American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race

Synopsis

On May 25, 1961, Jfk Made An Astonishing Announcement: His Goal Of Putting A Man On The Moon By The End Of The Decade. Douglas Brinkley Brings Together The Extraordinary Political, Cultural, And Scientific Factors That Fueled The Birth And Development Of Nasa And The Mercury, Gemini, And Apollo Projects, Which Shot The United States To Victory In The Space Race Against The Soviet Union At The Height Of The Cold War. Drawing On New Primary Source Material And Major Interviews With Many Of The Surviving Figures Who Were Key To America's Success, American Moonshot Is A Portrait Of The Brilliant Men And Women Who Made This Giant Leap Possible, The Technology That Enabled Us To Propel Men Beyond Earth's Orbit To The Moon And Return Them Safely, And The Geopolitical Tensions That Spurred Kennedy To Commit Himself Fully To This Audacious Dream. Brinkley's Ensemble Cast Of New Frontier Characters Include Rocketeer Wernher Von Braun, Astronaut John Glenn, And Space Booster Lyndon Johnson. A Chronicle Of One Of The Most Thrilling, Hopeful, And Turbulent Eras In The Nation's History, American Moonshot Is An Homage To Scientific Ingenuity, Human Curiosity, And The Boundless American Spirit. Preface: Kennedy's New Ocean -- Rockets. Dr. Robert Goddard Meets Buck Rogers ; Kennedy, Von Braun, And The Crucible Of World War Ii ; Surviving A Savage War ; Who's Afraid Of The V-2? -- Generation Sputnik. Spooked Into The Space Race ; Sputnik Revolution ; Missile Gaps And The Creation Of Nasa ; Mercury Seven To The Rescue ; Kennedy For President -- Moonbound. Skyward With James Webb ; Yuri Gagarin And Alan Shepard ; Going To The Moon: Washington, Dc, May 25, 1961 ; Searching For Moonlight In Tulsa And Vienna ; Moon Momentum With Television And Gus Grissom ; Godspeed, John Glenn ; Scott Carpenter, Telstar, And Presidential Space Touring -- Projects Gemini And Apollo. We Choose To Go To The Moon: Rice University, September 12, 1962 ; Gemini Nine And Wally Schirra ; State Of Space Exploration ; The Space Effort Must Go On ; Cape Kennedy -- Epilogue: The Triumph Of Apollo 11. Douglas Brinkley. Includes Bibliographic References (pages 515-526) And Index.