In the Shadow of the Moon
America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
An exhilarating dive into the secret history of humankind’s race to the moon, from acclaimed author Amy Cherrix. This fascinating and immersive read is perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb and M. T. Anderson’s Symphony for the City of the Dead.
You’ve heard of the space race, but do you know the whole story?
The most ambitious race humankind has ever undertaken was masterminded in the shadows by two engineers on opposite sides of the Cold War—Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi officer living in the US, and Sergei Korolev, a Russian rocket designer once jailed for crimes against his country—and your textbooks probably never told you.
Von Braun became an American hero, recognized the world over, while Korolev toiled in obscurity. These two brilliant rocketeers never met, but together they shaped the science of spaceflight and redefined modern warfare. From Stalin’s brutal Gulag prisons and Hitler’s concentration camps to Cape Canaveral and beyond, their simultaneous quests pushed science—and human ingenuity—to the breaking point.
From Amy Cherrix comes the extraordinary hidden story of the space race and the bitter rivalry that launched humankind to the moon.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This comprehensive narrative nonfiction chronicle reveals the personalities and machinations behind the space race, which ended in 1969 with the moon landing. Cherrix (Backyard Bears) introduces the two "brilliant but controversial" rocket scientists who shaped the contest: former Nazi and SS officer Werhner von Braun, whom America brought from Germany to spearhead the U.S. program in a post-WWII mission called Operation Paperclip; and Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, a former innocent "traitor" forced into Gulag camps, whom Stalin rehabilitated and charged with developing the Russian effort. The text documents how a quest for weapons transformed into space initiatives culminating in the moon walk, and reveals national secrets on both sides, such as how the U.S. side concealed von Braun's Nazi past, and how the Russian side tricked German engineers into moving to the U.S.S.R. Mock "Intelligence Dossiers" consolidate complicated facts, such as the range and payload capacity of the groundbreaking Redstone rocket, "the first large-scale missile powered by liquid fuel." Black-and-white photos throughout include a Cold War duck-and-cover drill at a 1950s school. This rousing history testifies to both the romance and cost of technological advancement. Back matter includes meticulous bibliography and endnotes, plus an index. Ages 13–up.
