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To a Distant Day: The Rocket Pioneers
Chris Gainor's irresistible narrative introduces us to pioneers such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and Hermann Oberth, who pointed the way to the cosmos and created the earliest wave of international enthusiasm for space exploration. It shows us German engineer Wernher von Braun creating the V-2, the first large rocket, which opened the door to space but failed utterly as the OC wonder weaponOCO it was meant to be. From there Gainor follows the space race to the Soviet Union and the United States and gives us a close look at the competitive hysteria that led to Sputnik, satellites, space probes, andOCofinallyOCohuman flight into space in 1961. As much a story of cultural ambition and personal destiny as of scientific progress and technological history, To a Distant Day offers a complete and thoroughly compelling account of humanityOCOs determined effortsOCosometimes poignant, sometimes amazing, sometimes madOCoto leave the earth behind."
263 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 21, 2019
This book has kept me sane for the last two weeks, in five minute intervals I had as breaks, during my finals. It's a very light read about the earliest beginnings of rocket science to the first manned spaceflight. I had known most of the material going in, but was still pleasantly surprised with some new tidbits of information, mostly from the Russian side of things in 40s and 50s (this stuff has only relatively recently been declassified).
I wish I started my exploration of this topic with this book. As I said, it's a very light read and because this is University of Nebraska Press book, you can bet it's well referenced... more books for the to read pile.
What else can I say, except that this book proved to be the best possible distraction I needed at the time.
I wish I started my exploration of this topic with this book. As I said, it's a very light read and because this is University of Nebraska Press book, you can bet it's well referenced... more books for the to read pile.
What else can I say, except that this book proved to be the best possible distraction I needed at the time.
August 2, 2018
I regularly follow several science blogs online, most notably the “I Fucking Love Science” weblog and the official NASA websites. I enjoy keeping up with the day to day stuff, and I also regularly comb through selected science articles through other sources as well. One of the more disturbing things I have noticed is that all of these websites get bogged down in the comments sections by trolls of various kinds. Flat-earthers, moon landing hoaxers, religious fundamentalists of all stripes…..they all seem to converge on science sites in order to push their pseudo-scientific or non-scientific viewpoints. What’s even more concerning is that even the general layman commenting on a lot of articles doesn’t seem to have a real grasp of science. All you have to do is ask the average American to define the word “theory” these days and you will quickly understand that we as a society are in a world of hurt where knowledge of science and technology is concerned. Sure, we can USE the cell phone on a mechanical level, but don’t bother trying to ask anyone how a cellular network actually functions.
Now you have to understand that I’m in my mid-50s, and was born into an era when science was considered cool. The first Apollo moon landing occurred when I was 5 years old, and I have vague, fuzzy memories of watching those first steps into a new leap forward for mankind. I have more vivid memories of the later launches, but of course the Apollo project was canceled in 1972. Oh, man…...I’m rambling here, caught up in my frustrations about the current state of science education in the United States. I learned the scientific method in the FIFTH GRADE!! It’s not that hard!!
Ok….stop….breathe. Start over. Hello. My name is Michael. I am an advocate for science education. I have a particular love for and interest in space exploration as a topic. As such, I am pleased to introduce you to a series of books from the University of Nebraska Press:
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/seri...
Each book in the series covers a different topic or era within the broader scope of the big picture of man’s reach for the stars. This is an excellent set that respects the intelligence of its audience without becoming overly technical or dense. The general science reader will enjoy these just as much as an engineer would. Each title reads like a concise narrative that focuses just as much on the people involved as it does the incredible technology being developed and deployed.
I started my journey through the series with author Chris Gainor’s “To A Distant Day: The Rocket Pioneers.” I should say right off that there is not really any sort of official recommended reading order for this series. I just began with this title because it seemed like a logical starting point seeing as it focuses on the development of rocket technology from the early days all the way up to the end of the Mercury program. The book’s epilogue leaves off with the mighty launch of Apollo 11, with those fateful footprints just a few days in the future.
Chapter one covers the basics of rocketry from the earliest days after the invention of gunpowder. I was particularly interested to learn how much of an influence that the speculative fiction of the day had upon the early rocket pioneers. Jules Verne and H. G. Wells stimulated the imaginations of the public and the scientists who would go on to build the first wave of primitive rockets, many of whom would publish their own tales of fantastic fiction. That trend continues to this day, by the way. Proof positive that a healthy love of science-fiction goes a long way towards actual scientific literacy. My inner geek was left leaping with joy.
From there Gainor writes about the birth of astronautics, profiling scientists such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the little-known Friedrich Tsander. Other chapters focus on Robert Goddard and Hermann Oberth. The German contributions to rocketry are covered in great detail, especially the advances made during World War II. To Gainors credit, he doesn’t shy away from controversy where the wartime activities of the German scientists are concerned. Wernher von Braun was an undisputed genius and a key contributor to America’s post-war space program, of that there is no doubt. There is also no doubt that von Braun was a member of the SS and oversaw the use of slave labor at the Peenemünde rocket development site during the latter days of WWII. All of this is covered in the book, though Gainor is careful not to make any moral conclusions of his own. He reports the facts and lets the reader make up his or her mind as to how they feel about the information.
The Soviet contributions to rocketry are a key part of the narrative as well. Sergei Korolev is profiled as a giant within the ranks of rocket scientists, and deservedly so. The Russians had a robust space program, though it was not quite as advanced as they made it seem through the veil of propaganda. Gainor had access to many unclassified Russian records that add depth and insight as to the real facts behind the Soviet-U.S. space race in the ‘50s and ‘60s. It’s worth noting that the Soviets could quite possibly have beaten us to the moon had Stalin not executed a substantial number of rocket scientists during the purges of the Great Terror in the early days of the revolution.
Gainor also discusses the contributions of the balloonists and the test pilots who brought the right stuff with them as they pierced the veil of the atmosphere and rode rockets to ever-increasing speed and altitude records. The chapters on satellite development and deployment are invaluable resource material. It’s a useful reminder for this generation to understand just how big a deal it was for the average American to hear the radio transmissions from Sputnik and realize that not only had we been beaten to orbit by the Russians, but they could now deliver nuclear warheads to any point in the continental United States. That was scary stuff back then, and a real wake-up call to the leadership in Washington. The U.S. would eventually win the space-race to the moon, but those Cold War reverberations would echo for decades and dictate policy decisions that would affect international relations for an entire generation.
That historical perspective is where the true value of this series of books lies. I can’t stress enough the importance of having a clear and concise history of the space-age available to readers of all ages. If you have an interest in space exploration, then these books should be in your home. If you have an interest in science, then these books should be in your home. At the very least, you should petition your local public library to have set of these books available for check-out. Scientific literacy is at a historical low point at this time in the United States. We have to reverse that trend for us to advance as a society. Exploration begets knowledge, and knowledge in turn begets exploration. The “Outward Odyssey” series is a small step, but it could be a giant leap for that inquisitive young reader who goes on to become the next great rocket pioneer. It’s also a gift to those older readers like myself, who crave more knowledge of a program that lifted our spirits and our minds at a time when super-science seemed like it could conquer the universe and bring the human race to the brink of the stars. I can’t recommend this book and this series enough.
Now you have to understand that I’m in my mid-50s, and was born into an era when science was considered cool. The first Apollo moon landing occurred when I was 5 years old, and I have vague, fuzzy memories of watching those first steps into a new leap forward for mankind. I have more vivid memories of the later launches, but of course the Apollo project was canceled in 1972. Oh, man…...I’m rambling here, caught up in my frustrations about the current state of science education in the United States. I learned the scientific method in the FIFTH GRADE!! It’s not that hard!!
Ok….stop….breathe. Start over. Hello. My name is Michael. I am an advocate for science education. I have a particular love for and interest in space exploration as a topic. As such, I am pleased to introduce you to a series of books from the University of Nebraska Press:
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/seri...
Each book in the series covers a different topic or era within the broader scope of the big picture of man’s reach for the stars. This is an excellent set that respects the intelligence of its audience without becoming overly technical or dense. The general science reader will enjoy these just as much as an engineer would. Each title reads like a concise narrative that focuses just as much on the people involved as it does the incredible technology being developed and deployed.
I started my journey through the series with author Chris Gainor’s “To A Distant Day: The Rocket Pioneers.” I should say right off that there is not really any sort of official recommended reading order for this series. I just began with this title because it seemed like a logical starting point seeing as it focuses on the development of rocket technology from the early days all the way up to the end of the Mercury program. The book’s epilogue leaves off with the mighty launch of Apollo 11, with those fateful footprints just a few days in the future.
Chapter one covers the basics of rocketry from the earliest days after the invention of gunpowder. I was particularly interested to learn how much of an influence that the speculative fiction of the day had upon the early rocket pioneers. Jules Verne and H. G. Wells stimulated the imaginations of the public and the scientists who would go on to build the first wave of primitive rockets, many of whom would publish their own tales of fantastic fiction. That trend continues to this day, by the way. Proof positive that a healthy love of science-fiction goes a long way towards actual scientific literacy. My inner geek was left leaping with joy.
From there Gainor writes about the birth of astronautics, profiling scientists such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the little-known Friedrich Tsander. Other chapters focus on Robert Goddard and Hermann Oberth. The German contributions to rocketry are covered in great detail, especially the advances made during World War II. To Gainors credit, he doesn’t shy away from controversy where the wartime activities of the German scientists are concerned. Wernher von Braun was an undisputed genius and a key contributor to America’s post-war space program, of that there is no doubt. There is also no doubt that von Braun was a member of the SS and oversaw the use of slave labor at the Peenemünde rocket development site during the latter days of WWII. All of this is covered in the book, though Gainor is careful not to make any moral conclusions of his own. He reports the facts and lets the reader make up his or her mind as to how they feel about the information.
The Soviet contributions to rocketry are a key part of the narrative as well. Sergei Korolev is profiled as a giant within the ranks of rocket scientists, and deservedly so. The Russians had a robust space program, though it was not quite as advanced as they made it seem through the veil of propaganda. Gainor had access to many unclassified Russian records that add depth and insight as to the real facts behind the Soviet-U.S. space race in the ‘50s and ‘60s. It’s worth noting that the Soviets could quite possibly have beaten us to the moon had Stalin not executed a substantial number of rocket scientists during the purges of the Great Terror in the early days of the revolution.
Gainor also discusses the contributions of the balloonists and the test pilots who brought the right stuff with them as they pierced the veil of the atmosphere and rode rockets to ever-increasing speed and altitude records. The chapters on satellite development and deployment are invaluable resource material. It’s a useful reminder for this generation to understand just how big a deal it was for the average American to hear the radio transmissions from Sputnik and realize that not only had we been beaten to orbit by the Russians, but they could now deliver nuclear warheads to any point in the continental United States. That was scary stuff back then, and a real wake-up call to the leadership in Washington. The U.S. would eventually win the space-race to the moon, but those Cold War reverberations would echo for decades and dictate policy decisions that would affect international relations for an entire generation.
That historical perspective is where the true value of this series of books lies. I can’t stress enough the importance of having a clear and concise history of the space-age available to readers of all ages. If you have an interest in space exploration, then these books should be in your home. If you have an interest in science, then these books should be in your home. At the very least, you should petition your local public library to have set of these books available for check-out. Scientific literacy is at a historical low point at this time in the United States. We have to reverse that trend for us to advance as a society. Exploration begets knowledge, and knowledge in turn begets exploration. The “Outward Odyssey” series is a small step, but it could be a giant leap for that inquisitive young reader who goes on to become the next great rocket pioneer. It’s also a gift to those older readers like myself, who crave more knowledge of a program that lifted our spirits and our minds at a time when super-science seemed like it could conquer the universe and bring the human race to the brink of the stars. I can’t recommend this book and this series enough.
December 5, 2019
A very complete history of early rocketry in the US, Germany and Russia, including information only recently declassified. Both private investigations and military spending are factors in this complex narrative, culminating in Yuri Gagarin's famous first flight.
This book is part of the Outward Odyssey series, which provides both a history and a focus on the individuals involved in early rocketry and spaceflight. If followed Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965 in publishing, but preceded it in time. Unfortunately by comparison, it was just not as readable for me. This book also doesn't lend itself to being read aloud, and not just because of the foreign names and places.
At this point I definitely recommend the series, and look forward to finding and reading the rest. Overall rating 3.5 stars (out of 5).
This book is part of the Outward Odyssey series, which provides both a history and a focus on the individuals involved in early rocketry and spaceflight. If followed Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965 in publishing, but preceded it in time. Unfortunately by comparison, it was just not as readable for me. This book also doesn't lend itself to being read aloud, and not just because of the foreign names and places.
At this point I definitely recommend the series, and look forward to finding and reading the rest. Overall rating 3.5 stars (out of 5).
July 18, 2013
It’s entertaining, in a way, that the expression ‘It’s not rocket science’ has such a hold because if there’s one bit of technology that’s not rocket science, it’s, er, rocket science. I am not saying that it is easy to get successful rockets into space – the many failures, crashes and burns of the early space programme attest to this, and space flight remains a risky activity. But the science itself is pretty straightforward – far more Isaac Newton than Einstein.
This is an effective and straightforward history of the development of rocket flight in the US, Russia and Germany. With some background on the history of rockets, we find out plenty about key characters like Goddard, Tsiolovsky, Oberth and von Braun. All the successes and failures along the way are carefully spelled out. There is enough about the people to avoid this being a purely technological saga – all in all, it does the job well.
This book is not really in competition with an in-depth study of the key US versus USSR period, typified by Deborah Cadbury’s Space Race. In fact it stops once manned space flight has begun. But it fills in considerably more detail about those early faltering steps than other books and is well worth adding to a spaceflight library.
Review first published on www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission.
This is an effective and straightforward history of the development of rocket flight in the US, Russia and Germany. With some background on the history of rockets, we find out plenty about key characters like Goddard, Tsiolovsky, Oberth and von Braun. All the successes and failures along the way are carefully spelled out. There is enough about the people to avoid this being a purely technological saga – all in all, it does the job well.
This book is not really in competition with an in-depth study of the key US versus USSR period, typified by Deborah Cadbury’s Space Race. In fact it stops once manned space flight has begun. But it fills in considerably more detail about those early faltering steps than other books and is well worth adding to a spaceflight library.
Review first published on www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission.
April 28, 2025
There are any number of agendas I can point to in my reading program, but one that I've been picking at for awhile is to read the University of Nebraska's complete series on the history of space flight, which this monograph is a component of.
All you really need to know about this particular book is that, as promised, it deals with the pioneers of the endeavor of rocketry; people such Robert Goddard, Werner von Braun, and Sergei Korolev. Considering that this work is now pushing twenty years of age, I'd say that Chris Gainor did an excellent job with the sources at hand, and it doesn't feel that dated.
Gainor also doesn't shy away from dealing with the uglier issues of this history, such as how the German V-2 program tied into the eliminationist politics of the Nazi state, or how American "Red Scare" policies sent Tsien Hsue-shen back to China, and gave Beijing a seed crystal for their own rocket program.
As for Gainor himself, who had previously written about the collapse of the Canadian aerospace industry, and how the best personnel from the Avro Arrow project wound up working on the Apollo program, he entered into this book wondering why the race to the Moon had so little long-term momentum. Basically, he seconds Walter McDougall's contention that it was largely political theater with limited relevance once the Cold War started running down.
All you really need to know about this particular book is that, as promised, it deals with the pioneers of the endeavor of rocketry; people such Robert Goddard, Werner von Braun, and Sergei Korolev. Considering that this work is now pushing twenty years of age, I'd say that Chris Gainor did an excellent job with the sources at hand, and it doesn't feel that dated.
Gainor also doesn't shy away from dealing with the uglier issues of this history, such as how the German V-2 program tied into the eliminationist politics of the Nazi state, or how American "Red Scare" policies sent Tsien Hsue-shen back to China, and gave Beijing a seed crystal for their own rocket program.
As for Gainor himself, who had previously written about the collapse of the Canadian aerospace industry, and how the best personnel from the Avro Arrow project wound up working on the Apollo program, he entered into this book wondering why the race to the Moon had so little long-term momentum. Basically, he seconds Walter McDougall's contention that it was largely political theater with limited relevance once the Cold War started running down.
January 30, 2023
A history of rocket science as it applies to space exploration from the earliest ideas of space from the likes of Galileo, through visionaries such as Jules Verne, the work of Goddard and von Braun to build the first rockets directed toward space, and culminating with the Soviet and American space programs. Some interesting detail including the work of Russian scientists such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Yuri Vasilyevich, that has not been revealed until recently.
Even though it was published in 2018, the book ends with the Apollo program. Mention is made of von Braun's vision of the space shuttle, but the history stops there. Nothing of the shuttle program itself, the space station, unmanned space exploration with satellites, or the space telescopes. The book ends just when things get interesting!
Even though it was published in 2018, the book ends with the Apollo program. Mention is made of von Braun's vision of the space shuttle, but the history stops there. Nothing of the shuttle program itself, the space station, unmanned space exploration with satellites, or the space telescopes. The book ends just when things get interesting!
October 16, 2008
I had a really nice surprise on Friday afternoon - a package from the University of Nebraska Press with a copy of the next installment of their Outward Odyssey series, To A Distant Day, by Chris Gainor, about the human history of space exploration. I was a big fan of the first two books in the series, Into that Silent Sea and In The Shadow of the Moon, both of which dealt heavily with human space flight, with Silent Sea taking much of the earlier days from Mercury to very early Apollo and with Shadows taking the lead up to and half of the first lunar landings. In both, I was incredibly impressed with the amount of detail and narrative style of history that laid the American and Russian space programs out in the open, almost comprehensively. After reading both, I have been eagerly awaiting the next one, To A Distant Day, which is due out in April of this year, with the fourth installment due out in the fall of 2008.
To A Distant Day takes a step back in the development of human space flight. Where the first two books took care of the rock-star elements of the space program, this book went back - far back to the birth of rocketry. Mercury, Gemni and Apollo would never have taken flight without the vast history of rockets behind them. Gainor’s book covers the history of the development of the rocket, from Ancient China’s development of gunpower and tracing the development of military rockets across Asia to Europe, through to the First and Second World Wars, while looking at some of the major figures who worked out the mathmatics and physics of rocketry.
While it’s arguably a more important and vast history, this book is the shortest yet of the Outward Odyssey series, clocking in at 264 pages. The earlier developments of the rocket is gone over a bit briefly, while a bulk of the attention is paid to the efforts of the German Scientists in and around the Second World War, and the Space Race between the United States and Soviet Russia. What we get is facinating, and the shorter read holds the same level of detail and care that the first two books contained.
One of the things that I noted was the influence that Jules Verne, whose works constitute the first Science Fiction, had on a number of the early rocket scientists, sparking their imagination as to what was possible in the future. What’s even more facinating is at how the rocket scientists around the world, linked by this book, shared a vision of a human in space.
Having just started my Master’s Degree in Military History through Norwich University’s graduate school, it was interesting to me as to the degree to which military elements helped influence the creation of the US and Soviet space programs, especially when one considers the reluctance of multiple governments to weaponize space. The common sci-fi phrase “We come in peace” seems like hypocrisy when one considers the development of the V-1 and V-2 rockets, which helped influence both the Russian and US space programs to a huge degree.
Like in the first two books, we also get a good look at how the US and Russians built up for the Cold War. This book provides a better look at the military aspects of the arms race, as much of the rocket science that the US government used was also used to build bigger and better missiles, and takes a good look at some of the technical aspects of the arms race.
The author does skirt around some issues, such as the use of German scientists in the space program. A number, who had joined the Nazi party and utilized concentration camp labor, were used by the US government to build up a space program that would eventually superceed that of the USSR. While NASA and it’s predecessors would not have succeeded without then, it’s an uncomfortable topic that’s not really addressed.
This aspect of history in the space program is a lot more vast, touching on social and military aspects, and covers a lot more ground than the first two books. It’s a weighty task, and the book succeeds extremely well at it, covering everything in a fair amount of detail that is neither dry nor hard to get into. I can’t wait for the next installment.
(Originally posted: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com)
To A Distant Day takes a step back in the development of human space flight. Where the first two books took care of the rock-star elements of the space program, this book went back - far back to the birth of rocketry. Mercury, Gemni and Apollo would never have taken flight without the vast history of rockets behind them. Gainor’s book covers the history of the development of the rocket, from Ancient China’s development of gunpower and tracing the development of military rockets across Asia to Europe, through to the First and Second World Wars, while looking at some of the major figures who worked out the mathmatics and physics of rocketry.
While it’s arguably a more important and vast history, this book is the shortest yet of the Outward Odyssey series, clocking in at 264 pages. The earlier developments of the rocket is gone over a bit briefly, while a bulk of the attention is paid to the efforts of the German Scientists in and around the Second World War, and the Space Race between the United States and Soviet Russia. What we get is facinating, and the shorter read holds the same level of detail and care that the first two books contained.
One of the things that I noted was the influence that Jules Verne, whose works constitute the first Science Fiction, had on a number of the early rocket scientists, sparking their imagination as to what was possible in the future. What’s even more facinating is at how the rocket scientists around the world, linked by this book, shared a vision of a human in space.
Having just started my Master’s Degree in Military History through Norwich University’s graduate school, it was interesting to me as to the degree to which military elements helped influence the creation of the US and Soviet space programs, especially when one considers the reluctance of multiple governments to weaponize space. The common sci-fi phrase “We come in peace” seems like hypocrisy when one considers the development of the V-1 and V-2 rockets, which helped influence both the Russian and US space programs to a huge degree.
Like in the first two books, we also get a good look at how the US and Russians built up for the Cold War. This book provides a better look at the military aspects of the arms race, as much of the rocket science that the US government used was also used to build bigger and better missiles, and takes a good look at some of the technical aspects of the arms race.
The author does skirt around some issues, such as the use of German scientists in the space program. A number, who had joined the Nazi party and utilized concentration camp labor, were used by the US government to build up a space program that would eventually superceed that of the USSR. While NASA and it’s predecessors would not have succeeded without then, it’s an uncomfortable topic that’s not really addressed.
This aspect of history in the space program is a lot more vast, touching on social and military aspects, and covers a lot more ground than the first two books. It’s a weighty task, and the book succeeds extremely well at it, covering everything in a fair amount of detail that is neither dry nor hard to get into. I can’t wait for the next installment.
(Originally posted: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews