Book Review - "The First Space Race"

The First Space Race is the inside story of the efforts to launch the world's first artificial satellite into space. While it was the following competition to land humans on the Moon which later dominated the history books, less material has been published about the events which led to that fateful day when people around the world were able to capture the beeping transmission of Sputnik in common HAM radios. The launching of a spacecraft into orbit - a feat theorized since the 16^th century but never before accomplished - had profound implications to governments and people all over the globe.

The book starts its narrative in the time of Kepler and Newton, and then quickly progresses to the early efforts of German, Russian, and American rocket pioneers. It then follows the migration of German rocket scientists to both sides of the Iron Curtain after World War II, and describes the efforts within both the USSR and the USA to achieve orbital spaceflight with a wealth of detail. Not only is it clear that the authors collected a tremendous amount of source material - the foreword is written by none other than James van Allen - but in addition to facts, the book includes fascinating accounts of many historical characters. Reading how James Oberg describes the Baikonur launch complex as so desolate it is "a human settlement halfway into outer space", or how Werner von Braun proclaims that "we've firmly established our foothold in space; we will never give it up again" the story becomes one of people and characters; you can almost smell the acrid fumes of rocket-fuel coming of the pages. My favorite quote was that of rocket engineer Kurt Stehling describing the ill-fated TV-3 Vanguard rocket igniting with a "heart-rending, hoarse, whining moan like that of some antediluvian beast in birth pain". This isn't a story of esoteric rocket science theorized in pristine laboratories; it's a story of get-your-hands-dirty engineering with real people who sweat, cry, fear, err, learn, escape prisons, fight ridicule, overcome bureaucracy, and through it all never lose sight of their dreams to reach beyond planet Earth.

Aside from transporting the reader to the exciting days of humanity's first attempts at spaceflight, it also has some - still surprisingly relevant - lessons to offer. A Newsweek reporter is quoted summing up the reaction of the American public to the launch of Sputnik as follows: "There is a vague feeling that we have stepped into a new era, but people aren't discussing it the way they are football or the Asian flu." Sound familiar? Or how about Werner von Brauns complaint of "I believe something drastic must be done to raise the status of scientists in the public eye of this country," followed by his assessment that the Soviet Union had been consistently more successful in educating the next generation of young scientists and engineers. Reading these lines, comparisons with today's US / China relations are almost inescapable. However, there are positive parallels as well: considering the building momentum of commercial spaceflight entrepreneurship growing around the globe today, it's encouraging to read how the author's conclude in the final chapter that the projects which started it all had the common theme of "improvisation and the willingness to ignore proper procedure".

Whether you are a contemporary space professional trying to learn from these early pioneers, or simply a space enthusiast at heart who enjoys reading about other's who share the dream, this title definitely deserves a place on your bookshelf.

Title : The First Space Race
Author : Matthew Bille and Erika Lishok
Length : 214 pages
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
Date : August 2004
ISBN : 1585443743