Stone, Robert and Andres, Alan. Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America into the Space Age. New York : Ballantine 2019. Print.
The sun began rising over the northeast coast of Florida on what would be a humid subtropical mid-July morning....Nearly a million people were gathering under the harsh Florida sun to witness the departure of the first humans to attempt a landing on another world, the Earth;'s moon, 239,000 miles away. Should it be successful, the piloted lunar landing would culminate a decade of mounting anticipation.
Description:
I've had a long-time interest in the space program and have read many books about it. But my favorite for all-inclusiveness has always been The New Ocean (see below) by William E. Burrows. The only problem with it is it's huge (750 small print pages), very detailed with inclusions of reports, meeting notes, newspapers articles, interviews, etc. that, while fascinating to fans like me, might appear too daunting to the casual moonshot reader.
Enter my new favorite space age book: Robert Stone and Alan Andres' Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America into the Space Age. This is the companion book to the excellent six-part PBS television series of the same name. Here is a much more focused (350 pages) account of humans and space flight, from 1903 to the last man to walk on the moon, especially focusing on the United States' program to land a man on the moon and bring him home safely.
Chasing the Moon introduces and provides information on:
- Wernher von Braun, who at age 18 started experimenting with rocket launching, free to do so since the WW I Treaty of Versailles did not specify rocketry in its military rearmament restrictions for Germany. After WW II, von Braun became one of the leaders of the US space program, rescued by the US government special program along with 100 other German rocket scientists and brought to the US. This action was made to close the rocket gap with Germany and Russia despite these scientists history of working during the War with POWs and slaves to build German V-2 rocket-launched weapons;
- Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer and member of the British Interplanetary Society, whose articles and stories about the future of space and the current US program rockets, inspired the world's interest in the US program and thus its Congressional financing;
- The US Army, Air Force, and Navy originally developed separate rocket programs and competed with the other branches to win space contracts with the US government. After the Russian Sputnik launch President Eisenhower combined these separate programs into one new civilian department, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA);
- John F. Kennedy, reeling from the poor publicity from the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the successful flight by Russia of first man in space Yuri Gagarin only one week apart, desperately seized on the US space program as a means to "dramatically alter the narrative about America's future and its standing in the international arena." Although Kennedy had shown little interest in outer space and knew virtually nothing about the US program, he learned that communication satellites beaming to television sets would be a way to regain superiority in space, something the Russians had not begun to explore;
- At Attorney General Robert Kennedy demanded, NASA would only accept the land donated by nearby Rice University for NASA headquarters on the condition that Rice changed its discrimination policy and admit Black Students, which they did;
- The ongoing controversy over NASA not selecting a Black candidate for training in the astronaut program after many years, despite the stellar experience from some of these men;
- While there was much speculation between astronauts, media, and the public on who would be the first man to walk on the moon, the placement of the lander hatch door which, when opened, blocked the right side seat and astronaut from exiting before the left side seat was vacated. Therefore, only the man sitting in the left chair, (Armstrong) was physically able to exit the landing pod first. Decision settled;
- William Safire, Nixon's speechwriter, wrote the president two separate speeches for the public: one after a successful moon mission and one should the astronauts be forced to remain on the moon or died due to some failure;
- Writer Arthur C. Clarke had a beloved dog named Sputnik which was the son of Laika, the first animal launched into space.
I had so many more items marked I found interesting through my reading Chasing the Moon, but want to keep this review at a readable length. I figured by now either you are fascinated enough to read more of this book on your own or you have decided it simply isn't for you. So you are now on your own.
But there are many, many more people, incidents, successes, failures, and dreams clearly presented by authors Stone and Anders. You would be missing the beautiful B & W and color photographs, the in-depth
interviews, the newspaper clippings, and the words of astronauts during
training, flight, and moon landings. It's all here.
I hope you will pick up this fine, important history and learn more about one of humankind's greatest achievement: putting humans on the moon and returning them safely. Highly recommended.
[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]
Burrows, William E. The New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age.
Simply the best, most readable yet most detailed account of the United State space program. Includes documentation from newly-released Russian files, meeting notes, documents, government involvement, astronauts, behind0the-scenes personnel ... in short, everything possible about the movement of humans into space. Tremendous. Highest recommendation. (Previously reviewed here.)
Happy reading.
Fred
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