The First Space Race: Launching the World's First Satellites (Centennial of Flight Series)

Rating:
Summary: What was the World Like Before Spaceflight?
Review: The authors have written a fine historical synthesis of the period between the mid-1950s and the aftermath of Sputnik, focusing on the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union to launch the first orbital satellite. This work makes an important contribution in focusing on this first satellite race, and the authors explore the mirror image nature of the two programs, how they played off of each other, and why that was necessary to the manner in which the race unfolded. By keeping the space race front and center they succeed in creating a focus that is compelling and often missed in other studies of the same era.

Bille and Lishock are at their best in probing the individuals who were the bearers of the spaceflight dream; many of whom seem to encounter obstacles (social, political, technical) at every turn, and then eventually surmount them to achieve success and plant the seeds for future accomplishment. At some level this represents a romantic narrative of transcendence, but one that is both evocative and powerful. The authors seem to suggest that it was the spaceflight true believers, rather than great nations locked in cold war rivalry or geopolitical machinations or the scientific method on each side, who were engaged in a race. Certainly they expressed frustration by the percerived foot dragging of their respective governments. Yet, Sergei Korolev in the Soviet Union and Wernher von Braun and others in the United States achieved the birth of the space age in this international race.

Everyone should realize, of course, that this work is a synthesis. It is not intended as a sophisticated theoretical work--although something taking a post-modern approach to the subject would be quite interesting. It is, instead, a narrative that seeks to create a unified discussion of the rise of the American and Soviet rocket states. That rise, as the authors show, had long antecedents going back to the very earliest years of the twentieth century in both nations and a sophisticated technological base that allowed that longstanding vision to become reality. The authors also do a credible job of explaining the development of the Soviet Sputnik and the American Vanguard and Explorer programs. These represented the major elements of the "first space race" suggested in the title. While there is little new in this discussion the authors do a good job of bringing together salient elements from a wealth of serious historical writing on the subject in the last decade. This represents the best narrative available synthesizing this story.