The Race
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
On July 21st 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to step on the surface of the moon. As he did so, he uttered the immortal words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'
No achievement defines the modern era more than America's historic moon landing, yet it was the culmination of a decade's long struggle between the Soviet Union and America that epitomised the Cold War. The Race is the definitive history of the battle between the superpowers, from the first Sputnik into space in 1957, through Yuri Gagarin's first manned space flight in 1961 to the years of America's Apollo Saturn rocket programme that finally saw the USA snatch the prize from Russia.
This irresistible story is populated by inspired inventors, feuding rocket scientists, extraordinarily brave astronauts and imperturbable mission controllers. It is a tale of blind faith, of a giant leap into the unknown, of national pride and political ambition, and one of the greatest achievement of science and of humanity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Thirty years after the U.S. reached the Moon, taking a space race lead from which it would never look back, Schefter comes along to do the looking back. The author, who covered the space race for Time-Life and the Houston Chronicle, transmits colorfully and authoritatively the subtle infighting among the astronauts, the complex nature of lesser-known people like manned-flight champion Bob Gilruth, and the American leaders struggling with military, scientific and public relations concerns. Readers are transported inside the satellite where Enos the monkey becomes frustrated after an electrical malfunction, and taken to a cocktail party where the virtues of a large command center are hashed out. Schefter also gives ample scrutiny to various Russians, documenting the courage of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, the braggadocio of Soviet powerhouse Khrushchev and the leadership of Sergei Korolev, father of the Soviet space program. Schefter consistently waxes patriotic and at times veers into the arcane ("tumble runs rotated the pod every two seconds, throwing the astronaut inside from positive to negative g's with each rotation"), but he tells an engrossing tale filled with fascinating bits of trivia--he describes how Alan Shepard and Bill Dana pulled a practical joke on Wally Schirra by submerging his pleasure boat. Most importantly, however, Schefter deploys an expert grasp of narrative to escalate the excitement even as he informs. His book is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to relive the historic period of the space race--or for those learning about it for the first time.