Rocket Man -The Pete Conrad Biography

What did you think of the book?

Respondents are kindly requested to have actually read the book prior
to posting a reply. (smiling while ducking to avoid the incoming
flames).

Kidding aside, thank you in advance for your responses.

blue skies

John

Looking forward to responses the Conrad bio.

Off topic, just finished the Frank Borman autobiography "Countdown". It
gives some fairly good background on the Gemini development and the
division of labor among the astronauts. Borman worked on the booster as
well as the launch escape system.

He transitioned to the business world without a lot of angst, doing six
years as Eastern's VP for Operations before becoming CEO and placing a
big order for L1011s with Rolls Royce engines.

At one point an Eastern jet, Flight 401, crashed into the Everglades near
Borman's house. He flew to the wreck in the middle of the night in a
helicopter and helped to pull survivors from the wreck, which was an
extraordinary thing for a CEO to do. The autobiography seems to show
Borman as a caring, capable, and modest fellow, a pretty decent sort,
capable of making independant decisions at NASA and at Eastern as well.

Revision wrote:
The autobiography seems to show
Borman as a caring, capable, and modest fellow, a pretty decent sort,
capable of making independant decisions at NASA and at Eastern as well.

Repeating that to any ex-Eastern employees, might well prove painful...

T3 wrote:
Revision wrote:
The autobiography seems to show
Borman as a caring, capable, and modest fellow, a pretty decent sort,
capable of making independant decisions at NASA and at Eastern as well.

Repeating that to any ex-Eastern employees, might well prove painful...


Eastern went out of biz during the time Frank Lorenzo was CEO. I think
he did more to damage the airline than Borman ever did. Also bear in
mind that since deregulation in the late 1970's, all of the traditional
US air carriers have been barely holding on. When Eastern went out in
1991, there was a recession and a downturn in air travel due to fears
of terrorism coming from the 1st Gulf War. Fuel prices went up as well.
PanAm and Braniff died at that same time too.

Gene DiGennaro
Baltimore, Md.

wrote:

T3 wrote:

Revision wrote:
The autobiography seems to show

Borman as a caring, capable, and modest fellow, a pretty decent sort,
capable of making independant decisions at NASA and at Eastern as well.

Repeating that to any ex-Eastern employees, might well prove painful...



Eastern went out of biz during the time Frank Lorenzo was CEO. I think
he did more to damage the airline than Borman ever did. Also bear in
mind that since deregulation in the late 1970's, all of the traditional
US air carriers have been barely holding on. When Eastern went out in
1991, there was a recession and a downturn in air travel due to fears
of terrorism coming from the 1st Gulf War. Fuel prices went up as well.
PanAm and Braniff died at that same time too.

Lorenzo?
Borman very definitely precipitated Eastern's demise, his battle with
the IAM were vicious, if not self defeating. The employees gave until
there was nothing more to give. When they refused to yield even more he
pulled the plug and sold out to Lorenzo and his vulture friends who had
made it known they only wanted to liquidate EA's assets. PA finally
went belly up in '93 for different reasons, mostly due to the damage
done by the Carter admin. years before, though fuel costs were a
contributing factor, PA103 was the death knell. Brand X was never really
more than a regional carrier for years, until the Hyatt group came
along, based at DFW they tried many ways to counter the growing strength
of the de-regulated trunk carriers, they tried to expand, but in the end
they expended themselves. Again, I wouldn't speak to highly of old Frank
in front of any Ex-Eastern types, especially down in Miami...

Guys . . . guys . . . . please . . .the question was about Pete
Conrad, not Frank Borman.

So (smiling) has anyone read Rocket Man yet?

Blue skies

John

I had the pleasure of hearing the both Nancy Conrad and Howard A. Klausner
give a talk at the Seattle Museum of Flight where I picked up a copy.

Very entertaining! Not nearly enough about the DC-X (grin).

You get to find out that walking on the Moon was not the accomplishment that
Pete Conrad was most proud of.

I would recommend it.

Jeffrey


"John" wrote in message
oups.com...
What did you think of the book?

Respondents are kindly requested to have actually read the book prior
to posting a reply. (smiling while ducking to avoid the incoming
flames).

Kidding aside, thank you in advance for your responses.

blue skies

John

Rocket Man is a nice read with just a few factual errors which seem to be
fairly common. We are carrying copies SIGNED by Nancy Conrad at list price
on our website.
Donald & Tamara Boggs
Boggs SpaceBooks
672 E. 500 N.
Anderson, IN 46012 U.S.A.
765-649-3211 voice or fax
http://www.boggsspace.com


"John" wrote in message
oups.com...
What did you think of the book?

Respondents are kindly requested to have actually read the book prior
to posting a reply. (smiling while ducking to avoid the incoming
flames).

Kidding aside, thank you in advance for your responses.

blue skies

John

John wrote:
Guys . . . guys . . . . please . . .the question was about Pete
Conrad, not Frank Borman.

So (smiling) has anyone read Rocket Man yet?

Blue skies

John


Sorry for the thread hijacking. I haven't read it yet. Rocket Man is on
my summer reading list though. I saw a bit on CSPAN with Nancy and the
co-author. Looks like an interesting read. I'm not expecting any dirt
though.

Gene DiGennaro
Baltimore,Md.