This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age (Modern Library (Paperback))

Amazon.com ReviewMore comprehensive than __The Right Stuff__, more critical than __Apollo 13__, __This New Ocean__ is a near-perfect history of the men (and occasional women) who have "slipped the surly bonds of Earth." Eminent science journalist and space expert William E. Burrows covers just about everyone in history--from Daedalus to John Glenn--who ever designed or flew a rocket, trying to "ride the arrow" to the moon and beyond. It's a trail of testosterone from start to finish, but it makes for an engrossing read. One of Burrows's most interesting points is that without the cold war we never would have made it into space. He writes, "...the rocket would forever serve two masters at the same time, or rather a single master with two dispositions: one for war and one for peace." Werner von Braun, Robert Goddard, and other rocketry pioneers may indeed have wanted to explore space, but they knew the only way to get there was on the military's back. Burrows extensively researched his subject, and he seems to want to include a little bit of everything; too much detail bogs down the narrative in places. Then again, he is no apologist for the space programs of the United States and the former U.S.S.R., and to tell their complete stories requires laying a great deal of political and scientific groundwork. When it comes to the great, memorable moments in space history, Burrows really shines. In telling the stories of __Sputnik__'s first orbit, Neil Armstrong's moonwalk, __Challenger__'s fiery death, and __Sojourner__'s Martian road trip, he captures both the gee-whiz technological accomplishment and the very human emotions of the men and women involved. __--Therese Littleton__ From Publishers Weekly"The cold war was over. The great space race was over. And the first space age was over, too." With these simple sentences, written in the past tense, Burrows (Deep Black; Exploring Space, etc.), director of NYU's Science and Environmental Reporting Program, connects with Gen-X readers, to whom space exploration has always been part of history; with pre-baby boomers, who have seen the full unfolding of humanity's great leap outward in their lifetimes; and with everyone in between. Burrows's richly documented book tells the story of how simple earthlingsAfallible creatures living under imperfect political systemsAtranscended foibles, corruption, depravity and flawed machines to discover other worlds and, what is more important, their own. For the space enthusiast, Burrows offers a complete, authoritative history of the technology that allowed us to explore space and the people who created and managed that technology. For those who struggle to understand the nature of humanity, it offers new insights into old paradoxes. For those who ask where we are going, it offers hope. Although we have the potential to destroy our species and our planet, the second space age now beginning, Burrows makes clear, will be marked by our arrival and survival in other worlds. The legacy of the first space age, as expressed through his remarkable book, is the knowledge that our species is capable of both outliving our planet and destroying it. The legacy of the second will be the choices we make based on that knowledge. We are voyagers embarking on yet another "new ocean"; Burrows provides invaluable lessons to help us navigate the sea of stars. Sixteen pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. Author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

it Was All Part Of Man's Greatest Adventure--landing Men On The Moon And Sending A Rover To Mars, Finally Seeing The Edge Of The Universe And The Birth Of Stars, And Launching Planetary Explorers Across The Solar System To Neptune And Beyond.
        
the Ancient Dream Of Breaking Gravity's Hold And Taking To Space Became A Reality Only Because Of The Intense Cold-war Rivalry Between The Superpowers, With Towering Geniuses Like Wernher Von Braun And Sergei Korolyov Shelving Dreams Of Space Travel And Instead Developing Rockets For Ballistic Missiles And Space Spectaculars. Now That Russian Archives Are Open And Thousands Of Formerly Top-secret U.s. Documents Are Declassified, An Often Startling New Picture Of The Space Age Emerges:

the Frantic Effort By The Soviet Union To Beat The United States To The Moon Was Doomed From The Beginning By Gross Inefficiency And By Infighting So Treacherous That Winston Churchill Likened It To "dogs Fighting Under A Carpet";

there Was More Than Science Behind The United States' Suggestion That Satellites Be Launched During The International Geophysical Year, And In One Crucial Respect, Sputnik Was A Godsend To Washington;

the Hundred-odd German V-2s That Provided The Vital Start To The U.s. Missile And Space Programs Legally Belonged To The Soviet Union And Were Spirited To The United States In A Derring-do Operation Worthy Of A Spy Thriller;

despite Nasa's Claim That It Was A Civilian Agency, It Had An Intimate Relationship With The Military At The Outset And Still Does--a Distinction The Soviet Union Never Pretended To Make;

constant Efforts To Portray Astronauts And Cosmonauts As "boy Scouts" Were Often Contradicted By Reality;

the Apollo Missions To The Moon May Have Been An Unexcelled Political Triumph And Feat Of Exploration, But They Also Created A Headache For The Space Agency That Lingers To This Day.

        
this New Ocean Is Based On 175 Interviews With Russian And American Scientists And Engineers; On Archival Documents, Including Formerly Top-secret National Intelligence Estimates And Spy Satellite Pictures; And On Nearly Three Decades Of Reporting. The Impressive Result Is This Fascinating Story--the First Comprehensive Account--of The Space Age. Here Are The Strategists And War Planners; Engineers And Scientists; Politicians And Industrialists; Astronauts And Cosmonauts; Science Fiction Writers And Journalists; And Plain, Ordinary, Unabashed Dreamers Who Wanted To Transcend Gravity's Shackles For The Ultimate Ride. The Story Is Written From The Perspective Of A Witness Who Was Present At The Beginning And Who Has Seen The Conclusion Of The First Space Age And The Start Of The Second.

from The Hardcover Edition.

kliatt

the Theme Of This Oversized Paperback Is Nothing Less Than A Comprehensive Overview Of Mankind's Reaching Out To The Vast Ocean Of Outer Space Surrounding Our Island Earth. Veteran Journalist And Space Writer William Burrows Takes The Reader From The Myth Of Daedalus All The Way Down To The Present Mars Probes; The Book Was A Contender For The Pulitzer Prize For History In 1999. The Subject Is Almost Too Large To Cover In A Single Volume, But It Must Be Said That Burrows Has Neglected Nothing. The Speculations Of Visionaries Like Tsiolkovsky And Jules Verne, The Experiments Of Robert Goddard And The Work Of Scientific Gadflies Like Hermann Oberth All Provide Perspective To The Mighty Events Of Our Own Era. Nor Is The Book A Mere Summary Of Nasa's Epic Projects. Throughout The Years Of Mercury, Gemini And Apollo, The Soviets' Own Space Program Is Presented As A Counterpoint To America's Systematic March To The Moon. The Space Race Won, Burrows Deftly Shifts To The Shuttle Program, The Controversies Over The Proposed Space Station, And To The Current Mars Explorers. The Military Element Of Space Exploration Is Covered As Well, With An Excellent Discussion Of The Strategic Defense Initiative—the Star Wars Missile Defense System—and Its Most Recent Iterations. The Book Is A Useful Antidote To Those Who Think That Space Exploration Began With Sputnik And Climaxed With Neil Armstrong's Walk On The Moon. It Is, However, Neither A Simple Reprise Of Exciting Space Flights Nor A Facile And Upbeat Overview Of Mankind's Space Triumphs. Much Of It Is A Sophisticated Study Of Policies And Budgets, Of Personality Clashes And The Inner Workings Of The Scientific And Political Councils. Thebook's Huge Scope Means That Individual Space Missions—even The Most Famous—are Discussed Only In Passing, As Part Of The Larger Theme. This New Ocean Is Clearly Directed To The Serious Adult Reader, And In Many Ways It Is More For The Aerospace Community Than The Casual Student. Advanced Yas, However, Will Be Able To Glean Much From It. Recommended To Appropriate School Libraries And All Adult Collections. Kliatt Codes: A—recommended For Advanced Students, And Adults. 1998, Random House/modern Library, 723p, 21cm, Illus, Notes, Bibliog, Index, 98-3252, $16.95. Ages 17 To Adult. Reviewer: Raymond L. Puffer; Ph.d., Historian, Edwards Air Force Base, Ca, May 2000 (vol. 34 No. 3)

Amazon.com Review More comprehensive than The Right Stuff , more critical than Apollo 13 , This New Ocean is a near-perfect history of the men (and occasional women) who have "slipped the surly bonds of Earth." Eminent science journalist and space expert William E. Burrows covers just about everyone in history--from Daedalus to John Glenn--who ever designed or flew a rocket, trying to "ride the arrow" to the moon and beyond. It's a trail of testosterone from start to finish, but it makes for an engrossing read. One of Burrows's most interesting points is that without the cold war we never would have made it into space. He writes, "...the rocket would forever serve two masters at the same time, or rather a single master with two dispositions: one for war and one for peace." Werner von Braun, Robert Goddard, and other rocketry pioneers may indeed have wanted to explore space, but they knew the only way to get there was on the military's back. Burrows extensively researched his subject, and he seems to want to include a little bit of everything; too much detail bogs down the narrative in places. Then again, he is no apologist for the space programs of the United States and the former U.S.S.R., and to tell their complete stories requires laying a great deal of political and scientific groundwork. When it comes to the great, memorable moments in space history, Burrows really shines. In telling the stories of Sputnik 's first orbit, Neil Armstrong's moonwalk, Challenger 's fiery death, and Sojourner 's Martian road trip, he captures both the gee-whiz technological accomplishment and the very human emotions of the men and women involved. --Therese Littleton From Publishers Weekly "The cold war was over. The great space race was over. And the first space age was over, too." With these simple sentences, written in the past tense, Burrows (Deep Black; Exploring Space, etc.), director of NYU's Science and Environmental Reporting Program, connects with Gen-X readers, to whom space exploration has always been part of history; with pre-baby boomers, who have seen the full unfolding of humanity's great leap outward in their lifetimes; and with everyone in between. Burrows's richly documented book tells the story of how simple earthlingsAfallible creatures living under imperfect political systemsAtranscended foibles, corruption, depravity and flawed machines to discover other worlds and, what is more important, their own. For the space enthusiast, Burrows offers a complete, authoritative history of the technology that allowed us to explore space and the people who created and managed that technology. For those who struggle to understand the nature of humanity, it offers new insights into old paradoxes. For those who ask where we are going, it offers hope. Although we have the potential to destroy our species and our planet, the second space age now beginning, Burrows makes clear, will be marked by our arrival and survival in other worlds. The legacy of the first space age, as expressed through his remarkable book, is the knowledge that our species is capable of both outliving our planet and destroying it. The legacy of the second will be the choices we make based on that knowledge. We are voyagers embarking on yet another "new ocean"; Burrows provides invaluable lessons to help us navigate the sea of stars. Sixteen pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. Author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. It was all part of man's greatest adventure--landing men on the Moon and sending a rover to Mars, finally seeing the edge of the universe and the birth of stars, and launching planetary explorers across the solar system to Neptune and beyond. The ancient dream of breaking gravity's hold and taking to space became a reality only because of the intense cold-war rivalry between the superpowers, with towering geniuses like Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolyov shelving dreams of space travel and instead developing rockets for ballistic missiles and space spectaculars. Now that Russian archives are open and thousands of formerly top-secret U.S. documents are declassified, an often startling new picture of the space age emerges: the frantic effort by the Soviet Union to beat the United States to the Moon was doomed from the beginning by gross inefficiency and by infighting so treacherous that Winston Churchill likened it to "dogs fighting under a carpet"; there was more than science behind the United States' suggestion that satellites be launched during the International Geophysical Year, and in one crucial respect, Sputnik was a godsend to Washington; the hundred-odd German V-2s that provided the vital start to the U.S. missile and space programs legally belonged to the Soviet Union and were spirited to the United States in a derring-do operation worthy of a spy thriller; despite NASA's claim that it was a civilian agency, it had an intimate relationship with the military at the outset and still does--a distinction the Soviet Union never pretended to make; constant efforts to portray astronauts and cosmonauts as "Boy Scouts" were often contradicted by reality; the Apollo missions to the Moon may have been an unexcelled political triumph and feat of exploration, but they also created a headache for the space agency that lingers to this day. This New Ocean is based on 175 interviews with Russian and American scientists and engineers; on archival documents, including formerly top-secret National Intelligence Estimates and spy satellite pictures; and on nearly three decades of reporting. The impressive result is this fascinating story--the first comprehensive account--of the space age. Here are the strategists and war planners; engineers and scientists; politicians and industrialists; astronauts and cosmonauts; science fiction writers and journalists; and plain, ordinary, unabashed dreamers who wanted to transcend gravity's shackles for the ultimate ride. The story is written from the perspective of a witness who was present at the beginning and who has seen the conclusion of the first space age and the start of the second. From the Hardcover edition An encyclopedic history of space exploration by an insider and veteran reporter who has lost nothing in his enthusiasm and respect for what humankind has wrought. But he tells it like it is, which means constant rivalry that pitted the air force against the CIA for control of spy satellites and saw the Department Of Defense turn apoplectic with the anointing of a new civilian space agency, NASA, born in 1958. Stir into this brew the science-driven egos at Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech and the rocket boys at Huntsville who were led by the indomitable Wernher von Braun. Now add the critical ingredient: the Cold War and nuclear threat and the loss of face that came with Sputnik and Gagarin. To counter that threat and restore a nation's pride, Kennedy's promise to put a man on the moon before the end of the '60s and explore 'this new ocean' was well-nigh inevitable. It also meant that science for science's sake would take a backseat to realpolitik and the media. Burrows chronicles the events in authoritative if often over-rich detail, but he is enough of a fine reporter to lace the narrative with juicy quotes. When Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay was told of a plan to built a rocket plane to fly into orbit, he reportedly had only one question: 'Where's the bomb bay?' Burrows is also not one to overlook the peccadilloes of the original Right Stuff Seven (excepting Glenn). Because of the separate tracks of the manned space program versus the planetary fly-bys and the need to cover Russian as well as American activities in these areas, there is some back-tracking and redundancy in the chronologies, and there are oft-repeated sermons on the disasters of life and science under Communism. But overall, this is likely to be the bible for those tracking a unique period in Earth history-the 'first' space age as Burrows terms it. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour)-