse’s most-trusted Interdimensional Insurance Agent in these three brand-new adventures and two classic escapades.
-
-
First half good
- By Ben Koch on 01-07-20
By: Larry Correia
-
Herbie
- By: Rich Cohen
- Narrated by: Rich Cohen
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every life reaches that crucial intersection, the place where you must choose your fate, or have it chosen for you. For best-selling author Rich Cohen (The Fish That Ate the Whale, The Last Pirate of New York), it came in a writing workshop senior year in college, when, at 17, he had to knuckle under to a ruthless professor or make a righteous, self-defeating stand.
-
-
Foul Language Warning
- By In SLC on 06-14-20
By: Rich Cohen
-
Phreaks
- By: Matthew Derby
- Narrated by: Ben McKenzie, Carrie Coon, Christian Slater, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1970. Emma Gable, a blind teenager coming of age in a small industrial town in Western New York, is about as far from the seismic cultural transformations rocking campuses and city streets across America as a person can get. Emma escapes the chaos of her dysfunctional family by dialing up random numbers on the phone in her bedroom, just to see who'll answer.
-
-
Great Performance. Unlikable Characters
- By Abby on 08-08-20
By: Matthew Derby
-
Tin Man
- Galaxy's Edge, Book 0.5
- By: Jason Anspach, Nick Cole
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the wilds of a jungle planet, the Legion fights in brutal combat as Republic marines fly their SLICS from one tragedy to the next. H292, a repurposed warbot, shows the heart of a hero as he wades into the battle not to destroy - but to save.
-
-
So cool
- By Chris on 02-01-20
By: Jason Anspach, and others
-
Apollo
- By: Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
-
-
Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
- By JDM on 10-29-19
By: Charles Murray, and others
-
The Cuckoo's Cry
- By: Caroline Overington
- Narrated by: Aimee Horne
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the global lockdown, Don Barlow opens the door of his old beachside cottage to find a pretty girl with pink-tipped hair, claiming to have nowhere to go. He allows her entry, and so begins a mystery set in unprecedented times: with the virus raging outside their home, the girl cannot be asked to leave, but what does he risk by having her stay?
-
-
Slow burning Aussie suspense in the time of COVID
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 07-04-20
-
When You Finish Saving the World
- By: Jesse Eisenberg
- Narrated by: Kaitlyn Dever, Jesse Eisenberg, Finn Wolfhard
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From playwright, author and Oscar-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg, When You Finish Saving the World tells the moving and evocative story of three individuals working to understand each other and themselves: Nathan, a father learning to connect with his newborn son; Rachel, a young college student seeking to find her place in a relationship and in life, before marriage to Nathan; and Ziggy, their son, a teenager hoping to figure out where he came from, and where he’s headed.
-
-
Five hours eavesdropping on therapy tapes - blech!
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 08-08-20
By: Jesse Eisenberg
-
A Woman of the World
- By: Rebecca Gilman
- Narrated by: Kathleen Chalfant
- Length: 1 hr and 8 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Mabel Loomis Todd, an inspired conversationalist who routinely invites scandal and ignores the rules of 19th century society. Now in her 70s and living on Hog Island in Maine, the outspoken writer and editor is holding court, entertaining us with musings on her colorful life, spilling secrets, and revealing the truth about how she turned Emily Dickinson into a household name.
-
-
Not worth time
- By EA Schaefer on 04-04-20
By: Rebecca Gilman
-
Thicker than Water
- By: Tyler Shultz
- Narrated by: Tyler Shultz
- Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the hero whistleblower of the infamous Theranos scam, Thicker than Water is a look at never-before-revealed details behind closed doors at the company, revealing a cautionary tale of corporate bullying, gaslighting, ego, and wealth running amok in Silicon Valley. Tyler Shultz had been in the workforce for less than a year when he emailed Elizabeth Holmes, his employer and the CEO and founder of Theranos, with concerns that the company’s lab practices were faulty, ignored quality control, and were potentially dangerous to patients.
-
-
A Beautiful Soul
- By J.Shultz on 08-05-20
By: Tyler Shultz
-
Inside Jobs
- Tales from a Time of Quarantine
- By: Ben H. Winters
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello, Kevin T. Collins, Ellen Archer
- Length: 2 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three offbeat stories of crime and conundrum, set in the present moment, from the New York Times best-selling, Edgar Award-winning author of Underground Airlines and The Last Policeman.
-
-
Modern fun.
- By Jesse on 05-02-20
By: Ben H. Winters
-
American Moonshot
- John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race
- By: Douglas Brinkley
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing approaches, the award-winning historian and perennial New York Times best-selling author takes a fresh look at the space program, President John F. Kennedy’s inspiring challenge, and America’s race to the moon.
-
-
This narrator sounds like a frikkin robot! 👎👎👎
- By Timothy Anderson on 04-04-19
By: Douglas Brinkley
-
Life Ever After
- By: Carla Grauls
- Narrated by: Raúl Castillo, Nana Mensah, Piper Goodeve
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tech City: Society is obsessed with relentless progress and the possibility of eternal life. A woman and a man meet in waiting room, anticipating a procedure that will incorporate the latest science and technology into their minds and bodies, heightening their awareness and increasing their productivity. Years pass, their relationship deepens and fades, and they grow increasingly uncertain where the AI stops and where they begin. A romantic drama exploring the potentiality of transhumanism, Life Ever After is a rich listening experience that is at once naturalistic and poetic.
-
-
Couldn't finish
- By Chad on 01-19-20
By: Carla Grauls
-
Second Skin
- By: Christian White
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stan Weir is mourning a tragic loss when he meets a mysterious nine-year-old girl, who claims to be the reincarnated spirit of his late wife. Marcy Keef is a single mother trying to make ends meet when her daughter Erin starts describing ‘past life memories’. Neither wants to believe Erin, but as violent secrets are revealed, the truth becomes harder to deny.
-
-
Authors just should not put any twist they want
- By Eve Ducky on 04-04-20
By: Christian White
-
Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Robert Louis Stevenson, Libby Spurrier - dramatist
- Narrated by: Holliday Grainger, Clive Mantle, Carla Mendonça, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr Jekyll, a charming doctor explores the possibility of dividing the dark and light side of her personality, but in doing this she creates a monster, Eleanor Hyde. For many years she manages to live under the radar, keeping her dark secret unknown to those around her. However, gradually her evil side gains strength until Dr Jekyll is overwhelmed by Eleanor Hyde, to disastrous consequences. An exploration of human duality and forces of good and evil, this modern retelling is compelling and eerie and retains the disturbing nature of the original text.
-
-
Meh
- By Yinna Makeup on 06-09-20
By: Robert Louis Stevenson, and others
-
Once More upon a Time
- A Novella
- By: Roshani Chokshi
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel, Shiromi Arserio, Vikas Adam
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once upon a time, there was a king and queen in a land called Love's Keep who once loved one another, but alas, no more. Without love, they were doomed to be ousted from their kingdom at the end of a year and a day. A year and a day passed. This is where their story starts. Imelda and Ambrose can't remember why they got married. A year and a day ago, Ambrose consulted a witch, trading their love to save Imelda's life - and they've been stuck with one another ever since.
-
-
Fairy tales of magic apples and horse cloaks
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 06-07-20
By: Roshani Chokshi
-
The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon
- By: Todd Zwillich
- Narrated by: Todd Zwillich, Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Caveat Emptor: Bone to Pick
- By Judah Family on 07-05-19
By: Todd Zwillich
-
Light Falls
- Space, Time, and an Obsession of Einstein
- By: Brian Greene
- Narrated by: Brian Greene, Paul Rudd, Peter Ganim, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author, superstar physicist, and cofounder of the World Science Festival Brian Greene (The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos) and an ensemble cast led by award-winning actor Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) perform this dramatic story tracing Albert Einstein's discovery of the general theory of relativity.
-
-
An enjoyable deviation from standard Non-Fiction
- By Heath on 10-25-16
By: Brian Greene
-
How to Build Meaningful Relationships Through Conversation
- By: Carol Ann Lloyd, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Carol Ann Lloyd
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 10 lectures for self-development, professional communications coach and speaker Carol Ann Lloyd teaches the best ways to communicate and listen, including how to focus on understanding, how to overcome barriers and distractions, and how to clarify intentions. When listeners step back to hear what makes conversations successful, they will learn that each component of a conversation is a piece of a larger puzzle, which only fits together when thoughtfully considered and executed.
-
-
Only Got 5 Minutes In…
- By Shayla on 04-06-20
By: Carol Ann Lloyd, and others
What listeners say about The Space Race
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- afd33
- 07-26-20
Just okay
It goes through the history pretty well, then goes in to the hypothetical future. It’s kind of frustrating in the historical parts that they mix actual historic audio with actors portrayals of historical quotes.
The information is good. I’m usually not big in to the full cast productions on audible, but overall this one was okay. Overall I would say worth a credit if you’re into spaceflight.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TJK
- 07-06-20
Good but...
Lots of interesting history and some things that I had never heard before. I just wonder why the narrator could pronounce complicated Russian names but consistently pronounced NASA as a city in the Bahamas.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan Crum
- 07-31-20
Loved it
I found it really interesting! The only complaint I have is with the narrator. Wouldn’t have been my first choice. And when the rest of the country pronounces NASA as Nass-uh, why does she keep calling it Nass-ah, like Nassau? That was annoying. But the story was very Interesting
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeff Koeppen
- 08-22-20
Some Good, Some Not so Good
The Space Race for me was equal parts review, fascinating, and irritating. The ten chapters cover the history of the space race from the early days (the Nazis' V-2 rocket) to recent history and the privatization of human space flight.
The review for me was the history of the US space program, pre-NASA to NASA to the current private space race. There was very little I didn't know in these sections. Still, it was neat to hear interviews with actual astronauts.
The "fascinating" was the history of the Soviet space program, some of which I knew but most of which was new to me. Especially interesting was how the Russians were absorbed in to the international space "club" after being so secretive and independent for decades during the Cold War. They made significant contributions to the International Space Station (ISS) and until last week their Soyuz rockets were the sole means for humans to get a ride to the ISS. They were always the experts at operating space stations as they successfully operated Mir in orbit long before the ISS.
The "irritating" for me were the audio dramas and the science fiction generation ship story. Even some of the American history was told via actors with fictionalized dialogue. I couldn't buy it. The Russian audio dramas were performed by actors speaking English in Russian accents, just like Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova communicated with their ground control comrades during their famous flights. Not. The audio drama about the future generation ship heading to Proxima B (HEY, I JUST READ A STEPHEN BAXTER BOOK SET ON PROXIMA B!) was topped off with a son and mother arguing about whether there should be religion on the new planet or not. Weren't there other more pressing issues we could debate on the way out of the solar system?
The Space Race was narrated by Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) so that was a plus. This is definitely worth listening to if you have any interest in all in human space flight. Perhaps you will even enjoy the audio dramas, they were well produced I'll give them that.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-24-20
Great history lesson with eye on the future.
Really love the actual audio of the early space missions. Great insight in the space programs and the future we might be heading to
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matthew
- 02-21-21
Eye opener and brain food
I learned alot about the history of space exploration and the things they dont teach you at school, i specially liked the last chapter, which tackled philosophical questions and speculated about what may be in the future for space exploration.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Charisa Lynn
- 07-08-20
History... and beyond!
This Audible comes alive with interviews of astronauts, imaginations of the future and overall a great listen!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R Sylvia
- 07-15-20
An entertaining 9+ hours
Enjoyed this audiobook from the start to finish. It was entertaining, informative, interesting and kept my attention for the full 9+ hours.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 07-14-20
History of space
Anyone looking to learn more about space programs this is a good listen to understand where the space program started and where it Is maybe going to go.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kahold Cheung
- 07-12-20
loved it couldn't put it on pause hahaha
great book and definitely recommend it I will re listen to it again and again, why do I need 15 words here????
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!