Out of this world: the 50th anniversary of Sputnik

REVIEWS BY MICHELLE JONES

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, a shiny 184-pound sphere, into orbit on October 4, 1957. People everywhere began listening for the three-beep signal of "fellow traveler" and watching the night sky as it circled Earth every 96 minutes. The four books reviewed here each address the aftermath of Sputnik; read all four—they complement each other beautifully—or choose just one. Either way, this is a stellar collection of space reads.

Us and them

National Air and Space Museum curator Von Hardesty and journalist Gene Eisman offer a history of both sides of the Space Race in Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race. The book features a foreword by Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, a rocket engineer himself and son of the man at the helm of the Soviet Union at the start of the race. Though a quick, light read, Epic Rivalry packs in a lot information, including accounts of rocket development and launches, lunar probes and orbiters, brief profiles of astro- and cosmonauts, and the use of surveillance by both governments. Informative sidebars address rocket design, orbital mechanics, and the pros and cons of Soviet and American approaches to the problems of getting humans into space.

    Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race
    By Von Hardesty and Gene Eisman
    National Geographic, $28
    368 pages
    ISBN 9781426201196

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Journalist Michael D'Antonio presents an in-depth look at the beginning of the Space Age in A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey: 1957—The Space Race Begins. He follows the efforts of German rocket expert Wernher von Braun in the U.S. and of those of the famous, yet anonymous, Soviet Chief Designer (D'Antonio finally names Sergei Korolev in the epilogue, which includes profiles of other major players). The book is packed with specs on various rockets, statistics on the burgeoning space industry, as well as an overview of 1957-1958 America, including integration standoffs in Little Rock and the role the Space Race began to play in politics. D'Antonio writes: "the leaders of the USSR should also have given themselves credit for managing the public relations aspects of the race into space. Throughout the cold war, imagery would be nearly as important as events, and in this case the Soviets handled things almost flawlessly. . . . No Madison Avenue consultant could have designed a more effective campaign."


Head in the stars

One name that comes up repeatedly in the shared cast of characters of these books is Wernher von Braun. The exhaustive Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War is a fascinating study of the almost larger-than-life figure by extremely capable writer and historian Michael J. Neufeld. It is also a highly readable history of Weimar-era Berlin, WWII, the Space Race and the development of NASA—with a lot of science thrown in. Crucial to Neufeld's portrait is the question of how much the Saturn V rocket creator might have known, done or condoned about the Nazi platform and the use of concentration camp labor in the production of the V-2 missiles used on London and other cities.

Throughout the book Neufeld employs the conceit of a Faustian bargain to describe von Braun's relentless devotion to his adolescent dream of getting into space, which, combined with "his true calling: the management of huge engineering projects, the building of large technological systems," led him to a 28-year-career in weaponry, first for Hitler's regime and later for the U.S. Whether Neufeld comes down one way or another on the question of von Braun's wartime culpability is for the reader to decide; however, he certainly offers an intriguing survey of von Braun's 1950s advocacy for space exploration, his efforts to keep his rocket team and documentation out of Soviet hands, and his dedication to the American space effort. Neufeld also manages to present a picture of a man of aristocratic charm, who nonetheless believed in "dirty hands" engineering in the pursuit of solutions.


Our man on the ground

Space fans are probably already familiar with Jay Barbree's work, either from his years as an NBC radio and TV reporter or through Moon Shot (1994), his collaboration with Mercury 7 astronaut Deke Slayton. Early in his broadcast career, a top man told Barbree to build himself "a small empire as the man who knew the answers to all questions about space flight." He shares the results in the entertaining and candid Live from Cape Canaveral: Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today. Along with anecdotes worthy of The Right Stuff, Barbree offers glimpses into pioneering television coverage (the first mobile unit, the first live broadcast of a launch), accounts of space milestones, and personal recollections such as Christmas Eve dinner in a hotel coffee shop (while covering Apollo 8), made less dismal when John Glenn walked in. Though cozy with several generations of astronauts, Barbree's news sense remained acute, allowing him to score scoops like the O-ring connection to the space shuttle Challenger explosion and NASA's surprised "we're asleep" reaction to Gagarin's flight. Even after suffering sudden death while jogging 20 years ago (he was revived after a heart attack), Barbree is still on the job—and hasn't missed a launch yet.


As seen from space

One of the captions in America in Space: NASA's First Fifty Years, tells readers that "Photography was not a priority for NASA in the beginning," so while becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn snapped photos using a camera he'd picked up in a drug store. That approach didn't last, as the astronauts began using Hasselblad cameras during their flights. The improved equipment, combined with an effort to document history in the making, accounts for the stunning photographs in this coffee table book treatment of America's forays into space. Among the stunning images are an inverted space shuttle "parked" in orbit; NASA's second group of astronauts (the New Nine) in Lawrence of Arabia-inspired gear during desert survival training; the Mercury 7 in shiny suits of aluminized nylon; Apollo 13 astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise holding an improvised scrubber while stuck in space; the interior of a Gemini capsule through a fish-eye lens; and Challenger exploding soon after launch. While the text of this book is informative, the photos speak volumes.


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