Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race
Author(s): Von Hardesty
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon in 1969 - the first humans to visit another celestial body. This extraordinary lunar odyssey grew out of the rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War. To mark the 50th anniversary of Sputnik in 2007 and the 50th anniversary of the founding of NASA in October 2008, this epic moment is recaptured with a lively and compelling new account and rare archival photographs, narrating the story from both the American and the Russian perspectives and showing how each space-faring nation played a vital role in stimulating the work of the other. The authors recreate in vivid detail the 'parallel universes' of the American and Soviet space exploration programs, with visionaries Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev and political leaders John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev at the epicenter of their story. This book chronicles the story of the epic race to the Moon and back as you've never heard it before.
General Information
- :
- : National Geographic Society
- : National Geographic Society
- : 0.544
- : 14 October 2008
- : United States
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Von Hardesty
- : Paperback
- : 629.409046
- : 304
- : 64 colour photographs, 20 black and white photographs, 2 maps
More About The Product
"A balanced, reader-friendly re-creation of the origins, progress, thrills and perils attending a prestigious race, desperately important at the time, only dimly remembered today." --"Kirkus"
"An engaging story of visionary scientists focused on space travel, pragmatic politicians eager for triumphs in a propaganda war, and heroic astronauts and cosmonauts risking their lives...compelling narrative of the space race as it unfolded." --"Science and Spirit Magazine"
Von Hardesty is a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Gene Eisman is an independent historian.
