Epic Rivalry: Inside the Soviet and American Space Race [NOOK Book]

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Overview

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in 1969, they personified an almost unimaginable feat—the incredibly complex task of sending humans safely to another celestial body. This extraordinary odyssey, which grew from the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, was galvanized by the Sputnik launch in 1957. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik, National Geographic recaptures this gripping moment in the human experience with a lively and compelling new ...
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Epic Rivalry: Inside the Soviet and American Space Race

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Overview

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in 1969, they personified an almost unimaginable feat—the incredibly complex task of sending humans safely to another celestial body. This extraordinary odyssey, which grew from the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, was galvanized by the Sputnik launch in 1957. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik, National Geographic recaptures this gripping moment in the human experience with a lively and compelling new account. Written by Smithsonian curator Von Hardesty and researcher Gene Eisman, Epic Rivalry tells the story from both the American and the Russian points of view, and shows how each space-faring nation played a vital role in stimulating the work of the other. Scores of rare, unpublished, and powerful photographs recall the urgency and technical creativity of both nations' efforts.

The authors recreate in vivid detail the "parallel universes" of the two space exploration programs, with visionaries Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev and political leaders John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev at the epicenters. The conflict between countries, and the tense drama of their independent progress, unfolds in vivid prose. Approaching its subject from a uniquely balanced perspective, this important new narrative chronicles the epic race to the moon and back as it has never been told before—and captures the interest of casual browsers and science, space, and history enthusiasts alike.
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Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

With this month's 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite, and the forthcoming 50th anniversary in 2008 of the establishment of NASA, there are many new books to whet the appetites of space enthusiasts. These two titles start at the same place, Sputnik's 1957 launch, with some background on the development of rockets in Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States, but A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkeystops with the launch of the first U.S. satellite in 1958, and Epic Rivalryfollows the space race to the Apollo 11moon landing. D'Antonio (Atomic Harvest), a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, brings a human perspective to the Sputnikstory by interviewing still-living participants and examining a few of the major characters. Much of the focus is on Wernher von Braun and Soviet chief designer Sergey Korolyov, but interviews with scientist James Van Allen, early space reporters Jay Barbree and Wickham "Wickie" Stivers, and many others add a unique personal background to the story.

Hardesty (Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power), a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and journalist Eisman do an excellent job of covering the science, technology, and politics of the space race. As new materials become available for research in Russia, more is being learned about the Soviet space program, and Hardesty is well qualified to present the findings. The authors compare the U.S. and Soviet space exploration programs during the cold war. With 75 photos and extensive footnotes, this a good reference book as well as an engaging history. And the foreword by the grandson of Sovietpremier Nikita Khrushchev, Sergey Khrushchev, is great start. Both titles are recommended for space science collections in public and academic libraries. [For other Sputnikand space history titles, see also Giles Sparrow's Space Flight; America in Space: NASA's First Fifty Years; After Sputnik: 50 Years of the Space Ageand Michael J. Neufeld's Von Braun.-Ed.]
—Margaret Henderson

Kirkus Reviews
From the Soviet Union's Sputnik to the United States' Apollo 11, the exciting competition between Cold War superpowers to dominate space. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union plundered Germany's Peenemunde rocket research center for the technical equipment, documentation and, crucially, the scientists responsible for the development of the V-2, Hitler's vengeance weapon that had terrorized London. This battle for military advantage unwittingly began the space race, with America taking the early lead as "our Germans" proved smarter than theirs. As popular-culture dreams of space travel merged with scientific advances and the exigencies of the Cold War, the Soviets early on recognized the propaganda advantages of space conquest and pulled ahead in 1957 with their Sputnik satellites and a later series of lunar probes that startled the world and caused no end of political breast-beating in the United States. After some early fumbles, America soon caught up, only to see the Soviets regain supremacy with a number of remarkable manned-flight achievements-first in space and to orbit (Gagarin), first woman (Tereshkova), first to walk (Leonov)-against which the suborbital flights of Shepard and Grissom seemed puny. But Eisenhower's creation of NASA and Kennedy's commitment to a lunar landing galvanized the American effort. Where Michael D'Antonio's recent A Ball, A Dog, and A Monkey: 1957-The Space Race Begins (2007) deals breezily with only the earliest days of the fierce contest from a mostly American perspective, Hardesty (Air Force One: The Aircraft That Shaped the Modern Presidency, 2003, etc.) and Eisen's sober account makes use of recently openedSoviet archives to tell the story from both sides, revealing some remarkable parallels between the space portals at Baikonur and Cape Canaveral, the political pressures on Khrushchev and Kennedy, the lust for space exploration by Chief Designer Korolev and America's von Braun and the training and in-flight disasters that befell cosmonauts and astronauts. As the race unfolded, first-to-the-moon appeared to be close, but eventually the highly secretive, hide-bound Soviet system itself critically hobbled their space program. A balanced, reader-friendly re-creation of the origins, progress, thrills and perils attending a prestigious race, desperately important at the time, only dimly remembered today.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781426202094
  • Publisher: National Geographic Society
  • Publication date: 9/18/2007
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Sales rank: 613,289
  • File size: 2 MB

Meet the Author

Von Hardesty is the author of Air Force One; Lindbergh: Flight's Enigmatic Hero; and Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941–1945, among many other publications. He is a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Gene Eisman is a veteran journalist and was the researcher for Air Force One.
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Table of Contents


Foreword   Sergei Khrushchev     vii
Introduction     xxi
Prologue: Arrow to the Future     1
The Great Trophy Hunt     9
Space and the Cold War     37
Sputnik Nights     71
The Human Dimension     99
Portals to the Cosmos     137
The Space Race Quickens     167
A Distant Prize     203
Epilogue: Old Visions, New Realities     241
Notes     251
Index     262
Illustration Credits     273
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Sort by: Showing 1 – 2 of 1 Customer Review

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 25, 2012

    Amazing

    This book gives you knowledge of the space race that is amazing yet strangely terriffing. You will learn of an epic rivalry that spurrned the first astranouts to risk there lives to triumph of the other global superpower...

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 14, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

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