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by Jeff Foust
Monday, July 8, 2019
Chasing the Moon: the people, politics and promise that launched America in the space age
by Robert Stone and Alan Andres
Ballatine, 2019
hardcover, 384 p., illus.
ISBN 978-1-5247-9812-3
$ 32.00
As the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 reach their crescendo this month, television launches into the act. A number of documentaries and other special programs are planned for the coming weeks, including a version of Apollo 11 a film that appeared in theaters earlier this year (see "Review: Apollo 11", The Space Review, March 4, 2019) which will air on July 22 on CNN. from July 9, as part of his American experience called series Chasing the moon who examines the events that led to Apollo 11.
Accompanying this series is a book, also called Chasing the moon, by filmmaker Robert Stone and Alan Andres, who served as a consulting producer and researcher for the series. This book addresses the subject of Apollo well, but in a way that should interest those who already know a good deal of this story.
The book's subtitle emphasizes that it focuses on "the people, politics, and promise" of going to the moon. It is an accurate assessment of the content of the book, which focuses on personalities and policies, not on science and technology. If you're looking for a detailed technical analysis of the Saturn V or lunar module development, or the science that lunar landings and samples they have made, this is not the book for you.
| Clarke's interest in spaceflight began with a book called Teen titled The conquest of space by David Lasser, whose career was mainly devoted to union work and who was seeking a position in the public service derailed in the 1940s, when a member of Congress described it as a "potty" hen full of mental delusions, allowing us to go to the moon! " |
If, however, you are curious about the people who made Apollo possible, it's an interesting book. Chasing the moon As you can imagine, Wernher von Braun and NASA Administrator James Webb, through the Apollo 11 astronauts, are focusing their attention. However, the book also pays special attention to some lesser known and more tangential personalities involved in Apollo or influenced in any way: the sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, the public affairs officer of the NASA Julian Scheer, and Poppy Northcutt, the first woman to work in Mission Control during Apollo.
The book does not offer many revelations about the program or the people involved, at least for those who have read their fair share of the Apollo story. However, the book helps to establish the human dimension of what has been widely described as a political and technical achievement. Clarke, for example, saw his interest in space flights start with a book entitled The conquest of space by David Lasser, whose career was mainly devoted to union work and who had tried to find a job in the government derailed in the 1940s when a member of Congress described it as a "pot-de -followed with delusions that allowed us to go to the moon! " After working as a human rights journalist, NASA helped director Thomas Paine defuse a protest by human rights activists outside the Kennedy Space Center on the eve of takeoff. Apollo 11; He also has a second career as a children's book author.
Of course, the book also addresses broader and better-known topics and controversies, such as von Braun's Nazi links and political debates on the race to the moon, including those that followed the Apollo 1 disaster. In 1967, as in other aspects of the book, it was not the rockets and spaceships, nor the missions they flew, but the people who made it possible. This makes this book – and probably the documentary it supports – a useful complement to other stories, including those published this year, which focused mainly on big names and rockets.
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