Review by Choice Review
The late 1960s and early 1970s can be considered the golden age of human spaceflight. The former Soviet Union and the US were engaged in a fierce space race to the moon. Space writer Evans (e.g., Escaping the Bonds of Earth, CH, Jan'10, 47-2537; Space Shuttle Challenger, CH, Oct'07, 45-0838) covers this fascinating era of space exploration, focusing more on American efforts. The Soviets tried to develop a massive N-1 rocket for lunar missions, but this rocket failed in several launches. The early Soyuz era and the Salyut space stations, with tragic loss of cosmonauts in some missions, gave the Soviets experience with longer duration human spaceflight. The book provides extensive detail on the Apollo program from Apollo 11, the first human lunar landing, to the last flight to the moon (Apollo 17). Unfortunately, the rapid loss of public support in project Apollo resulted in the cancellation of several missions. Evans laments the present lack of resources and political will to fly beyond low Earth orbit. Most of the sources in the work are secondary, and it does not break new ground on the history of the human space efforts of the two superpowers. Includes many interesting black-and-white illustrations. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and lower- and upper-division undergraduates. J. Z. Kiss Miami University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
