Spaceshots and Snapshots of Projects Mercury and Gemini: A Rare Photographic History

The race to space between the United States and the Soviet Union captured the popular imagination. On April 12, 1961, the USSR launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on a one-orbit flight, making him the first human in space. Three weeks later, American astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. flew 116 miles above Earth before splashing down in the Bahamas. Over the next twenty years astronauts emerged as national heroes.

This book tells the story of the people and events of Projects Mercury and Gemini with h...