Audio only
Across the Airless Wilds
The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon LandingsBy Earl SwiftNarrated by Adam VernerLength10h 7m
About this audiobook
“Earl Swift lays out this great unsung saga with verve and magisterial sweep." —Hampton Sides
In this "brilliantly observed" (Newsweek) rediscovery of the final Apollo moon landings, the acclaimed author of Chesapeake Requiem reveals that these extraordinary yet overshadowed missions—distinguished by the use of the revolutionary lunar roving vehicle—deserve to be celebrated as the pinnacle of human adventure and exploration.
8:36 P.M. EST, December 12, 1972: Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt braked to a stop alongside Nansen Crater, keenly aware that they were far, far from home. They had flown nearly a quarter-million miles to the man in the moon’s left eye, landed at its edge, and then driven five miles in to this desolate, boulder-strewn landscape. As they gathered samples, they strode at the outermost edge of mankind’s travels. This place, this moment, marked the extreme of exploration for a species born to wander.
A few feet away sat the machine that made the achievement possible: an electric go-cart that folded like a business letter, weighed less than eighty pounds in the moon’s reduced gravity, and muscled its way up mountains, around craters, and over undulating plains on America’s last three ventures to the lunar surface.
In the decades since, the exploits of the astronauts on those final expeditions have dimmed in the shadow cast by the first moon landing. But Apollo 11 was but a prelude to what came later: while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trod a sliver of flat lunar desert smaller than a football field, Apollos 15, 16, and 17 each commanded a mountainous area the size of Manhattan. All told, their crews traveled fifty-six miles, and brought deep science and a far more swashbuckling style of exploration to the moon. And they triumphed for one very American reason: they drove.
In this fast-moving history of the rover and the adventures it ignited, Earl Swift puts the reader alongside the men who dreamed of driving on the moon and designed and built the vehicle, troubleshot its flaws, and drove it on the moon’s surface. Finally shining a deserved spotlight on these overlooked characters and the missions they created, Across the Airless Wilds is a celebration of human genius, perseverance, and daring.
Audiobook details
GenreHistory, Technology, Other
Length10 hrs 7 mins
Narrated byAdam Verner
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJul 6, 2021
LanguageEnglish
More from Earl Swift
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass44h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 10m$2 · $0.00
I've Been to the MountaintopMartin Luther King48m5 (1)$11 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m$20
LES MISERABLES (Illustrated Edition)Victor Hugo66h 17m$1 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m$33 · $0.00
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated EditionMarc Reisner27h 56m$30
The Honey BusMeredith May9h 31m$25 · $0.00
Operation PedestalMax Hastings12h 29m$29 · $0.00
When the Heavens Went on SaleAshlee Vance18h 20m$40 · $0.00
Hands of TimeRebecca Struthers8h 8m5 (1)$26 · $0.00
Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You)Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy5h 9m$24 · $0.00
The Collected WorksNikola Tesla50h 9m$1 · $0.00
Never Lost AgainBill Kilday10h 1m$29 · $0.00
How the Internet HappenedBrian McCullough13h 28m$23 · $0.00
Collected Writings of Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla, Thomas Commerford Martin21h 50m$1 · $0.00
Just AspireAjai Chowdhry9h 13m$29 · $0.00
The Little Book of AliensAdam Frank8h 20m$26 · $0.00
The inventions, researches and writings of Nikola Tesla (Annotated)Thomas Commerford Martin16h 59m$2 · $0.00
KargilV.P. Malik15h 18m$24 · $0.00
Fire on the HorizonTom Shroder, John Konrad8h 23m$26 · $0.00
The Smell of Kerosene (Annotated)National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Donald L. Mallick, Peter W. Merlin11h 32m$2 · $0.00
The Boy Who Harnessed the WindWilliam Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer10h 5m$29 · $0.00
Mars Rover CuriosityRob Manning, William L. Simon7h 43m$20
Console WarsBlake J. Harris20h 41m$46 · $0.00
Improvised Munitions HandbookU.S. Department of Defense4h 38m$2 · $0.00
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m3 (1)$3 · $0.00
KJV Holy BibleBroadStreet Publishing Group LLC96h 16m$10 · $0.00
Book of ColossiansUnknown Author16m$8
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m$2 · $0.00
Everyday Chanakya | Time Management S01E08Radhakrishnan Pillai42m$4
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m5 (1)$12 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m$11 · $0.00
Be Wild Be FreeAmber Fossey26m$7 · $0.00
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental HealthDr. Billy Garvey4h 53m$20 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m$10 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m$29 · $0.00
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie Mackesy58m$11 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m$18 · $0.00
My First Beethoven AlbumNaxos1h 23m$6 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m5 (1)$40 · $0.00
You may also like
Pioneers Of Space A Trip to The Moon, Mars, and VenusGeorge Adamski7h 38m$2.30
The First Men in the MoonH. G. Wells7h 33m$2.30
The Smell of Kerosene: Pilot's "Day at the Office" (Annotated)National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Donald L. Mallick, Peter W. Merlin11h 39m$2 · $0.00
Pete the Cat's Mars MissionJames Dean, Kimberly Dean6m$4 · $0.00
Strange New WorldsRay Jayawardhana6h 39m$20
INTERGALACTIC ENTERPRISE: 60+ Space Sci-Fi Novels in One EditionJules Verne, Percy Greg, David Lindsay, Edward Everett Hale, John Jacob Astor, Murray Leinster, H. Beam Piper, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber, Irving E. Cox, Philip K. Dick, Richard Stockham, H. G. Wells, E. E. Smith, Edwin Lester Arnold, Gustavus W. Pope311h 15m$2 · $0.00
60 Space Sci-Fi BooksJules Verne, Percy Greg, David Lindsay, Edward Everett Hale, John Jacob Astor, Murray Leinster, H. Beam Piper, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber, Irving E. Cox, Philip K. Dick, Richard Stockham, H. G. Wells, E. E. Smith, Edwin Lester Arnold, Gustavus W. Pope311h 15m$2 · $0.00
Mission to MarsBuzz Aldrin4h 47m$17
Celestial VoyageSocialuser4m$7 · $0.00
LiftoffEric Berger9h 4m$29 · $0.00
Rocket Launch (Annotated)Cyril M. Kornbluth7h 48m$2 · $0.00
The Moon-VoyageJules Verne12h 38m$2 · $0.00
All Around The MoonJules Verne11h 32m$2.30
Mars: Our New Home?National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Congress5h 38m$2 · $0.00
ExoplanetsScientific American5h 55m$17
From the Earth to the Moon + Around the Moon: 2 Unabridged Science Fiction Classics (Annotated)Jules Verne14h 7m$2 · $0.00
From the Earth to the Moon; and, Round the MoonJules Verne10h 47m$2.30
Challenges Of Living On MarsEdson Schenkel2h 41m$47 · $0.00
Chronicles Of The Cosmic VoyagerSocialuser4m$7 · $0.00
Exploring MarsScientific American10h 36m$20