Chasing the Moon

by Robert Stone, Alan Andres

In a world divided by the ideological struggles of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, more than one-fifth of the people on the planet paused to watch the live transmission of the Apollo 11 mission. To watch as humanity took a giant leap forward.

A companion book to the landmark documentary series on BBC TV.

The journey from Cape Canaveral to the Moon was a tremendous achievement of human courage and ingenuity. It was also a long, deadly march, haunted by the possibility of catastrophic failure on the world’s stage. In an era when the most advanced portable computer weighed 70 pounds, had a 36-kilobite memory and operated on less power than a 60-watt lightbulb, the sheer audacity of the goal is breath-taking. But the triumph of imagination and the unity of the Earth that day would change the world.

Based on eyewitness accounts and newly discovered archival material, Chasing the Moon reveals the unknown stories of the individuals who made the Moon landing a possibility, from inspirational science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark and controversial engineer Wernher von Braun, to pioneers like mathematician Poppy Northcutt and astronaut Edward Dwight. It vividly revisits the dawn of the Space Age, a heady time of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Space, Science, Audiobook, Politics, American History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Boudewijn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating exploration of the space race and its cultural impact

In 2019, I went to the cinema to see an early screening of Apollo 11, a documentary composed of unseen 70mm footage of the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon. As I stepped into the dimly lit theater, I was enthralled by the archival footage, the stunning visuals and the glimpses into the preparations. As the credits rolled and the lights gradually brightened I slowly came back to reality. Turning my head, I glanced around, only to see empty seats stretching out in every direction. As I rose from my seat and made my way toward the exit, I spotted the theater cleaner, who, surprised to see someone walking out at this early hour, paused his sweeping. "I didn't expect anyone else to be here," he said, gesturing towards the empty theater. "Yeah, I guess I had the whole show to myself. It was incredible." I replied.

This is the memory I frequently had to think about when reading this book. This is a book about the historical, political, and cultural aspects of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union leading up to the Apollo 11 mission. It shows how authors such as Arthur C. Clarke shaped the collective imagination and inspired generations of scientists, engineers, and dreamers to envision the possibilities and potential of space exploration. How the in Cold War Competition, the moon became a symbolic battleground in the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. How the moon landings united people in a collective moment of awe and wonder, offering a temporary respite from the impact of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement on American society.

If you are expecting this book to be about technical details, this is not the book for you. This book is not just a retelling of the technicalities of the moon landing; it is an exploration of our innate desire to push boundaries, to strive for greatness, and to venture into the unknown.

Read more of my reviews here

[Barry Davidoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the many books issued for the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 11, Robert Stone's book misses. There are numerous errors throughout the tome and many of the footnotes are ambiguous and from dubious sources.
The author fails to bring any real research or insights into his history of the space program. Rather than making the space race exciting, he retells the threads of familiar themes. From a historiogarphical view, he approaches the subject with a second decade of the 21st century view rather than one of objectivity. His writing is filled with judgement of a Monday morning quarterback looking backward over a half century.
The author devotes too much of the book to the lack of minorities at NASA, rather than President Johnson passing multiple civil rights bills. NASA spending in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas created tens of thousands of jobs to all groups. NASA spurred the growth of technology and engineering in schools of the south. In the immortal words of Vice President Agnew, Stone is a "nattering nabob of negativism."
If the author wants to describe the divisions of race in America, a book on the space race is not the forum. He fails to describe other changes in the United States and the sixties there are thousands of other books that beat him to the punch and are better written.
The book does little to be inspirational or indeed even accurate. Even in selecting the few images in the book, the author chooses the most familiar and ones which are iconic. Stone does not capture the enthusiasm of the period and how Apollo is one of the greatest achievements of mankind.
Far better books are Douglas Brinkley's Moonshot and Roger Launius' Apollo Legacy.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never get tired of space history books, and this might be the best and most comprehensive one so far.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the many, many books published around the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. A solid overview of the US space programme, though nothing much new as all of this has been covered in plenty of other books on the subject.

[Micah Scelsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helps enlighten readers as to the why doing something as audacious as landing a man on the Moon was done when it was. Certainly technology played a role, and the authors trace the technological roots to World War II German scientists, and how the became prominent workers within America's space program.

The other ingredient was a political environment that allowed such a long-term program. Here we find leaders at high levels encouraging such risk. Further, competition against the Russians and related security concerns caused a larger swath of people to embrace this goal.

One of the special things about this book, besides the fact that it is also a PBS mini-series, is that it focuses on a number of the people who were instrumental in the Space Race, on both sides. It doesn't simply document what occurred, but brings the personalities and the environment at the time into focus. For modern readers with no recollection of 1969, or the decade preceding it, having an overall frame of reference to the times is critical. Thus, it talks about the Cold War, as well as cultural issues of the time such as racial division/rights. It was a turbulent era, and it is important to steep this historical achievement within that era. From a historical perspective, it was important the author's did the first-hand interviews, as many of the participants are older or diseased.

Not only did the race to the Moon change people's ideas about the world and our place in it, it changed those who participated in it. This was also brought to life in the book, as well as how quickly the program dissolved in the mid-Seventies, as America's national priorities shifted.

The authors did a good job of not only setting the backdrop, but providing the drama of the times. So, while the book does focus on some of the specifics of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, it also talks quite a bit about the Apollo 8 lunar orbit, which for the time was just as remarkable and marked a shift in what humanity thought was possible. The reading from Genesis on Christmas Eve from lunar orbit was remarkable, and demonstrated how the achievements of the Apollo program were progressive, with one achievement stacked upon, and based upon those preceding it. So while we can celebrate the initial Moon landing, it isn't an achievement that occurred in a vacuum, and the impact of the entire space program continues to impact us today.

[Jack Cheng · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a moon obsessive, but I have read (and enjoyed) a lot of books about NASA and the Apollo program. This new entry, the companion to a multipart PBS special, does something different from The Right Stuff, or Chaiken's A Man on the Moon (incidentally still the best book on the Apollo program).

Chasing the Moon is a cultural history. So all the rocketry and some of the astronauts are in there, but it starts with Arthur C Clarke and various writers imagining spaceflight. Then, throughout the story, it takes tangents, telling lesser known stories like about Ed Dwight, the black pilot who might have been the first black astronaut, or Poppy Northcutt, the woman at NASA who became a sensation and inspired girls to study math and science. There's a wonderful quote from Margaret Mead and the media attention on NASA gets its own focus.

This is pretty valuable to connect Apollo to its era, the 1960s with Civil Rights and women's rights, and anti-colonial uprisings around the world. One scene has Civil Rights leaders meeting with NASA officials to argue (politely) that money is being misspent when people are hungry at home.

Ultimately, I think the book shows that the Apollo money wasn't a waste just in the contrast between then and now. Apollo gave Americans a common mission, something everyone was proud of (even if they wished money was spent elsewhere).

This book may not be the one for engineers and NASA obsessives, but it's a good introduction to Apollo and puts the entire mission into the context of its times.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What was once the dreams of science fiction writers and visionary engineers became a reality when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969. And a half-century later has slipped into history. Putting the road to Apollo, and the decisions after its grand successes, into perspective, are Robert L. Stone and Alan Andres with their book Chasing the Moon.

A companion book to the PBS documentary series of the same name, this isn't a technical history of the Space Race era. Instead, Stone and Andres offer up a political and cultural history of the race to the Moon from its origins in the early 1900s on through to the publication of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. It's a journey alongside personalities as wide-ranging as Werner von Braun and Arthur C Clarke to lesser-known figures such as Ed Dwight, who might have been the first black astronaut, and Poppy Northcutt, the "first woman in Mission Control," who became a campaigner in the feminist movement of the 1970s. In the process, they strip away some of the myths and bring up some fascinating "what if?" moments, such as the proposed joint US-Soviet lunar mission lost in the aftermath of the JFK assassination.

The result is an intriguing read into the world and thoughts that influenced how we got to the Moon and why we stopped going. And for that, it's well worth a read for those interested in the history of the era.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide ranging overview of the US space program of the 60s-70s. Mixing the space program with background information from the time period it packs a nice punch. The author has a background of documentary filmmaking so he is especially sensitive to the films, photos and video created during the program. This book is the partner to the American Experience PBS episode of the same name. Can’t wait to see!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you were alive and old enough on July 16, 1969, you may still remember where you were on the day “nearly a million people (gathered) under the harsh Florida sun to witness the departure of the first humans to attempt a landing on another world.” You may also remember the day “eight years earlier, (when) President John Kennedy stood before Congress and called for the United States to put a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade.”

As authors Stone and Andres may have implied in their 2019 publication, “Chasing the Moon,” a rural Russian school teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky should probably be called “the father of modern space travel.” Nearly one hundred twenty years ago, “Tsiolkovsky published a scientific paper that contained the first appearance of what came to be known as ‘the rocket equation.’” It was Tsiolkovsky’s mathematical formula that compared a rocket’s mass ratio to its velocity. That essential calculation was necessary to determine how to escape a planet’s gravity. Without Tsiolkovsky’s equation, Neil Armstrong would have never made that “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” when he descended the lunar module ladder and first set foot on the surface of the Moon, more than half a century ago.

As a follow-up, companion book to the PBS documentary series, “The American Experience,” here in “Chasing the Moon,” Stone and Andres trace the very early beginnings of man’s quest to explore other worlds. This reviewer was surprised at the role science fiction writers, magazines and blooks played in dreaming seemingly impossible dreams. For example, David Lasser’s ground-breaking book, “The Conquest of Space,” and the Collier’s magazine March 22, 1952, edition of the cover story, “Man Will Conquer Space Soon,” helped to “prompt a significant shift in public attitudes toward human spaceflight.”

Again, those of us of a certain age should remember the shock wave heard around the world in October of 1957 when “Russia successfully launched an artificial moon weighing 184 pounds into orbit around the Earth.” One could say that Russia’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik itself launched an official race to the moon. A media panic that followed that scientific milestone “only increased when in early November (of that year) the Soviets orbited Sputnik 2. A much heavier satellite, it carried the first living creature on a one-way trip into orbit, a husky-terrier mix, Laika.”

Fast forward nearly two years, the United States began making up for lost time in the race with Russia when NASA introduced the first seven astronauts who would pioneer the Mercury program. America’s early efforts to put the Mercury Seven into earth orbit should be very familiar to most history students. Perhaps not so well known is a May 1961 Gallup poll that showed “nearly 60 percent of the respondents were opposed to spending billions from the national treasury to put an American on the Moon.” Perhaps equally unknown is President Kennedy’s proposal made in a June 1961 meeting in Vienna with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushev that “the two superpowers combine their resources and venture to the Moon jointly.” Kennedy’s “bold and unexpected overture to Khrushev” was ultimately rejected by the Soviet leader. “If the two superpowers worked together,” Sergei Khrushev was later told by his father, “keeping Soviet secrets would be impossible.”

Other events that apparently got little media attention at the time, included Gus Grissom’s near drowning “while Marine helicopters were attempting to recover his sinking (Mercury) capsule from the Atlantic Ocean.” For that second Mercury flight, “there was no live television from the recovery site.” That drama did show up nearly eighteen years later in the release of Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff.” This reviewer only recently saw the 1983 film adaptation of Wolfe’s book and was shocked to see Grissom fighting for his life. Nearly sixty years to the day since Friendship 7 put the first American into space, most television viewers following that February 20, 1962, launch have long since forgotten that John Glenn could have been killed on his return to Earth when “a faulty signal erroneously indicated that the spacecraft’s heat shield had detached prematurely.” A little more than four years later, NASA was now in the two-astronaut, Gemini phase of chasing the Moon. Who can remember when Neil Armstrong and David Scott’s Gemini 8 spacecraft began “tumbling end over end?” The spacemen’s “rotation rate accelerated to nearly one revolution per second.” Imagine being inside a tumbling gyroscope!

Who remembers all “the former Nazis” who were relocated from Germany to the United States at the end of World War II, including the best-known Wernher von Braun? As part of Operation Paperclip, “around one hundred fifty rocket scientists and engineers,” (developers of Adolph Hitler’s V2 rocket program), were “brought to the United States to impart technical knowledge vital to the nation’s security.” The War Department said those “outstanding German scientists . . . would be in the United States on a temporary basis and all had made the journey voluntarily.” Reportedly, several decades later, (so much for temporary assignments), journalists privately “joked about the irony that a lot of former Nazis were going to put America on the Moon.”

Given Russia’s passion for secrecy and cover-up, the free world may never know how many Soviet cosmonauts have been killed to date in their space program. Again, those of us who were alive and old enough at the time, remember where they were on January 27, 1967. That Friday, this reviewer was working at a South Carolina radio station, monitoring reports from launch Pad 34, where astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire raced through their Apollo command module. After a review board investigation, “most shocking was the conclusion that the fire had been entirely preventable.” And, how about the three out of the twenty-eight Gemini astronauts who were killed in T-38 plane crashes in just a little more than two years? Were those fatal accidents also “entirely preventable?”

In “Chasing the Moon,” authors Stone and Andres reveal, or at least remind us of the long-forgotten fact that Russia actually beat the United States to the Moon. In September 1968, more than three months before America’s first manned flight to the Moon, the Russian spacecraft Zond 5 with “two tortoises, an assortment of mealworms, wine flies and some plants” on board whipped around the Moon “in a free-return trajectory and headed back toward Earth.” Russia was not done yet. About two months after Zond 5, and more than a month ahead of America’s Apollo 8 lunar spaceflight, “Russia launched yet another Soyuz, Zond 6, on a circumlunar mission.” Granted, both Zond space flights experienced major problems on reentry, but, as Stone and Andres document here, Russia clearly got to the Moon first.

Perhaps, Stone and Andres document another little-known scene out of America’s chase to the moon. Were you aware that nearly four months prior to the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 mission, President Richard Nixon “invited the crew of the second Apollo moon-landing mission to stay overnight at the White House? During the visit, Nixon entertained the Apollo 12 crew and their wives in the White House screening room with a newly released Hollywood motion picture. ‘Marooned’ was a stunning selection to screen on such an occasion. The space-disaster film was about the plight of three Apollo astronauts stranded in orbit as they slowly ran out of available oxygen.” Ironically enough, about four months after “Marooned” was shown to the Apollo 12 astronauts, their colleagues aboard Apollo 13 became actors in a real-life version of the movie as played out live on national television. No wonder, “the wife of one Apollo astronaut later revealed that ‘Marooned’ had given her nightmares.”

As Stone and Andres point out at the end of their space odyssey, more than five decades after Neal Armstrong took that “one small step” unto the lunar surface, today, “less than a sixth of the world’s population has a living memory of the event.” And of course, “far fewer have a firsthand recollection of the circumstances that precipitated it.” It will not be long before “the events of the early space age . . . will pass into a realm of history with no living witnesses walking the Earth.” Thanks to Stone and Andres’ thoroughly researched and compellingly crafted story, at least those Earth dwellers will still have a written record of mankind’s costly and sometimes deadly efforts at “Chasing the Moon.”

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Stone and Alan Andres have written a compelling book, as a companion to their six-hour PBS miniseries, that explores the effort to reach the Moon through Apollo from a cultural point of view. This is not the best book for readers who are fascinated with the technical details of Apollo. Instead, the authors share the stories of the people who collectively made possible what appeared to be an impossible dream. They begin with the visionaries of the early twentieth century, such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Hermann Oberth, Robert Goddard, and Arthur C. Clarke, the "social outsiders" from several nations who considered the possibilities of spaceflight when most people viewed it only as science fiction entertainment. Then they consider the figures of the 1950s and 1960s, ranging from astronauts Frank Borman and Bill Anders, to NASA Administrator James Webb, to NASA public affairs head Julian Scheer, to lesser known figures such as African-American pilot Ed Dwight and flight controller Poppy Northcutt who introduce the push for racial and gender equality into the narrative. The authors derive many of their details from the interviews they conducted with those figures who are still living. While sharing the thoughts of firsthand participants, they also include many fascinating tidbits about how the media kept the public's interest in spaceflight and how observers around the world reacted to the spectacle of spaceflight during the 1950s and 1960s. I recommend this book as a valuable addition to the cultural side of spaceflight history and a reminder that even an effort of highly sophisticated science and engineering still needs cultural historians to explain its full significance.

[Kelly Sedinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually finished this a week and a half ago and forgot to update it on here...anyway, this is a highly engaging and readable history of the space race in the 20th century. There are a lot of such books, so what makes this one stand out for me is the way the book puts the space race in larger context of the ongoing fights for women's rights and for civil rights for black Americans. I never knew, for example, about Ed Dwight, a black Air Force test pilot who was in the early astronautics program and almost certainly should have been one of our nation's first astronauts. Instead, black Americans would have to wait until the 1980s to see one of their own go to space. This seems to me a giant failure of moral courage.

CHASING THE MOON also focuses strongly on the politics behind the space race and the way it was often used as a way of tempering the increasing dissatisfaction Americans felt with the war in Vietnam and other issues of the day. So if you're looking for a "Look at what the USA did!" hegemonic narrative of the Apollo missions, this isn't it. But it is a valuable account of what is, for all its wrinkles and questionable political motivations, one of our country's very greatest achievements.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book presents a straightforward history of he race to the moon. I found the chapter on 1969 particularly interesting. Among the interesting tidbits that I didn't know was the fact that Nixon was very enthusiastic about the Apollo 11 landing, as was America in general, and that he identified with the self-made histories of the astronauts. The US sent them on a presidential 707 to visit over 20 countries on a victory tour. NASA was criticised for how white NASA was and one moment had Neil Armstrong pushing through a crowd to shake hands with one black child he spotted in a crowd of white fans. South Africans missed the moon launch because their government banned all TV broadcasting as a corrupting influence leading to race-mixing, communism, and crime. The book is interesting for all of these details that capture that moment in history. One thing missing from the book, though, is much discussion of the technical feat. It is nearly all about the socio-political aspects of the race. I haven't seen the companion PBS series yet, so I can't comment on it.

[Raj Agrawal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique approach to the history of humanity’s pursuit of the moon landing, against the background of humanity’s complexity — politics, naziism, social change, racism, sexuality, and many other aspects that bring this well-known story to life. I found myself weaving in and out of sorrow and joy as I read through this phenomenal retelling. Great feats are never as clean as the myths we like to tell, and these authors present us with a version of the pursuit of the moon that shows the reader that even our frailty can’t hold us back from doing amazing things. Still, there is much to learn from this telling — how we can we so much more if we open our eyes to society’s illnesses and that heroes can be found in the least likely places. Great book. Not the one you should read if you just want to be inspired. It’s one you should read if you want history in full color.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

For persons wanting to know more about the space race and the United States mission to land on the moon, this is an excellent book to read. I grew up during the "Space Race," but I learned a lot more about the first landing on the moon from this book.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Companion piece to the documentary of the same title which I highly recommend. This book details much of how we got men of the moon, and historical picture of what was happening during that time frame.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great! Love the early details on the build up to the space race. Places the events in the wider context of the world.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America Into the Space Age by Robert Stone and Alan Andres a non-fiction book looking back at the thinkers, dreamers, and futurists that help envision American’s space program. This book is a companion book to the PBS’ American Experience.

I have not seen PBS’ American Experience and did not realize this was a companion book until well into it. At first reading Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched America Into the Space Age by Robert Stone and Alan Andres seemed somewhat strange because it wasn’t set up like the usual “space program” book, but it held my attention and I kept on reading.

The book follows the lives and careers of Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer and author of a scientific paper on communications satellites. Famous scientist and rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, as well as the commander of Apollo 8, Frank Borman, who together with his crew of James Lovell and William Anders were the first humans to leave low Earth orbit and orbit the Moon. The last two personalities the book follows are those of mathematician Poppy Northcutt, the first woman to work in Mission Control and equal rights fighter, and Edward Dwight, the first African American candidate.

The book mainly fills in the blanks in the non-technical side of the moon landing, the political environment which fostered at the time, as well as how leaders at high levels encouraged or derailed the program based on their own goals and/or selfish reasons.

The authors, like many other books, drives in the point that the flight of Apollo 11 did not happen in a vacuum. There were many people, known and unknown that contributed to this public/private enterprise.

This book is just an overview, albeit a very good one, of the American space program, and hence a great introduction to it. Even though I read several books about the subject, I always learn something new, whether a tidbit or a better understanding of a complicated (to me) subject.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In less than a century since the Wright Brothers first flight, humans were able to put man on the Moon, a very wonderful depictions of imagination being put into reality by sheer willpower (and materials along the way). As the title said, this book mainly concerned with America's Apollo 11 mission to put Neil Armstrong et. al. on the Moon. However, it took a quite roundabout way, with the discussion of man's infatuation with space rockets and space travels, the earliest rocket experiments in Germany which culminated in Nazi's V2 Rocket Missile project under Wernher von Braun, a Nazi Scientist whose vision was put into civilian use when he and his team was discreetly smuggled into USA, their Nazi past conveniently whitewashed as USA entered the Cold War against Soviet Union.

Then, it was all bureaucratic tangles as NASA sought to secure President's attention and enough funding. Kennedy became its most enthusiastic patron, while his successor Johnson boggled down in Vietnam and the whole civil rights movements debacle. People's skepticism on NASA moon project only increased during Nixon's presidency. During the whole time, USA, after being shocked by Soviet's early space program breakthrough with Sputnik, and the Gagarin's space flight, spurred into action, steadily increasing its lead over the Soviets, who quietly shelved its space program as Armstrong and the others walked on the moon.

While the walk on the moon became the high point of Space Age optimism, the following later 70s was marked with general sense of malaise and pessimism, that enthusiasm for space exploration never reached the same point during 60s and early 70s. In the end, I found the moon exploration story interesting, although I got bogged down on the whole NASA bureaucratic shenanigans that bore me to no end and put me off the book for quite a while. But overall, an interesting book.

[Realms & Robots · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chasing the Moon is a well-researched account of humanity’s journey to the Moon and its long history. Through an astute attention to detail and a large collection of historic imagery, this full story of the space age demands to be read.

This is a deeply researched account of the history of rocket science and the many figures necessary to get a man to the Moon. We see the early days in Russia and Germany, fueled by propaganda and popular culture until extremist politics and war took over. We see the mass defection of German scientists to the US and how it advanced the timeline of the American entrance into space. We see the race to the Moon fueled by Russia’s first flight outside of the atmosphere. There are so many behind the scenes details that don’t often get discussed and they present a fascinating, essential history.

I found the early history most interesting. Many books focus on the scientific aspects of space travel and history beginning with the Moon landings, but Chasing the Moon starts with the roots of the space age and how it ingrained itself into public consciousness. It’s not surprising that science fiction had a heavy hand in exciting the world to explore beyond our atmosphere. The vision of humanity in space was sold to the masses through science fiction magazines, epic movies, news broadcasts, animated shorts, and propaganda. Seeing this narrative play out really drives home the power of the space age on twentieth century popular culture.

Chasing the Moon is a fascinating history book that dives deep into the many aspects of our journey to the Moon. If you’re looking for an intellectual catch-all history of spaceflight, you’ve found it.

NOTE: I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

[George Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the midst of the Cold War, two world superpowers compete to be the first one to achieve an other-worldly advantage. Chasing the Moon: The People, the Politics, and the Promise That Launched American Into the Space Age, written by Robert L. Stone, explores its title to the fullest as it gives an written history of the beginnings and climaxes of the Space age. It takes place from WW2 to the end of the Cold War, and analyzes a section of history often overlooked in todays day and age. Beyond that, Stone explores what happens to an entity when it is overcome with corrupt ambition—a self-destructive want that ultimately hurts more than helps— and discovers that although something might have been worth it, the losses and hardships endured along the way add a level of sincerity to a sometimes hollow achievement. My favorite characteristic of the book is how thorough, deep, and fulfilling the content is in relation to its purpose— Stone is able to write an efficient memoir that touches on the thousands of people and occurrences that led to America’s landing of man on the moon. The author’s purpose is to explain a section of scientific history that has shaped the state of the world today and to hone in on what ambition can really do to even the seemingly best parts of humanity. The intended audience is current day historians, scientists, and really anyone who is intrigued by the Cold War space race, so if you enjoy any of these topics, you’ll definitely enjoy this book.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chasing the Moon was a very thorough, well-researched book about what it took to get the United States onto the moon. While a bit dry at times, this gave a ton of relevant information, especially about the political climate both here in the US and around the rest of the world during the race to space, especially between the US and Russia, but it also included (albeit briefly) information about political unrest in Europe and Africa, as well.

Other important issues that the authors touched on was racism/Civil Rights movement, equality for women, WWII, Vietnam, and the assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and MLK Jr. For me, personally, I wanted to read more about a lot of the overlap between the space race and these issues, but since this was written off of research done for a multi-part documentary television series, these were all given fewer pages than they could have been. Overall, I enjoyed the book and learned a lot more than I knew about the US's history of space exploration.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the arc of this book. It has not influenced my review.

[Jenni V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't seen the documentary but I think I may have liked it more than the book - I kept stopping to look up footage or photos of what they were talking about so having it all laid out for me would've been easier. I actually feel pretty silly now that I'm typing it out that I didn't just watch the documentary once I started down the rabbit hole of YouTube clips.

It was very well-researched. As with most non-fiction books my interest came and went depending on how interested I was in the material but everything was well-written. A downside is the chapters were very long so if I wasn't interested it felt even longer since I usually read until I can find a good break point.

Reading about how such small things could make a huge, possibly catastrophic, impact was a good reminder to always put 100% effort into a task and not overlook the details.

Reading the quote, "We have talked about adding provisions in the space capsule for one hundred twenty pounds of recreational equipment" (Werner von Braun) in response to the question of whether women could be astronauts was a gross reminder of blatant sexism (which wasn't unique to NASA, I'm sure).

I finished this book wanting to watch the documentary and with a few books added to my never-ending "to-read" list (mostly biographies written by the astronauts themselves) so I consider it a win.

A Few Quotes from the Book

"To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold - brothers who know now they are truly brothers." ~ from an article in The New York Times during the Apollo 8 mission

"In comparison with the Apollo photographs of the whole Earth seen from space, the Apollo plaque [left on the moon] made only a brief impression. But its message was the same: The people of the planet were one species, united by universal hopes and dreams and motivated by a desire to explore and learn."

"The generation that came of age in the 1960s [is] the last earthbound generation. They saw in their own lifetimes the shift of man as a creature of a single planet to man beginning the exploration of space. It's the most exciting and significant time in the history of mankind." ~ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, a companion piece to the PBS "American Experience" film of the same name, expands on the televised program as it tells the stories of visionaries using both eyewitness accounts and newly-discovered archival material. In investigating those who inspired President Kennedy’s 1961 pronouncement of landing a man on the moon before the close of the decade, “Chasing the Moon” looks not only at the work of scientists and engineers but also at the dreams of science fiction writers and filmmakers. Exploring the stories of creative thinkers such as science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, astronaut Frank Borman, and Poppy Northcutt provides readers with a new perspective on the lunar landing. Photographs accompany the narrative; a special full-color selection of photographs is also included. Readers interested in the development of space exploration and NASA’s lunar missions will find much to appreciate here.

Highly recommended.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of many books on the space race of the 1960's due to the anniversary in July of the first manned moon landing. While it is a companion book for a television series, it is well written and researched. The authors writing style make it an interesting read. While not as detailed as others on the subject that I have read (including books on specific space flights), it provides a good overview for those interested in the subject.

I recomend this book for those looking for more information on the race to be the first to land a man on the moon.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook and Twitter pages.

[Kamis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating look into the history of the space race. The book starts long before the race to the moon, and delved into many aspects of the history of it, including the influence that some science fiction writers had, and the many German scientists who ended up in the US after WWII.

It moves from one part to another, and covers many people, including Arthur C. Clarke and Wernher von Braun, and places that had a part in it, such as the US, Germany, and Russia. There were many things I didn’t know, or only had a brief idea of, and this book filled in a lot of missing parts.

It may come off a little dry, especially to those who aren’t really into reading science and history, but for anyone who has an interest in space and the history of how we got to where we are, this is a perfect book to read.

[Kristin Bernazard · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started reading Chasing the Moon no one was more surprised than my husband, as space talk generally bores me but with the 50th year anniversary of the moon landing it sparked my interest in something I really knew little about (I was born in 1987). This book was perfect for me, as it delved into some of the logistics of space travel while capturing the personalities behind it, the politics, the fight for racial and gender equality, television networks, and of course the Soviet Union. After reading this, I feel way more educated about the era as a whole and of course the space program and all the things and people that paved the way for the momentous moon landing. Now I’m in total dork mode, hoping for a framed “Earthrise” print for my birthday or Christmas. I am planning to watch the PBS special with my husband now that I’ve made it through this (long) book.

[Suze · Rating 3 out of 5]

On July 16, 1969 (my birthday!) Apollo 11 rocketed toward the moon, and I still remember where I was as I listened to Neil Armstrong say his famous, slightly botched, first words as he set foot on the moon four days later. It was unreal to me – the stuff of science fiction. And, yes, some science fiction writers such as Sir Arthur C. Clarke figure prominently.
Chasing the Moon is an overview account of all the people and the steps leading up to that goal, starting about a century earlier. And some interesting revelations of how America hired Nazi rocket weapons scientists after the war ended in 1945. It’s chronologically straight forward, and sets the space inventions and developments against the geopolitics of each decade, particularly with the American ego-driven need to beat Russia to the moon. 3.5 stars

[William Schram]

Getting to the moon is easy, but returning to earth is challenging. In the 1950s, the USSR and the United States of America were in a Cold War. I don't remember why the USSR launched Sputnik or if it was merely a PR stunt, but it set the fires burning in the hearts of the US citizens. I was born in 1986, so I learned about things like the Challenger disaster after the fact.

PBS released a documentary and a companion book fifty years after the Moon Landing. It talked to the people involved in the event and got their impressions and memories. The book focuses on the events leading to the Apollo 11 mission.

Any form of research is a gamble. Will this time and money pay off in the long run? For example, the United States plugged 20 billion dollars into the space program. Back in the 1960s, that was a massive investment.

Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Mehtap exotiquetv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Wettlauf um die Exploration Mond.
In diesem Buch geht es um die politischen Hintergründe und den gesamtgesellschaftlichen Zusammenhang in der die Vision, Astronauten zum Mond zu feuern Wirklichkeit wird.
Während die meisten Menschen dachten, es wäre reinste Utopie, sah die NASA, der Schriftstellerautor Alan Clarke aber auch die Politiker der Zeit anders.
Auch Russland hatte zu dem Zeitpunkt dieselben Ambitionen, die sich jedoch nicht erfüllten.

Das Buch ist nett aber meiner Meinung nach wird viel zu intensiv & trocken die politische Sichtweise erläutert & somit wenig Raum für die Bedeutung des Ereignisses gewährleistet.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for books about the Space Age. This has a slow start since it catalogues events dating back to the dawn of the ideas behind going to space early in the 1900's. However, I really appreciated the inclusion of the political climate at the time which paralleled these events. Such things as the demands that African-Americans be considered and the growing emphasis on women in the work force along with equal pay initiatives was part of the backdrop. It added a perspective I have not gotten in other books on the same subject. I also found the postscript featuring various astronauts and other players AFTER they left Nasa interesting.