Insights into the development and use of the rover

This book does a good job of telling the story behind the development of the lunar rover. It also provides interesting background on many of the key players. If you have worked on challenging projects or are an engineer you will enjoy learning about the technical and business conflicts and challenges the program faced. The lunar rover development is an impressive example of a project done under intense time pressure with significant technical challenges.

The narration was good, but did seem to put some unnecessary/overdone inflection at times.

I would have added a star to the Audible Story if it had included the diagrams and images as it does for many other books. This book screams for visuals. The author does an impressive job of describing technical features but nothing beats a picture or a drawing. You can go to Amazon and view many of the pictures on the preview. It provides a much richer appreciation, particularly for the imaginative concepts early designers came up with.

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History without comparison

Earl Swift has hit a home run with "Across the Airless Wilds". This is an unbelievable journey across not only the Moon, but our Earth history from the last century and the12 Americans who walked the surface of that Regolith. 49 years ago, we left the moon and have since not returned American's back to its surface. Our political & financial decisions have chosen not to continue that story with Apollo 17 being the last of the Apollo missions retuning to Earth on December 19th,1972.

I found this story amazing, detailed and highly accurate. The narrator, Adam Verner does an excellent job making you feel as much a part of the story and its major players. I felt like I was there, in the development labs, on the launch pad and yes even on the Moon with the Astronauts. The banter on the Moon and especially concerning the LRV 1, 2 & 3 make this a must listen to. I was so impressed, I not only listened to it more than once, but then purchased the book for the amazing photographs. After listening or reading this book, you will never look at another GM product the same.

The one historical fact that I appreciated the most was that Earl Swift the author did not cover up the fact that the only reason we got to Moon was for the science adapted from Hitler's Nazi rocket program and its designer and mentor Wernher Von Braun, who during World War 2 was a member of the notorious SS. Through a secret cover up program call "Operation Paper Clip", German engineering brought the V2 rockets to Texas after the war, as well as all of its1,600 scientists, engineer's & technicians placed around the US. These men were placed in top military & civilian facilities to continue the development of the ballistic missile program which eventually led to the creation on the mighty Saturn 5 that took us to the Moon on July 16th, 1969, with a first landing 4 days later. President John F. Kennedy's proposal to congress on May 25th, 1961 to safely land a man on the Moon and return safely to Earth before the end of the decade became the driving force for the entire nation an endeavor larger than the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb in 1945.

The story is how NASA and all the private contractors, created, tested and deployed the LRV's for Apollo 15,16 & 17. The author walks you through a now historical musem in Huntsville, Alabama the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, while in pursuit of the real LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) there on display. While there he is looking for one of its major creators Sonny Morea. To reiterate, again I felt like I was standing there with Earl & Sonny has he described this fantastic machine, much more than a rover, really a space vehicle. I give this author and narrator 5 stars in all categories. If you are interested in science and history and especially the geology of the Moon, then I know you too will give this a high rating. It is history without comparison!

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Now Only A Dream

Wonderfully put together. Engineering at its finest. How unfortunate that now we only dream of going back to the moon - and farther.

Fascinating, inspiring, captivating

Great history piece that reads like a story. Good for engineers and fans a like.

A story well told

Wonderful narration, chock full of interesting information. Participants deserve our thanks and admiration. To think this was accomplished 50 years ago. Thank you to the author, I will be listening to your other works.

Great Read!

I love history, especially space history. I'm so glad someone wrote such a great book about the Lunar Rover!

Entertaining and under appreciated story

it is amazing how U.S engineers created this vehicle and made history. A great read.