Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science

by M.G. Lord

A daughter's journey to rediscover her father and understand the culture of space engineers During the late 1960s, while M. G. Lord was becoming a teenager in Southern California and her mother was dying of cancer, Lord's father-an archetypal, remote, rocket engineer- disappeared into his work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, building the space probes of the Mariner Mars 69 mission. Thirty years later, Lord found herself reporting on the JPL, triggering childhood memories and a desire to revisit her past as a way of understanding the ethos of rocket science. Astro Turf is the brilliant result of her journey of discovery. Remembering her pain at her father's absence, yet intrigued by what he did, Lord captures him on the page as she recalls her own youthful, eccentric fascination with science and space exploration. Into her family's saga she weaves the story of the legendary JPL- examining the complexities of its cultural history, from its start in 1936 to the triumphant Mars landings in 2004. She illuminates its founder, Frank Malina, whose brilliance in rocketry was shadowed by a flirtation with communism, driving him from the country even as we welcomed Wernher von Braun and his Nazi colleagues. Lord's own love of science fiction becomes a lens through which she views a profound cultural shift in the male-dominated world of space. And in pursuing the cause of her father's absence she stumbles on a hidden guilt, understanding "the anguish his proud silence caused both him and me, and how rooted that silence was in the culture of engineering." As in her acclaimed book Forever Barbie , which demystified an icon of feminine culture, Lord brings her penetrating insight to bear on a bastion of American masculinity, opening our eyes in unexpected and memorable ways.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Science, Space, History, Engineering

259 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

M. G. Lord is a cultural critic and investigative journalist. She is the author of the widely praised books Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science, a family memoir about Cold War aerospace culture, and Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll. Her latest book, is The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We Were Too Distracted by Her Beauty to Notice. With Shannon Halwes, she is co-writing the libretto for composer Laura Karpman’s One-Ten, an opera commissioned by the L. A. Opera about the 110 Freeway on its 70th anniversary. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review and that paper’s Arts & Leisure section, and her work has also appeared in such publications as Travel + Leisure, Discover, Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The New Yorker. A graduate of Yale, Lord was for twelve years a syndicated political cartoonist and columnist based at Newsday. She teaches in the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

9 star: Super, couldn’t put it down.

From the back cover: During the late 60s, while M.G> Lord was becoming a teenager in Southern California and her mother was dying of cancer, Lord’s father disappeared into his work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, building the space probes of the Mariner Mars 69 mission. Remembering her pain at her father’s absence, Lord revisits her own youthful, eccentric fascination with science and space exploration as a way of understanding the ethos of rocket science that so captivated her father. “Astro Turf” is the brilliant result of her journey of discovery.

Into her family’s saga Lord weaves the story of JPL, the famed source of so many space vehicles, from its start in 1936 to the triumphant landings on Mars in 2004. She illuminates its father, Frank Malina, whose talent in rocketry was shadowed by a flirtation with communism, which drove him from the country even as we welcomed rocketeer Wernher von Braun and his Nazi colleagues. Lord’s own love of science fiction becomes a lens through which she views a profound cultural shift in a male dominated world of space. And in pursuing the cause of her father’s absence she stumbles on a hidden guilt, understanding “the anguish his proud silence caused both him and me, and how rooted that silence was in the culture of engineering.”

M.G. Lord is a friend of a friend, and I can’t remember if I first heard of this book from that mutual connection, or from seeing Lord at Festival of Books. I believe I knew of Lord prior, but not this specific book until FOB. I suppose I should have paid more attention to the back cover description, because this book was not quite what I expected--- but it was instead, SO much more.
What this book is not: Astro Turf is not yet another background, Andrew Chaikin/ Apollo astronaut/ Houston Control style biography. [Not that there’s anything wrong with those, I’ve read most of them, and Chaikin’s “A Man on the Moon” is one of my favorite books ever]. AT gives a history of JPL, but with respect to certain areas, such as women’s equality, gay equality, political equality. Throughout, it also tells Lord’s own story, her love of science fiction, her very real hurts with her home life. Perhaps the latter is what drew me to this book most of all—because I ultimately was drawn to science for many reasons in many ways, but part of it to escape my own living situation, different, yet the same, as Lord’s. AT instantly reminded me, sometimes in an uncomfortable way, of my own thoughts, reactions, as well as those of a good friend of mine, whose father worked for Caltech and who struggled with an “engineering father” as well.

“You and I see life the same, we just react to it differently.” – a very wise friend said that to me once, and I say the same to M.G. Lord. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I am bettered for having read it.

As usual with books, I will put some of my favorite passages here. This book will stay in my permanent collection and I suspect I will be giving copies for years to come.

“ This potential occurrence [having a particular boy kiss her] seemed as implausible and miraculous as a trip to the moon. I had no long term objectives. Because of my mother’s illness, I could not imagine the future, much less plan for it.” [ I have rarely read a passage that has struck me so strongly, down to my core, as something I can relate to—yet in many ways I know it was not the same for me. All I ever did was plan my future, as my current life was not enjoyable or worth living. Again, I react differently but the feeling seemed the same. I had no short term objectives, to go to prom or have the boy kiss me. I only long term objectives. –Lisa]
“I can’t believe I weathered some of the things I weathered. Maybe you either implode as a human being or you survive it all. And it’s close, which way you go. JPL saved me”. [again… yes. I get this].
I won’t quote specific passages here, but her detailing “Operation Paperclip” and specifically the war crimes of Wernher von Braun—who the US embraced in our Cold War space race—were very troublesome to me. I had heard of von Braun and his being a “Nazi sympathizer”, a vague term at best. I had not heard previously detailings of his involvement at Mittelbau Dora slave labor camp, which included a trip to Buchenwald to pick out “qualified” laborers. I will be reading more about this subject. When Lord then discusses Alan Turing’s history including his chemical castration and subsequent suicide, it is with great poignancy that she observes “During the space race, the West was willing to overlook Nazi war crimes to gain the upper hand. But not homosexuality”.
I was very intrigued by Lord’s discussion of Heinlein’s women—and the best compliment I can give, is that I am willing to reconsider the subject based on the strength of her recommendation. I found it quite charming, that Mary Grace became M.G., based on Heinlein’s proclivity naming women characters. I would become Hermione if I could get away with it.

When the space shuttle program was winding down, I realized how much I had wanted to view a launch, yet I never did so. I said more than once that I thought I’d regret not viewing a launch. Lord discusses viewing a launch, including of various Mars rovers, and I realized, “I can still see a launch”. I don’t need to see a shuttle launch, I just want to see a launch. I find myself more than a little envious that she was present at JPL for the landing of various Mars craft. Before I die, I will see a launch. Thank you, M.G., for reminding me of that.

“The Kennedy Space Center is a museum of the analog era, a celebration of sixties hardware, a place where the space shuttle viewed by many post-Columbia disaster critics as a seventies relic, is palmed off as cutting edge. It is also a museum of cold war masculine values.”

“I remembered the room full of inner children at Donna Shirley’s workshop and wondered what wounds those sunny youngsters would carry into adulthood. I thought of my own father, who had been so proud of Mariner 69 and ached to be linked with the bold men who flew it. “

“Maybe not at Kennedy Space Center but certainly at JPL, one gets the sense that science missions are actually about science, not pretexts to dazzle enemy nations with technical prowess.”

“For most of my adult life, my love of cold war sci-fi-and tendency to hold forth boorishly about it—has not been a social asset. But when I started reporting on JPL, it proved to be a cross cultural Esperanto. I had few life experiences in common with older male engineers; sci-fi brought us together. They had also escaped into Heinlein, Clarke, Bradbury, Le Guin and Dick. “ -- [ Something else I relate to. Or as another Festival of Books author I saw last year, John Scalzi, said, the difference between nerds and hipsters, is that hipsters say ‘Oh, that was so last year. I don’t like that thing you like now’. Whereas a nerd will say ‘Yeaohmygosh I love that too willyougotoconventionwithme??? ]
“The only thing worse than having your darkest beliefs confirmed, I learned, is having them disproved.”
“More than by circumstances, I think, my father was held back by memory-a childhood memory, painted in false colors by shame and guilt. The memory was so powerful that it isolated him from his fellow engineers, and from the upward thrust of success. He convicted himself of a crime: missing his father’s funeral. And too proud to see absolution through therapy, he stubbornly refused parole. “ -- I’ve observed this in a close family member who some of you will know, and once again, this passage cuts to my heart.

“Because I had not gone into a technical field, I thought he dismissed what I did. He never said ‘Good job’. He said ‘I would have done that differently’… Yet after his death, I found a sad thing among his possessions, a thing that could stand as an emblam of all our misunderstandings. It was a fat, yellowed, dog eared scrapbook of my articles, which, a stranger told me at his funeral, he had proudly and persistently inflicted on his friends. “ – This passage reminds me of the friend I discussed earlier. I do not know if her father has a similar scrapbook, but I do strongly suspect that he is very proud of her, nonetheless.
“I can’t wait to get there”. The last line of the book, discussing Opportunity landing on Mars. Me, either.

Thank you, M.G. for the ride.

[Martina Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2013 I had the good fortune to attend The Community of Writers' nonfiction workshop near Lake Tahoe where I met a number of extraordinary women writers. Among them is a woman named MG Lord and this is her story.
M. G. Lord is many things. All of them good. She is an English professor at USC, an artist, a cat lover, a biographer, and a memoirist. She also kindly blurbed my book, for which I am forever grateful. When we met at The Community of Writers' nonfiction workshop that summer nearly ten years ago, she was assigned to read my pages and give me feedback which she did and I found invaluable.
This lead me to want to read her own work and I was delighted by all that I found, but in particular by her memoir Astro Turf because it talks about her father who worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA, or JPL, for those in the know.
One reason it hit home is that my eldest brother once worked for JPL. Many years after M. G. Lord's father, it helped me learn more about my brother, as well as about this remarkable woman's extraordinary father.
Reading this story through the lens of a daughter, one who lost her mother early in life, brings it that much more into focus as a worthy read. I learned in equal parts about the reality of a young girl losing her mom, being raised by her scientist father, and the complex world of NASA in the background as she found her path in life.
For anyone interested in learning about the inner workings of NASA and all things STEM, this is also a wonderful read. And for all the women and men out there who imagined a world different from the one they came from, this will delight your soul.

[Don Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Perfect Memoir of a Period, a Person and a Profession

It’s such an original construct MG Lord uses here to tell the story of a) the US rocket program through its eccentric pioneering Jet Propulsion Labs b) the stoic misogynistic white male engineer archetype and c) its affect on the lives of wives and children who, like Lord, found themselves both married to science and yet shut out. We start with a heartrending memoir of her family’s tragedy when she was a young girl, which establishes her quest to find her father in the organization that swallowed him up. In her journey we meet the early and great figures of our space program and glimpse their truly bizarre private lives or, in several cases, their murderous Nazi pasts. We experience how women fought for representation, then how gay scientists did the same, but also how senior scientists had changes of hearts. The research and the author’s intuitive leaps, her wry humor and gorgeous writing, all cohere in a book that feels like a symphony. Also, there’s an incredible amount of Hollywood dish and a crisp treatment of sci-fi in US culture.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the result of the author's attempts to understand her father and her relationship with him. Her memories of her father are deeply flavored my her impressions of his misogyny. Because of his work as a Northrup contractor of JPL, the author developed an affinity for space exploration, and so her search takes her back to JPL. The result is less of a biography of her father (although it has some elements of that, too), but more of a historical overview of JPL, with an emphasis on how the organization has dealt with issues of diversity over time. It is a fascinating glimpse into the aerospace industry and how, in many ways, it lags behind society on some issues of diversity. As someone who finds the entire space program endlessly fascinating, this book provided a bit of a behind the scenes look into the industry.

[Jeff Greason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met the author while she was reporting on the Augustine Committee. And I got the book then, 14 years ago, and just now read it. Sorry I waited as I found it an entertaining book. Hard to describe: part memoir, part a therapeutic working out of her relationship with her father, part informal history of rocketry. Lord writes it all well, but the lack of focus makes it not as effective in one field. The authors strong opinions on gender politics, and on the German "rocket scientists" of the era, can also be a bit distracting. Still a book I would recommend to the interested audience.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is framed around the author’s father, who worked at JPL. It is about their difficult relationship and also discusses some of the history and key figures at JPL. She speaks of some of the controversies, from the early days with the involvement of former Nazi scientists, to the later shifting gender roles. While this was interesting, for a more in-depth history of JPL, I preferred Nathalia Holt’s Rise of the Rocket Girls.

[Zora · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5/5

[Anu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim and was pleasantly surprised! I love memoirs, and M.G. Lord's Astro Turf did not disappoint. The book weaves the modern history of space missions and aerospace engineering in the US into a father-daughter relationship. I found myself transported into the mind of the author several times within the book and was able to relate to some of her experiences. It was fascinating to learn about the culture of the Space Race and its prioritization of success over morality. Would recommend!

[Bookmarks Magazine]

Cultural historian Lord (Forever Barbie, 1994) examines her childhood relationship with her remote father as a way of understanding JPL's ethos, its boom-and-bust cycle, and the political changes that took place between the Cold War and present. Rather than discuss the science or engineering of NASA, Lord focuses on JPL's brilliant if flawed characters, from Frank Malina, the ousted cofounder of JPL, to the lionized former Nazi criminal Wernher von Braun. A few minor errors, some generalities, and a sense that Lord and her father's true personalities lay just outside the reader's immediate grasp mar the book's fascinating subject and easy writing. Nonetheless, Astro Turf is at times a captivating look at human foibles, family forgiveness, wins, and losses.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Lisa Eckstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in hopes of finding details about 1960s aerospace engineering, particularly the work and the workplace, that I might be able to use in adding texture to my novel. I didn't get a lot that was useful in that respect, but this was a reasonably interesting book to read. It offers a history of JPL from its founding to the mid-2000s, describes several NASA missions that JPL was involved with, and takes a look at sexism and homophobia at the lab and how these have improved over time. To a lesser extent, the book is also about the author's father and their relationship, but I found that the least compelling part.

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really isn't a memoir as it is billed. Although MG Lord frames the book within her own childhood (trying to understand her father who works in 'rocket science') it is really about cultural shifts within the US 'space race.' The most interesting parts of the book were the chapters on the intersection of science fiction and gender parity--and the fleeting mention of Lord's own facelift (really? perhaps I dreamed that part). It fascinates me how women can be 'out there feminists' and still go for facelifts and nose jobs and boob jobs, etc. But I don't live and work in LA (for a reason). Am now reading Lord's Forever Barbie and so far I like it the best of her books.

[JBP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good memoir/history related to the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and the government's rocket department through the decades. Lord's dad worked at JPL for many years and the early part of the book is devoted to his career and how it affected her home life and childhood.

Second half of the book is more of a history of JPL, the role gender has played in the rocket engineering world and even elements such as homosexual engineers through the years.

The science stuff is pretty easy to follow thankfully.

[John Setear · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a blend of a father-daughter memoir (from the daughter's point of view) and a social history of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. There's not much science or politics, except for the author's persuasive contentions that lots of the Germans in the space program were complicit Nazis rather than just-following-orders Nazis, and the contrast between tolerance of former Nazis and intolerance of former Communists and/or homosexuals. The author is an engaging writer and seems to have done lots of homework.

[Steven Paul Leiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I had long wanted to read this book as I have enjoyed Lord's appearances over the years as both panelist and moderator at the L.A. Times Festival of Books.She contributes smartly to such events, and is often funny (in fact, she has done stand-up comedy and she was once a political cartoonist), and her charming intelligence is always well-displayed. All these attributes can be found in Astro Turf."

--from my recent piece on this book in The Huffington Post, which you can find here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-...

[Caroline Carlisle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this book for school, so maybe I went into it with a negative bias, but I really couldn't find one thing about this book that was remotely interesting. The author was articulate, and probably would be able to write something amazing, if only she had a subject. The entire book could be summarized in about three sentences. Women didn't have equal rights in the fifties, communism has never been fully accepted in this country, and the author (M.G. Lord)'s dad worked for JPL. yay.

[J.M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't see myself finishing this. It's not what I expected ~ more autobiographical than anything, and a bit beyond my realm of knowledge, if I'm honest. I was expecting a more direct approach to rocket science. Instead it's more of a personal history of the author's father and how his involvement in the field led to her own interest in engineering. Not what I expected. I couldn't get past the second chapter.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir about how a young girl, after her mother's death, copes with a distant father who's an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California during the '60s.

The book gives an interesting look into the lives of engineers at JPL during that time and some of the projects they worked on. I enjoyed the book a lot and read it twice, just for the insight into science and history during that time.

[Richard Gombert · Rating 3 out of 5]

If anyone is thinking about reading this book -- DON'T.
It was a horrible book.
The author is all about telling us how her life sucked, NASA sucked, JPL sucked, Men suck, Women suck. There are few tidbits of information thrown in, but she does not have any kind words to sat a
This book consisted of complaining and whining with a little information thrown in.
I hope I never have to be in the same room with the author. I don't think I could take that much depression.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kind of sorry that there isn't an updated edition of this book with an additional new chapter as it ends with the successful landing of one Mars rover and the successful repair of the second, and a hopeful note for the future of the U.S. space program. I'd be interested to hear the author's take on the current state of the program both with the cancellation of new shuttle launches and the rise of privatized space flight with the X prize and similar ventures.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic account of the history of American rocketry outside of von Braun. It has a west coast perspective, as the author's father worked in California. It gives a good look at the JPL culture and history there. Also does a great job of highlighting prominent women in the history of american aerospace.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read a bio of werner von braun last week (dark side of the moon)that said less in 100+ pages than this does in fewer than a dozen.

a good afternoon's read.

one thing i didn't like the first blurb is by dava sobel, she's thanked in the acknowledgements.

[Sab · Rating 5 out of 5]

At about page 100 I love it so far. Like Janna Levin's book, this is part memoir and part history of rocket science, in the best possible way.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

More personal than I expected, a pleasant surprise. At the same time, it was a good history of JPL's early days.

[Guy McArthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the culture of JPL, the crazy story of it's founding, and how it has changed over the years (esp. regarding gender equality) with many related personal anecdotes.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked it up at the library, thought it looked interesting. It wasn't. I gave it 50 pages and quit. Too much memoir- I wanted more of the science and history.

[April Davila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love MG's writing.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A personalized history of JPL (which quite often acts as a memoir), Lord outlines the Lab's history.