Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #158953 in Books
• Published on: 1995-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

A Great Read.
DEKE! A great book filled with interesting and insider facts about America's space program.Written by one of the original seven who was unfairly denied his flight.
DEKE! goes further than other astro bio's by explaining further missions like Skylab and early shuttle development and testing.
Its one of those books that you just can't put down!
The only downside, and it's a small one, is that Deke goes into a lot of detail about his upbringing and past career as a fighter pilot in WW2. That aside though, its a great book well worth reading.

A Fascinating and Entertaining Read
Slayton's time at NASA stretched from the early Mercury days through the heady Apollo missions right up to the commercial space shuttle flights, so a comprehensive insight into pretty much all the US manned space flight programme is provided. Of equal interest are the pages devoted to Deke's test pilot days and, earlier, his wartime experiences. The picture emerges of an unbelievably experienced and skillful pilot who remained at the cutting edge of aviation/space science for most of his life. This book should appeal to anyone with an interest in space, NASA, or aircraft.

The book reads very easily, with the author's chatty and informal style adding an element of modesty lacking in many other astronaut biographies. One minor criticism would be that the last chapter or so - dealing with commercial satellite operations - drags a bit, and seems rather boring and business-like in comparison with the rest of the book.

The saddest thing is that the author died before this excellent book was completed, never experiencing the satisfaction of seeing his life story in print.

An informative good read, but not the best of its type.
Deke is the autobiography of Deke Slayton, one time grounded astronaut and the man who constructed the crews that enabled Kennedy's challenge to be fulfilled. For an Apollo enthusiast like myself, the opening chapters (about Deke's early life) were hard work but the book comes to life when Deke tells the story of his role in Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab. There are many anecdotes and facts I'd never come across before, and his views on some astronauts are revealing. There did seem to be a clique at NASA during the Apollo years of management favourites (eg McDivitt, Borman et al) and Deke! explains some of the reasons why.

Deke finally got into space on the Apollo-Soyuz Mission in 1975, and there is an enjoyable chapter on that subject.

Sadly, Deke died in 1993, and his name is not widely known, but he played as big a part as anyone in the greatest technological feat of the 20th century. A good choice for anyone following up an interest in the early years of space travel.